Roughening Your Palms

[Chance]

I have hyperhidrosis, so my hands are always soaked in sweat. Once of the ways to mitigate this that has been recommended to me, is to roughen my palms. I’ve worked on that a bit, and it seems to be helping, but I’ve hit an upper bound on progress.

Basically, the two ways that occurred to me to roughen my hands were manual labor, and working out, with no gloves. There’s only so much manual labor to be done in our small suburban home though, and I can’t lift without gloves all the time, because my hands are just too slick to risk holding something above my head. I’m on a keyboard all day, and nothing I do is any impetus for my hands to toughen up. (To any women reading this: there is no faster way to emasculate a man than complimenting him on how soft his hands are :mad:).

I’m curious if anyone else has gone about this in a certain way. I’ve considered putting grip tape on my lifting equipment (I work out at home), so I guess that’s one idea. I’ve also thought about maybe just rolling up some sandpaper, and rubbing my hands throughout the day.

Neither of those are especially elegant ideas though, so if anyone has any suggestions, I’m welcome to hear them.

On an unrelated note: Amazon recommended Fat Gripz (http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Gripz-Ultimate-Arm-Builder/dp/B005FIS14Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1435595681&sr=1-1) to me the other day, and I quite like them so far. They're an easy way to get thick handles on your weight equipment, which is great for forearm / grip strength.

[Luke]

I don't (atleast I think I don't) have any medical condition making my hands sweaty, but they are constantly sweaty! At matches before I shoot I grab some dirt and rocks to dry them up, at church in usually casually fanning my bulletin at my right hand so when people shake my hand it's not all sweaty. They sweat all. The. Time. Very annoying. That said, I work out with no gloves and have done manual labor my whole life and my job requires my hands (heavy equipment mechanic). My hands have plenty of calluses. Pretty rough hands, even adds a bit of fire protection. That said, I bought anti skid tape at lowes and put it all over my new glock 17 gen4, still wasn't enough. I plan to have it stippled with the most aggressive pattern my guy has. My point is that having rough hands may help, but it probably won't get you were you want to be.

[Robinson]

Things that can serve to toughen up your hands and possibly be good for building strength: Handle bricks -- any clay bricks but especially the really rough ones with holes through them. Grab them, bang them together, break them, fill a bucket with the pieces and stick your hands in the bucket, use your imagination. Cheap and no fuss other than some mess.

Also innertubes -- fasten a length of innertube to a wall or post then perform actions such as grabbing, pulling, etc... and build up the intensity over time. This conditions the hands, grip strength, upper body.

[Chance]

My point is that having rough hands may help, but it probably won't get you were you want to be.

Nothing outside a physician's office is going to completely fix the problem, but this is the last thing I want to try before I go for botox injections. CertainDri, and other anti-sweat products, don't work, even after using them steadily for months. Chalk/dirt works alright, until I go to start loading mags, and then I have a fine layer of grit between every round, which leads to failures to feed, and lots of cleaning later. Working on my grip strength has been useful, but I can't simply crush everything. Yadda yadda yadda....

[NerdAlert]

Ropes work well, pulling weights with a rope or climbing a rope. Digging with a spud bar. Anything that will give you blisters will toughen your palms. I'm a blue collar guy and I pull wire which helps. Pull ups with a towel, rope, gi, etc.


Sent from my iPhone, I apologize in advance for typos.

"Gustatus similis pullus"

[Irelander]

Rope has worked good for me to toughen/roughen up my hands.

[Smash]

I think bare knuckle boxers soaked their hands in horse piss... Or is that a myth?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2004/05/why_athletes_pee_on_their_hands.html

[Chance]

I think bare knuckle boxers soaked their hands in horse piss... Or is that a myth?

I recall seeing an Irish bare knuckle boxer say he soaked his hands in gasoline, but I don't want to do that either.

[Hambo]

I know a female golf pro who has impressively calloused hands.

[Hizzie]

Lifting chalk or Metolious Eco Ball (drying agent for rock climbing) will help the gym.

[1slow]

Bare knuckle boxers used to soak their hands in brine (salt water) some also treated their face.
In the 1980s we punched into 5 gallon buckets of dried beans and then soaked our hands in strong epsom salts. This seemed to toughen them somewhat.
Handling rope, stone, block etc... will roughen your hands.

[ford.304]

Liquid chalk if your gym bans the chalk balls.

[Hatchetman]

Traditional martial artists who seek to toughen their hands get a bucket of anything from sand to pea gravel to thrust their hands into. If you haven't worked a knife hand into a heavy bag or anything, take it slow lest you mangle fingers.

