JP Fitness Forums - View Single Post - teeny-tiny hands in a too-large gym

birdi_gurlie · 01-19-2009, 12:10 AM

I am currently a highschool girl training to become a better polevaulter. [Yes, POLE VAULT. You heard right.] I am one of those who the coach immediately crossed it out because, well, I look like a distance runner...tall[ish...sorta...kinda...in theory] and skinny. 5'3" 100-ish lb [little less...never more]. I did convince my coach to let me vault but that was because I'm only average/below-average in the other areas. After a LOT of work, I've gotten half-decent...gotten over 6 feet 3 times. I asked my coach what to do to help my vaulting and both he and the weight-training-advisor [a vaulter at our school] looked at me and said, at the same time, "eat meat." I do! I eat plenty of protein and meat.

Anyways, now I'm getting to my point. I have teeny-tiny hands. I just measured them and from the tip of my middle finger to the middle of my palm, it reaches to 6.25 inches. No, I'm not joking...they're that tiny. I now go to the gym with my dad 2-3 times a week. Unfortunately though, his gym is built for big-large-marine-guys, not teeny-high-school-girls. And they're gym went semi-high tech and they have no straight pull up bars...just the weird ones where they have a handle, either horizontal or diagonal and stuff. And they're built for big marine guys and are SPACED for big marine guys. And the bars are sized for large marine-guy hands. They're padded, but they are really annoying fore someone with my size hands because its too wide circumference. When I went to a polevault camp this summer, we used a U-shaped PVC pipe thing for one of our drills-to work on inversion. I had a TERRIBLE time holding on. One of the vault counselors sympathized and said that she too had small hands...but when we compared hand size, mine were smaller.

I can use my school's gym, and the bars are the right size there, but I would have to use it after practice and most people leave directly after practice, leaving few people to spot for certain drills. If we do them at my dad's gym, he can spot me. [We figured out how to do one {http://www.wonderhowto.com/ho w-to/video/how-to-do-the-bubkas-on-the-high-bar-239739/} essentially...there's a Smith machine at my dad's gym that has an almost-small-enough bar, so its not TOO bad, and we lower the bar so that its about 2.5-3 feet off the ground and I start with my legs against hte bar, minus the swinging.] Also, the pull-up bars are attached to the squat machine, and they're all on top of wood, not a pad of some sort. {And you really don't want to fall down from that...I've flipped backwards a few times, doing the exercise from the video above, and I luckily landed on my feet, but you really don't want to flip backwards, if your hands are already barely able to hold on, because you kinda slip off...}

However, I can't do some of the exercises otherwise. I don't really want to use gloves because I NEED the grip [I'm going to be high in the air, holding onto a pole, for dear life, until over a mat....you need good grip] but I'm getting terrible callouses...when I hold onto the bar it pinches them and hurts and I can't stay on the bar long due to that. Also, I think gloves would make it worse because there's ANOTHER layer of something between my hand and the bar....so....any ideas?

[Also, if anyone has any ideas for any exercises that may help work lower-abs for vaulting, besides the leg-lift things while holding onto a handle...looks like a weird "U" with a back rest and vertical hand holds....because those work my shoulders and I don't get a SINGLE bit of a workout from those, but I really really need to...you need lower abs in order to invert.]

Oh, and if any one needs more description of things, especially certain machines, just ask, because I can try to re-explain a little better.

Oh, and just to show that a little weight room DOES and has helped...I am now as strong as my brother was 6 months ago {he's my age...twins} And with the amount of time he spends in the gym, in a little while, I'll be stronger....ooo...but then I might be forced to mow the lawn...thats not good...oh well. And I've had some REALLY good practices because I actually have a little upper-body strength! haha.

01-19-2009, 12:10 AM	#1 (permalink)
birdi_gurlie Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 3	teeny-tiny hands in a too-large gym I am currently a highschool girl training to become a better polevaulter. [Yes, POLE VAULT. You heard right.] I am one of those who the coach immediately crossed it out because, well, I look like a distance runner...tall[ish...sorta...kinda...in theory] and skinny. 5'3" 100-ish lb [little less...never more]. I did convince my coach to let me vault but that was because I'm only average/below-average in the other areas. After a LOT of work, I've gotten half-decent...gotten over 6 feet 3 times. I asked my coach what to do to help my vaulting and both he and the weight-training-advisor [a vaulter at our school] looked at me and said, at the same time, "eat meat." I do! I eat plenty of protein and meat. Anyways, now I'm getting to my point. I have teeny-tiny hands. I just measured them and from the tip of my middle finger to the middle of my palm, it reaches to 6.25 inches. No, I'm not joking...they're that tiny. I now go to the gym with my dad 2-3 times a week. Unfortunately though, his gym is built for big-large-marine-guys, not teeny-high-school-girls. And they're gym went semi-high tech and they have no straight pull up bars...just the weird ones where they have a handle, either horizontal or diagonal and stuff. And they're built for big marine guys and are SPACED for big marine guys. And the bars are sized for large marine-guy hands. They're padded, but they are really annoying fore someone with my size hands because its too wide circumference. When I went to a polevault camp this summer, we used a U-shaped PVC pipe thing for one of our drills-to work on inversion. I had a TERRIBLE time holding on. One of the vault counselors sympathized and said that she too had small hands...but when we compared hand size, mine were smaller. I can use my school's gym, and the bars are the right size there, but I would have to use it after practice and most people leave directly after practice, leaving few people to spot for certain drills. If we do them at my dad's gym, he can spot me. [We figured out how to do one {http://www.wonderhowto.com/ho w-to/video/how-to-do-the-bubkas-on-the-high-bar-239739/} essentially...there's a Smith machine at my dad's gym that has an almost-small-enough bar, so its not TOO bad, and we lower the bar so that its about 2.5-3 feet off the ground and I start with my legs against hte bar, minus the swinging.] Also, the pull-up bars are attached to the squat machine, and they're all on top of wood, not a pad of some sort. {And you really don't want to fall down from that...I've flipped backwards a few times, doing the exercise from the video above, and I luckily landed on my feet, but you really don't want to flip backwards, if your hands are already barely able to hold on, because you kinda slip off...} However, I can't do some of the exercises otherwise. I don't really want to use gloves because I NEED the grip [I'm going to be high in the air, holding onto a pole, for dear life, until over a mat....you need good grip] but I'm getting terrible callouses...when I hold onto the bar it pinches them and hurts and I can't stay on the bar long due to that. Also, I think gloves would make it worse because there's ANOTHER layer of something between my hand and the bar....so....any ideas? [Also, if anyone has any ideas for any exercises that may help work lower-abs for vaulting, besides the leg-lift things while holding onto a handle...looks like a weird "U" with a back rest and vertical hand holds....because those work my shoulders and I don't get a SINGLE bit of a workout from those, but I really really need to...you need lower abs in order to invert.] Oh, and if any one needs more description of things, especially certain machines, just ask, because I can try to re-explain a little better. Oh, and just to show that a little weight room DOES and has helped...I am now as strong as my brother was 6 months ago {he's my age...twins} And with the amount of time he spends in the gym, in a little while, I'll be stronger....ooo...but then I might be forced to mow the lawn...thats not good...oh well. And I've had some REALLY good practices because I actually have a little upper-body strength! haha. Last edited by birdi_gurlie : 01-19-2009 at 12:18 AM. Reason: [adding on]