Rowing Gloves?

[Mike A]

Does anyone have suggestions for good indoor/outdoor rowing golves?

I have yet to use gloves on the C2, but I do notice when I row long stretches my hands become pickled with the sweat. After 12 to 15K the calluses will start pulling off. I rarely go over 12K in a single sitting, so it hasn't been too big of a problem.

However, when I row on the water, my hands get shredded by 7K. I wore my weight lifting gloves this morning on a 14K on water row and still got blisters on my finger tips and palms.

I'm new to this sport, both indoor and out, so any suggestions would be most appreciated.

[johnlvs2run]

I use tennis wrist wraps for longer rows and they work very well.

Also I have reverse wrapped the handle with nylon socks, which gives me a good grip at all times and also prevents blisters.

[Ray79]

If you dont mind your hands looking and feeling a little rough for a while I would say to tough it out. Your hands will get use to it in time.

I used to get bad blisters too, but havent had any in a while, although I do find when i switch fro rowing to sculling on the water it takes a couple of outings til everything settles down a bit.

However you should not be getting blisters so much on you palms and finger tips i dont think, more on the grips of your fingers (between knuckles and upper palm), so it may be worth havig a close look at your grip. Do you get the ones in your palms when sculling or sweeping?

[Mike A]

If you dont mind your hands looking and feeling a little rough for a while I would say to tough it out. Your hands will get use to it in time.

However you should not be getting blisters so much on you palms and finger tips i dont think, more on the grips of your fingers (between knuckles and upper palm), so it may be worth havig a close look at your grip. Do you get the ones in your palms when sculling or sweeping?

I've been rowing 30 to 60K per week since the end of February. How long does it take? I actually have developed calluses, and the problem only occurs on the indoor rower when my hands stay wet for extended periods.

With outdoor rowing, I think the reason I have more problems is the rotation of the sculls after the finish and before the catch. This extra movement causes more friction. You were correct on where the blisters are occurring. They are mostly at the creases of the finger joints with the worst at the crease between my palm and middle two fingers. The finger tip I mentioned above was the end of one of my pinky fingers. By the end of the row, the skin was freely moving around the pad of that finger.

[johnnybike]

Reebok Gripmaster, very light covers for the hand, not really gloves. Suitable for erging. I don't do OTW so cannot comment on that

[Ray79]

If you dont mind your hands looking and feeling a little rough for a while I would say to tough it out. Your hands will get use to it in time.

However you should not be getting blisters so much on you palms and finger tips i dont think, more on the grips of your fingers (between knuckles and upper palm), so it may be worth havig a close look at your grip. Do you get the ones in your palms when sculling or sweeping?

I've been rowing 30 to 60K per week since the end of February. How long does it take? I actually have developed calluses, and the problem only occurs on the indoor rower when my hands stay wet for extended periods.

With outdoor rowing, I think the reason I have more problems is the rotation of the sculls after the finish and before the catch. This extra movement causes more friction. You were correct on where the blisters are occurring. They are mostly at the creases of the finger joints with the worst at the crease between my palm and middle two fingers. The finger tip I mentioned above was the end of one of my pinky fingers. By the end of the row, the skin was freely moving around the pad of that finger.

Thats a fair amount of distance you have been doing. I would follow Johnnybikes advice from a purely erging perspective. As for when you are sculling, try to use a loose grip on the recovery and just use you fingers to roll the sculls to the square and feather positions, and dont grip too tight even on the drive, as long as you are hooked on at the catch and maintain the pressure, you shouldnt lose grip on the oars. Try adjusting your grip slightly too and you may just find one that suits better

Best of luck

[FrankJ]

I've been rowing 30 to 60K per week since the end of February. How long does it take? I actually have developed calluses, and the problem only occurs on the indoor rower when my hands stay wet for extended periods.

With outdoor rowing, I think the reason I have more problems is the rotation of the sculls after the finish and before the catch. This extra movement causes more friction. You were correct on where the blisters are occurring. They are mostly at the creases of the finger joints with the worst at the crease between my palm and middle two fingers. The finger tip I mentioned above was the end of one of my pinky fingers. By the end of the row, the skin was freely moving around the pad of that finger.

