Two Solutions for Lifting Weights with Hand and Wrist Pain
I have erosive arthritis in my hands (and probably elsewhere, but I could only afford an ultrasound on my hands, healthcare in this country is infuriating), and while it’s not completely debilitating, it occasionally makes simple things difficult, painful, and just obnoxious. I have all kinds of tricks for making life easier with limited dexterity, but my latest one is something I’m really proud of. Here’s the thing about having hand issues: You can have no pain or difficulty with the rest of your arm, but because very few tasks require arms but not hands, hand issues can ruin the party for everyone. This is the case for me and exercise.
Yet another sucky thing about developing joint erosion in your 20s? You still have a LOT of life left ahead of you, and your body is already breaking down. I want to keep this body functional for as long as possible, so I strength train (turns out I love to lift heavy weights!). But when your hands and wrists aren’t cooperating, it doesn’t matter that you have strong bis and tris - you need your hands to hold those weights!
Luckily, Drip Accessory, the makers of my beloved Spintowel, also make weight wraps. They’re essentially little terrycloth towels with elastic on the end. You wrap them around your weight and they provide a sweat barrier, or in my case, a nice cushioned grip for your hands. They’re small though - the listing says they’re for 2-6lb weights. I have Peloton brand 3lb weights on my bike, and they fit perfectly. Even better, they still fit in the weight holder with the wraps on.
When I’m strength training, I usually use 10, 15, and 20lb weights, and I wanted to see if the wraps would work on them too (yes, even though the maker says they don’t, I wanted to see for myself).
I could get the wraps on my 10lb weights, but it was a huge pain and I was worried I would rip the elastic band off the wrap. I wouldn’t recommend it. But as I sat there wrestling an outfit on an uncooperative 10lb dumbbell, I started to think, “I bet I could make something that would work the same, but not make me want to throw this weight across the room.”
Remember when I bought a big Lululemon towel and cut it into smaller towels? Well I took one of those towels and cut it up AGAIN, this time into four strips of fabric, each one about 6.5” wide. Then I added two hair ties (I got these ones because they were super stretchy - they’re what I use on my hair - and I knew they would fit over my dumbbells) and voila!
It works better than I imagined. I folded the towel in half the long way, then wrapped it around the handle of the dumbbell, secured with two hair ties. It doesn’t slip around when I’m lifting weights, and it provides a good amount of cushioning for my hands. And because I got four wraps out of one towel, I can have cushioning on my 10s and 15s for a workout, making it easy to switch between them and still keep my hands comfortable.
Now I use the Drip Accessory wraps on my bike weights, and my homemade ones on my floor weights, and my hands can actually hold weights without getting stiff, painful, and unusable.
