Palm Protector (for Snatching a Kettlebell)

This is designed for snatching a kettlebell, but also works for any situation where you need a cheap, easily-removable way to reduce friction on your palm.

While learning the kettlebell snatch, it is easy to blister the skin on your palm or the pads of your knuckles due to the repeated friction. This blister becomes uncomfortable very quickly. The blister will soon tear, leaving raw, exposed skin, which makes any further lifting very painful and can take weeks to heal fully.

Ultimately, you can refine your kettlebell snatch technique to minimise the friction, but when first learning, or doing particularly high-volume training, these protectors come in very useful.

As usual, prevention is much better than cure, so don't wait for friction spots or blisters to appear before using them.

Over years of teaching hundreds of students and numerous kettlebell courses, we have seen, bought and made several different solutions. We prefer this design as it is cheap, easily removable, re-usable, and doesn't leave adhesive residue on your hand or the kettlebell.

Supplies

2.5cm / 2" wide kinesio tape (aka Rock Tape, k-tape, physio tape)

Scissors

With practice, it takes less than 10 minutes to make a pair

Step 1: Measure and Cut the Main Body

Measure a length of tape from the tip of your middle finger to the base of your palm.

You'll need double this length, so fold the tape back on itself, then cut.

Step 2: Expose the Middle

Hold the tape in the middle with both hands, then pull from either side of the middle to make a tear in the backing material.

Continue until the backing is torn all the way across.

Pull the backing off, away from the middle and equally in both directions, to expose approximately 5cm / 2" of adhesive.

Step 3: Create the Finger Loop

Fold the exposed portion of the tape onto itself, adhesive to adhesive.

Take care to make sure the edges of the tape line up square to each other.

Step 4: Tidy the Ends of the Finger Loop

The ends of the finger loop need to be stuck down to make a pair of triangles on each side.

Take care that the pair of triangles make a perpendicular line across the width of the tape (marked in yellow).

If the two triangles aren't in line, the protector won't sit square and flat on your palm.

Step 5: Join the Two Tails

Remove most of the backing material from one of the two remaining sections.

[Leaving a small portion of backing in place makes it easier to handle the tape and keep it flat without it sticking to your fingers]

From the finger loop down, stick the plain side of one tail to the exposed adhesive on the other, overlapping by approximately 5mm / 1/4".

Ensure the finger loop is symmetrical - the bottoms of the triangles on both tails should line up (along the yellow line shown).

Once complete, remove the remaining backing material

Step 6: Add Cover Strips

Cut two more pieces of tape, each the same length as the area with exposed adhesive.

Remove the backing material from one end of the first strip.

Carefully place this strip on top of the rectangular area, adhesive to adhesive, matching the long edge on one side.

Ensure the narrow edge is flush to the bottom of the finger loop, so it covers all adhesive

Peel off the rest of the backing material as you go.

Repeat with the second strip to cover the remaining exposed adhesive.

Step 7: Tidy Up the Edges

Finally, trim the base of the protector to ensure a tidy edge with no exposed adhesive.

Similarly, trim the sides if there is any adhesive still visible.

Enjoy!