Ode to Calluses
“If you go to the gym and you don’t have any calluses then it shows me your character.”
"For me calluses are an achievement! Calluses are not developed in a day!! It takes days and days of hard work and determination towards the body which results in this love! Each day when I see my palm, I feel more motivated and determined towards my goal... I love the feel of trimming those thick accumulated calluses, I love to fiddle with callous, I love that look on people’s face while we shake hands, I loveeeeeee everything about callous! Developing it from scratch to trimming it to redeveloping the new ones! It’s an achievement!! The other day when my husband was holding my hand, he was like, dip your hand in some warm water to get rid of calluses! All I had to offer was- go to the gym and get some too!
So please don’t hate it and each day u will start loving it!"
These are the words from one of my long-term client and very best friend Kaavya. Last week when I met her and we were shaking hands, she got charged up feeling my calluses.I was surprised as barely any guy so far appreciated them, leave alone ladies.
Formation of calluses
Usually calluses forms when you do any grip taxing work and these days that mostly happen to gym goers as hardly any of us do manual labor or do activities like climbing or carry heavy loads in hands.
Pussification by fitness industry
In gyms, trainers suggest wearing gloves to avoid them and obviously the pain associated with holding something heavy.Gloves work as a layer which doesn't let you feel the object as it is and so you are never able to anticipate the real load or real thing.In short, gloves desensitize and block the proprioceptive response your hands can get by directly touching the object.
We already have done that with our feet by casting them inside shoes and now facing several issues including flat foot, heel spur and many knees and hip issues as we deprived our feet of feeling they crave. Committing the same crime with our hands by making them less sensitive and weaker by wearing gloves can cause severe repercussions.
Technical issues with wearing gloves
The first and foremost thing is that your technique changes and so the response your body, especially in the exercises like bench press, pull-ups, and deadlifts. The neural response changes as with covered hands it is impossible for hands to send optimal proprioceptive signals to the brain, This might lead to weaker forearms and finger strength.
“You might get strong with gloves on but you won’t be able to be tough.”
Calluses mindset
The way we try to avoid getting tougher in the gym by using gloves, the same way we avoid any discomfort in our daily life and becoming a miniature version of great homo sapiens. We reached here in the history of evolution with hard work and myriad struggles but now we are turning the wheel in reverse direction by avoiding physically taxing work. Even if we are doing it, it is to look good not to be strong and resilient.Our approach has turned cosmetic.
We must develop a callus mindset to evolve and get better than being a wussy.