I’m not a fan of wearing gloves of any kind when training with kettlebells.  But I also know ripped up hands don’t make kettlebell training very easy.  And some of you just want to protect your hands.  I was actually  re-reading Enter The Kettlebell for about the 100th time last night, and I came across a great solution to this common problem:  Fingerless cloth gloves.

Jared Savik, a kettlebell sport national champion and RKC, came up with this solution – according to him, it allows for 80-90% max rep range (he talks about using gloves in the context of high-rep snatching; but this is one big reason why I don’t like using gloves – it makes you weaker) and forces a little extra grip work.  The idea is that the gloves allow the kettlebell handle to rotate and not tear up your hands, while still allowing your fingers to catch the handle. 

The other cool thing is that you can pick up a pair of these gloves for just a few bucks at the local home improvement store.  If they’re the type with rubber dots on the palms, no problem – just flip them around.  They’re generally not right or left specific.

All this being said, here’s something to keep in mind:  If you’re tearing up your hands, you’re probably doing too much too fast, or you’re gripping the ‘bell too tightly at the wrong times.  If you slowly increase the length and duration of your kettlebell workouts and you pay attention to using perfect kettlebell training technique, your hands should be totally fine.

So if you’re trying to save your hands but you love training with kettlebells, try out the fingerless cloth glove solution – it could be a life saver for ‘ya!  Let me know what you think in the comments section below.  Oh, and if you haven’t signed up for the KettlebellBasics.net Newsletter, be sure to do so now!  You’ll get a free training video and my Beginner’s Guide to Kettlebell Training when you sign up – just drop your name and email into the box at the upper right hand corner of the page.