Weird Grip Problem

Training
1

The olympic bars at my gym have nice “gripping” where someone might place their hands for a bench, overhead press, and some wide-gripped variations. However, there is none of this nice “gripping,” as I’ll call it, near the edges of the bar, where someone might use a snatch grip.

When I’m doing Snatch grip high pulls, I can’t get a good enough grip. Straps actually worsen the problem, because of their mesh material. I can’t even get the straps to wrap around this area of the bar well enough, as the bar won’t hold in place; it will continually slip around. Now that you’re up to speed, I was wondering if chalk would help in this situation. The main problem is that my straps don’t want to “stick” to the bar. Will chalk, if applied to both my hands and the straps themselves, help out in this situation?

I just can’t seem to find any leather lifting straps, which I believe would work better than my mesh material straps, regarding gripping the bar.

Any thoughts?

2

You should always be using chalk with straps. Definitely do that.

Also, give this a try when you use straps. I find many people aren’t getting the most out of them.

Also, the term for the grippy part of the bar is “knurling”

3

[quote]MikeMezz wrote:
I was wondering if chalk would help in this situation.[/quote]
In this case, liquid chalk (a.k.a. “liquid grip”) might actually help more than “regular” block chalk. Also, if you’re up for it, play around with the hook grip. It’s uncomfortable and not fun, but is pretty standard in O-lifting.

I haven’t heard of many people preferring leather straps. I actually like nylon straps (cut from an old tow strap) better than cotton. It lays a little thinner and feels super-secure.

4

Thanks to both of you. That video is great; definitely going to try that next time. Chris, I’ll see if I can find any liquid chalk, and as for the hook grip, I found that it was the only way to complete my reps on the high pull, that is, after getting the straps as tight around the bar as I could. I’ll stick with my straps, and see if the chalk, as well as that new technique, help out my situation. Thanks again!

Also, this is slightly off topic, but because of my mishap with the bar the other day, one of my callouses ripped open, though not severely. I’m wrapping that hand like a mofo, but is there anything else I should do so that I don’t lose the callous and need to work on reforming it? Perhaps gloves? Thanks!

5

I think Bruno suggests using some woman’s cosmetology tool (sorry, I can’t remember the name) and sort of “sand” your callouses (calousii?) down.

6

Ha! I actually have one of those laying around, not sure what they’re called either. I used to sand them down to nothing, but that seemed to actually have a negative effect (made hands very sensitive and “exposed”). Perhaps I’ll try just a little sanding this time around. However, for the callous in question, I don’t think sanding is going to help at this point.

7

A ripped callous is a wound. Treat it like any other scab - maybe use a small pair of scissors to remove excess dead skin. As for Prehab

(the following is taken from beastskills dot com but I’m not sure if the admins would be okay with a link)

Removing Calluses

I?ve had several people ask me about removing calluses from the hands. If you?re doing a lot of gymnastics, weightlifting, grip training, or hand balancing (my 4 favorite hobbies) then calluses are an inevitability. They raise up and start to get pinched and can eventually rip off. This is a bit painful and a pain to deal with during training. Let me show you what to do to take care of things before you?re leaving quarter size chunks of skin on the gym floor.

Now I tend to get calluses in the areas circled. This would include the base of my fingers, the middle of my fingers, and even the palm of my hands. The ones on my fingers are the ones that pinch, while the callus that forms on the palm of my hand will sometimes press on nerves in my hand. I don?t have to tell you where you get calluses, because they?re probably annoying you already and you?re quite aware of their locations.

The supplies are simple, grab yourself something to scrap the calluses off. I use a butter knife (or other dull knife) that does NOT go back in the silverware drawer (ewww) as well as a small pumice stone. The stone is not essential, but it helps. I also have a bucket of warm water in which to soak my hands. And of course, keep a towel nearby to dry your hands off.

After you?ve soaked your hands for a minute or two, take them out and lightly towel dry them. You?ll notice that your calluses are raised a bit and have turned white ? indicating dead skin. I included a blurry picture of what I mean.

Now?s the time to remove the calluses?

Now at this point I?ll take the dull knife at a 90 degree angle to my hand and start scraping at the calluses. You know you?re doing it right when you see the dead skin coming up. This should NOT be painful. If it is then either you?re scraping too much off, or you didn?t have calluses to begin with!!

During this process you can resoak your hands to raise the calluses back up again, as well as rub the pumice stone on your hand to raise up more skin.

If you feel your hands during this process, you?ll notice the calluses start to flatten out and no longer raise up on your hands. Continue shaving off skin until they feel relatively flat to the hand. At this point they?ll no longer pinch and rip when you?re training. Again I repeat, DON?T SHAVE OFF TOO MUCH. Doing so will hurt. So stop that. You should be removing dead skin, not live skin.

Wipe and dry your hands when done. Now you?ll still have tough patches of skin on your hands, but the calluses are level with your hand and won?t catch and rip off.

Repeat this in the future as often as necessary, although a single session will probably keep your hands good for several weeks at a time.

8

I get bad callouses at the base of my middle three fingers from pullups and bar work pretty regularly. I use a callous shaver to take off the big pieces that are raised, and then gently sand the remaining smaller places with a pumice stone in the shower or Ped egg if hands are dry. I usually have to do this every week to two weeks but it really helps.

9

I’ve seen “Liquid Grip” available on Amazon. That might help.

[quote]GetitUp wrote:
I use a callous shaver to take off the big pieces that are raised, and then gently sand the remaining smaller places with a pumice stone in the shower or Ped egg if hands are dry.[/quote]
Yep, a callus shaver does the job great (obviously, that’s what it’s designed for). It literally shaves it down. I can sometimes get away with using a regular razor like a Mach 3 or whatever, but if the callus is too thick, it just warps the blade. Pumice stone for “maintenance”, shaver for when/if it starts getting out of control or thick enough to rip.

10

Okay, thanks everybody. I’ll definitely get on sanding these suckers every now and again. I won’t do too much, which I can surmise is what I had done in the past based on nighthawz post. I’ll wrap my hand well enough to prevent possible bleeding as well as further rips along the same callous. I appreciate all the help, guys!

11

Liquid chalk is a rock climber tool and easy to get in specialist shops; you can also look on amazon, as Chris pointed out. I use it whenever a gym doesn’t have chalk blocks (=90% of the time) and it’s like glue against a barbell.

12

Purchased some chalk a couple days ago as a “quick” fix, and to test it out. I haven’t gotten to my high pull workout, but I can say the chalk works wonders (did deads yesterday). I will be testing out the new straps technique, as suggested earlier, as well as the chalk to see if I need to think of something else to help out. I am really curious about the liquid grip, as the chalk gets pretty messy! I hope nobody says anything at the gym about it . . .

13

Just an update if anyone is interested: I applied chalk to both my hands and the inside of the straps (the sides that would be wrapped around the bar) and it was perfect. No slipping and sliding, just me and the bar with no distractions. I completed my density layer in half the time because of the convenience and the zero time spent re-gripping!