When you first start lifting your hands will crack and blister but over time calluses develop…(unless you lift with workout gloves—which most people don’t recommend because they increase the thickness of what you are holding, actually make it harder to grip, and can hinder your development of grip strength).

Pulling movements are the real offenders here: pull-ups, deadlifts, rows, kettlebell swings, and anything hanging from rings can really murder your hands and cause a lot of pain. (If you’re a masochist- or a strongman- and really want to feel the pain, try arm-over-arm sled pulls with a very long rope). Although the calluses that form do protect your hands by being tougher and more protective than regular skin, they can still be quite painful and can even rip and cause the skin underneath the callus to bleed.

The best way to manage calluses is to keep them from getting too big and thick. If calluses are kept low and don’t develop to be too much thicker than the rest of the skin they won’t hurt much and definitely won’t tear.

My calluses used to bug me a lot until I heard this tip. When I added high rep kettlebell swings into all of the pulling movements I was already doing, the calluses got way too thick and my hands always felt tender and sore during and after a workout. Then throughout the day I couldn’t resist the urge to pick and pull at my calluses. Besides grossing my wife out it would often result in me picking and pulling the callus too far and I would peel off some of my regular hand skin (ouch!).

Preventing this is simple. Here’s what I do. About once a week:

1- I soak your hands in hot water for at least 5 minutes. You want it to be hot but don’t scald yourself.

2- Dry your hands.

3- Immediately work on sanding the calluses down (with a pumice stone, nail file, or one of these):

4- (Optional Step)- You can apply moisturizer after filing everything down to keep the skin supple and less likely to crack in the future.

This process should not hurt! If it does you are scraping too hard or grinding the calluses down too far to the skin.

I grind away until the calluses are A LITTLE BIT thicker than the rest of the skin (you still want them to protect your hands so don’t totally grind them away) but not too thick. Once again, the best way to keep your calluses in check is to prevent them from getting too thick.

It’s a simple solution and has worked well for me and countless others. Give it a try!

Bonus tip: Chalking your hands before gripping a bar/dumbbell/kettlebell is good for added grip…BUT too much chalk can actually create more friction and tax the grip and skin on your hands even more which is totally counterproductive. There’s a nice sweet spot for the perfect amount of chalk and you have to find it through trial and error.