Mike,

I'm having the same problem. I've been erging for 3.5 years and use Gill half-finger sailing on the erg and love them. This summer I've been on the water and find that the half-finger gloves just don't work for sculling. I expected that so I stopped using gloves on the erg to get my hands hardened but that also didn't work. I bought a boat about a week and a half ago and have been on the water about 2.5 hours. I now have 2 blisters on the right and hand and 3 on the left. I think the problem is that the erg handle just doesn't move as much or change angles like a real oar.

I have an old pair of Ironclad box handler gloves which I'm going to try next time I row. If they work OK I will probably go for a pair of Gill long-finger sailing gloves. I will report here on my test. It should be Saturday morning if the weather and work permits.

Frank

Frank

[Byron Drachman]

I agree with Ray and others that for on the water you need a loose grip, thinking of the curled fingers as hooks. Athletic tape over a bad blister helps. Some people trim calluses if they get too thick.

Byron

[JimR]

I find a tery towel over the handle helps wick the moisture ... and wrist bands to keep the sweat from the arms reaching the handle too. If you do intervals flip the towel between pieces and/or get a fresh one if needed.

JimR

[johnlvs2run]

A cotton terry towel is okay when it's dry, but will float the skin right off of your hands when it's wet.

[bw1099]

I am an advocate of bare wooden handles. I tried rubber grips for 2 years and had lots of blisters. Then I got some new oars with (varnished) wooden handles and used those for a year. Fewer blisters. Then I stripped the varnish off and no more blisters.

bw

[FrankJ]

As promised I gave my old Ironclad box handler gloves a try on the water this morning. They worked great. I had one blister that had broken open and 4 smaller blister from the last time I was out (Wednesday) and there was absolutely no irritation at all. My rowing time was about an hour and I could have easily gone longer if I had the time.

I would buy a new pair but when I searched for them online it looks like they've changed the style from the ones I have. I also looked at the Gill long finger sailing gloves but they have the index finger cut short which could be a problem. I've got to look around and see what I can find locally in the meantime I have my falling apart Ironclad gloves while my blisters are healing.

Frank

[rowbear]

l've tried various things with mixed results. Best thing I've just come across is full fingered mountain bike racing gloves. Great padding, great protection from blisters across your whole hand. Out of the two I tried, I find it more comfortable with the ones that are one size bigger than what I would normally wear.

[Spectre]

I am not a big advocate of gloves OTW and generally feel that gloves dampen the feel one needs to take good strokes and maintain clean blade work. With that disclaimer here are my two cents on gloves OTW. Several months ago I competed in the CPR ultra distance rowing race from Corvallis to Portland, Oregon. This is 115 miles of rowing over a day and a half. One is sure to get blisters no matter what you do. There are folks that do this race bare handed but it takes a very very light touch. All the veterans recommended cheap light cotton gardening gloves with just the very tips of the fingers cut off. I tried this but used cloves that were too thick and did not allow my hands to breath enough. My hands got so steamy in those gloves I think I got more blisters than if I had gone bare handed. My partner used the correct gloves but did not cut the finger tips off and still has black finger nails on both hands from the pulling of the gloves over the nail. His hands had blisters but nothing like mine. A survey after the race confirmed the veterans advice in that most of the folks with hamburger for palms had used gloves too thick or had too much rubber to allow proper breathing. The optimum glove is a thin cotton one with the small rubber dots on the palm and finger. you want the ones that are made of stretchy cotton and fit your hand nice and snug. Hope this helps.

[FrankJ]

I ended up buying a new pair of Ironclad General Utility gloves. They have more extra padding than I would like but still work well enough for me. I've been rowing about 6 miles for a workout. At first I was doing 2 miles without gloves and 4 with. The last time I tried going 4 without and 2 with but ended up with a new blister. I suppose that means going 3 and 3 for a while. I suspect my stroke and hand positioning is changing enough since I'm so new at sculling that blisters will be a problem for a while.

Got my first race scheduled on August 5. Hope I can do OK without taking any unscheduled swims. Probably won't wear gloves as it is a 5K.

Frank