[EM_]

Just remember if you work too hard at this you'll have to get high visibility sights...

:cool:

[SecondsCount]

Traditional martial artists who seek to toughen their hands get a bucket of anything from sand to pea gravel to thrust their hands into. If you haven't worked a knife hand into a heavy bag or anything, take it slow lest you mangle fingers.

This was going to be my suggestion as well. I had heard that years ago from a martial artist.

[GJM]

A CZ and VZ grips did it for me. YVK may have another suggestion.

[Jim Watson]

The Royal Navy was said to recommend new sailors soak their hands in brine steeped with tobacco to toughen them for line handling.

[JDM]

Just remember if you work too hard at this you'll have to get high visibility sights...

:cool:

Ha! Well done.

[Kyle Reese]

Ropes work well, pulling weights with a rope or climbing a rope. Digging with a spud bar. Anything that will give you blisters will toughen your palms. I'm a blue collar guy and I pull wire which helps. Pull ups with a towel, rope, gi, etc.


Sent from my iPhone, I apologize in advance for typos.

"Gustatus similis pullus"

Concur.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[taadski]

A CZ and VZ grips did it for me. YVK may have another suggestion.

LOL. The "stranger"?

[taadski]

Some ideas…

-Rope climbing or pulling (Makeshift sled pull?)
-Kettle bell work
-Farmer walks
-Deadlifting (barbell work in general)
-A regular pull-up regiment. (I have a set of Metolious "Rock Rings" that get daily use and do a better "roughening" job than a normal pull-up bar. http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/rock_rings.html)

[Chance]

-A regular pull-up regiment. (I have a set of Metolious "Rock Rings" that get daily use and do a better "roughening" job than a normal pull-up bar. http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/rock_rings.html)

These thingies are interesting. What's the benefit of using these over just trying to hang off the bar with fewer fingers? Do you just do pull-ups with them, or is there some whole workout regimen?


A CZ and VZ grips did it for me. YVK may have another suggestion.

Those might be predicated on owning a 1911. :) I'm poor, and without couth, either of which leaves me with Glocks.



In the 1980s we punched into 5 gallon buckets of dried beans and then soaked our hands in strong epsom salts.

What constitutes a "strong epsom salt"?

[taadski]

These thingies are interesting. What's the benefit of using these over just trying to hang off the bar with fewer fingers? Do you just do pull-ups with them, or is there some whole workout regimen?



Mostly ergonomics as far as I'm concerned. Being able to wrap fingers around a traditional pull-up bar allows one to hang on longer and more effectively work the larger muscles.

These are comfortized but are designed to mimic rock features more. They have good texture to avoid slipping off while allowing one to challenge their contact strength on the shaped holds. I mentioned them specifically b/c of their course texture and their ability to create calluses/hand roughening.

I'm not sure of any particular prescribed regiments using the rock rings specifically, but climbers use all sorts of torture contraptions to make strength gains. Hang boards (similar to the rings but with more features and fixed on a wall), campus rungs, systems boards, etc... Incidentally, many of these have the propensity to cause injury if used or applied incorrectly.

t

[1slow]

These thingies are interesting. What's the benefit of using these over just trying to hang off the bar with fewer fingers? Do you just do pull-ups with them, or is there some whole workout regimen?



Those might be predicated on owning a 1911. :) I'm poor, and without couth, either of which leaves me with Glocks.



What constitutes a "strong epsom salt"?

A strong solution is as much and maybe a little more than will stay in solution. The protocol was to do whatever abraded your hands then soak them for a few minutes then let them air dry.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

I don't have good suggestions if you're poor.

What are you, about 300 miles from Galveston? I have always suspected that saltwater fishing was the thing that made my hands so rough. I also used to have a sailboat. Plus I work with my hands a lot. Honestly, if your feet were shaped like hands, you could wear my hands for shoes.

Anyway that's not very helpful UNLESS: you take from my casual, jokey comment that the three things which really made my hands into their own leather gloves are salt exposure, rope handling, more salt exposure, and a combination of wood and metal working. And, I guess, some leather working. But mostly metal and wood, and salt, and rope.

But I assure you that the above is a recipe for hands that people will comment on after shaking hands. I recommend preparing some jokes like "Yeah, I'm a werewolf. I run on those."

[Chance]

So the gestating consensus seems to be: abrasion, salt, repeat. That's worth a try.

[1slow]

As the skinn gets rougher/thicker, it may require more hand cream to keep from cracking.