Painful deadlift grip

[tescott]

Hey guys,

As a bit of history, I used gloves for a long time as a way of training even though I had some pretty severe and painful eczema on my hands. Now that I'm able to manage that, I'm not using gloves (haven't been for the last few months), and I'm using chalk to help with grip.

At first, my soft office hands hurt with DLs, but it soon improved as I got the chalk and kept up my pull ups on a knurled bar. However, after progressing nicely on the DL, yesterday I failed my set of 5 DLs at 160kg for the second time.

The frustrating thing is that I failed because my grip simply hurt too much. I feel like I have the grip strength (just), but the pressure on my hand, particularly the skin, was just so painful by the time I got to the 5th rep, that I just couldn't grip it anymore.

I know that many of you will just think HTFU, but does anyone have any suggestions of what I can do on the days I'm not doing pull ups or deadlifts to improve my hand toughness and grip strength?

Thanks,
Tim

P.S. I am using a mixed grip.

[blowdpanis]

I don't think there's a suggestion other than getting used to it over time. I went through a similar issue the past few months in converting to hook grip. It took me literally ~2+ months to get to a point where I was deadlifting something similar to what I did before, mostly due to pain (in)tolerance, i.e. feeling like my fucking thumbs were going to rip off.

[Tom Campitelli]

It sounds like you've got skin problems that may need to be solved outside the weight room. I know paleo-style eating gets a bad rap around here, but maybe something in your diet is helping to irritate your skin. Then again, you may have that dialed in and still suffer from skin irritation. This strikes me as a situation in which wrist wraps may be needed until you otherwise heal.

[tescott]

The thing is that I'm dealing well with the skin problems already. That's why I've ben able to ditch the gloves. At first, my hands hurt, but they have toughened up to an extent. Now, I've reached a new level where they hurt again. So, I'd like to know if anyone has any input on how to toughen my hands for deadlifts, without deadlifting any more than I already am.

[stronger]

to be honest, sometimes you just have bad days with your grip. I have the occasional session with powercleans where my hands are just on fire and the next week they are fine. It is very likely that by next week the problem will have been substantially abated. This might need to be waited out to see

[Platus]

I'd like to know if anyone has any input on how to toughen my hands for deadlifts, without deadlifting any more than I already am.

I have been doing farmer's walks to help with my grip strength. My hands have toughened up a bit. It might be worth a shot if the problem is no longer eczema and is now simply a lack of exposure to the stress of holding rough and heavy things.

[MilkEnthusiast]

Have you seen the video about how to properly position the bar in hand? Search youtube. It's titled Crossfit Mark Rippetoe on Grip.

If you own SS it's definitely in there too.

Maybe your problem is not related to calluses - I don't know. Nonetheless, proper grip for pulling is important. Glad to hear you're using chalk.

[tescott]

Thanks for the response guys. Yeah, my grip is nice and high in the hand, as per SS and that video, so no skin folds. It's more the pressure of the knurls on my hand. I was thinking of adding in some conditioning work sometime soon, so maybe farmers walks will be a good place to start -kill two birds with one stone...

[confuzzl3don3]

By nice and high you mean towards your fingers right?

[tescott]

Yeah, my grip is nice and high in the hand, as per SS and that video, so no skin folds.

that's right confuzz. I've read the book.