Painful hands after starting weights

[DiggoryVenn]

I've been doing Caroline Girvan (Epic beginner and now Iron) for 2 or 3 weeks now with some pretty low weights compared to what she is using. I've not used weights before. But my hands are really painful - too painful to properly grip and write with a pen, but not too painful to type.

For context my weights have ranged between 2 x 1kg - 2 x 3 kg. I have just swapped from adjustable weights to a neoprene set which are more comfortable.

Is this normal when you start weights? If so, how long did it take for it to stop hurting? I'm really enjoying it, so don't want to give up.

Get yourself a pair of weightlifting gloves off amazon, fingerless gloves with grip. They'll save your hands although you will get used to it with time.

No that’s not normal especially for such light weights. Do you mean the joints in your hands are sore? The only hand soreness I get from weights is callouses but they can be avoided with gloves, a 24kg kettlebell shouldn’t hurt your hand never mind a 3kg one.

I never had sore hands from lifting, and I would have been lifting up to 115kg. I never used gloves, either. I wouldn't think discomfort would be normal at the weights you're using.

Your hands and wrists have muscles too and if you’re using them in unaccustomed ways and with unaccustomed load, you will get a certain amount of muscle discomfort from new types of use.

You can train grip strength. Look up the exercise “farmer’s carry”. That will train grip strength. I’m working towards being able to carry the equivalent of my own weight in kettlebells for a minute. I’ve got up to 64 kilos - I weigh 70.

Thanks for the responses. They aren't sore, just painful. I'm wondering if it is possibly the start of arthritis then (I'm 51).

I will look up those exercises and look for a pair of gloves and see if things improve. If not, I will see a GP.

Don’t overlook DOMS - delayed onset muscle soreness

My wrists started aching when I moved from 2 x 10kg to 2 x12.5kg (I am doing caroline girvan iron). I think it is just weak wrists. Look up the rice bucket challenge, it is meant to help with grip strength.

I read somewhere, I think here, that you know if it’s arthritis of your hands would hurt at rest as well. I had the same query - my knees don’t like a lot of weight but I think it’s muscular. Don’t know how since I used to carry five extra stone on the damn things 🤣

I'm going to take all your comments on board. I'm enjoying it so much that I don't want to give up, so am just keeping my fingers crossed that it will get better over time.