Tearing your hands?

One of the main concerns people have when training in kettlebell sport is how not to tear their hands up. First and foremost, proper, progressive training to effectively condition your hands is very important. Tearing up your hands is not a badge of honour. It just results in downtime from training.

The biggest reason for tearing the skin on your hands is overgripping the handle. If you have a death-grip on the handle, when it moves it's going to take skin with it! If the kettlebell is below your waist it should be held in a hook grip, just the ends of your fingers. It may take a while to build strength in this grip but it is necessary. Practice swinging in the hook grip.

When the bell is above the waist (ie: racked or overhead), it should hang low and diagonally through the palm – not straight across the palm. If you are able to fully grip the handle, your hand position is incorrect. When the bell shifts from the hook to low in the palm, it should just 'pop' back and forth, and not drag across the skin. The transition has minimal skin contact. The more friction-contact you have, the more likely you will be to tear your skin.

If you train properly, callouses will form, so make sure you keep them under control. If they get too big and hard, they will tear away from the soft skin around them. Rub them down with a pumice stone and use a moisturiser.

Challenge everything, especially yourself.

Alex Kay Grimmer


Contact me for Kettlebell classes and Personal Training in Southend-on-sea.
Contact & location details are on my website: BODYQUESTPT

Do you enjoy training with kettlebells? Why not take it to the next level and compete? Traditionally kettlebell sport is Girevoy Sport, and if you'd like to know more about that contact me or Google it. However... there is a new kid on the competition block – Pentathlon. This is kettlebell sport that is accessible to everybody, a great deal of fun, yet still challenging – which is what we want! If you are familiar with the 5 required lifts: Clean, Clean & Press, Jerk, Half Snatch and Push Press, then you are ready to compete.

It goes as follows:

• Each lift is for 6 minutes followed by 5 minutes rest
• You may change hands as often as you like
• There is a maximum number of allowed reps to encourage heavier bells and to discourage sloppy technique
• Clean: 120, Clean & press: 60, Jerk: 120, Half-snatch: 108, Push-press: 120
• Each bell size has a value. 8Kg=x1, 10kg=x1.25, 12kg=x1.5, etc.
• Your score (or quotient) is your number of reps multiplied by the bell value
• Your final score / quotient will fall into categories to indicate your ability level

That's it!

Exercise is just that – exercise. Training is exercise with a goal. So why not give Pentathlon a go? It's quite exciting to test yourself and have a bit of fun in a competition, plus once you have your quotient, it gives you an excellent starting point and something to train for and beat next time.

The first Pentathlon will be held at BodyQuest Kettlebell Gym in Westcliff-on-sea, Essex on Sunday the 4^th of November 2012, with many more to come, as well as regular training workshops. Get your name down, and get involved with the new kettlebell sport – PENTATHLON.

Join the Facebook group PENTATHLON UK