Hi, I read the list and what about callous on hands.
I think that it is quite a popular sign to see among wheightlifters, bodybuilders and generally most people who seriously go to the gym.
I would give this a high confidence as long as the callouses are at the start of the fingers so on the palm of the hand technically right below the first knuckle.
Additionally if there are some callouses on the thumb that can indicate that they do olympic weightlifting meaning snatch and clean and jerk because there everybody uses a hook grip where the thumg is squeezed on to the bar by the other fingers to increase grip strength.
Generally I do think that from the callous you could also get to when they have last been there and with what intensity or weight they train. People on a higher level tend to have callous and rough skin already built up as far as I know, while people who are starting out or haven’t trained consistently with exercises that include pulling as those exercises are harder on the hands might have some but since it won’t be a mature cornea it is likely to fall of and be unsmooth.
The callouses are different from those that climbers get, as climbing and bouldering has a way bigger emphasis on the fingers so if the callous is also on the fingers on can conclude, that they climb.
If there are no callouses this doesn’t have to mean that they do not train as some people use lifting straps, but overall I have been able to observe it quite often with others but also when looking at my hands depending on if I was actively going to the gym or took a couple months break.
There might be other reasons for getting callous on the hands but I could not think of any that produce the same characteristics.
This is my first post so please be kind and let me know what you think
Thanks! I am particularly interested on the hook grip calluses on thumbs, I’ll look into that.
Calluses at the base of the finger (say, the knuckle-joint of the palm) are in my experience very difficult to classify. I get them there by climbing as you said, and though I also get some calluses on my fingers those tend to be less persistent and probably disappear most of the time (after climbing for awhile at my level of intensity I stop getting calluses). I have also seen them from biking—when I started out I used to look at people’s palms a lot and never came up with a reliable way to distinguish this from weightlifting. But if you could go into some more detail on the differences, perhaps I’ll add a more speculative entry and see how it stands up!
(If it’s your first post on lesswrong, welcome! I think you’ll find that kindness/politeness is the community norm here)
Hi, I read the list and what about callous on hands.
I think that it is quite a popular sign to see among wheightlifters, bodybuilders and generally most people who seriously go to the gym.
I would give this a high confidence as long as the callouses are at the start of the fingers so on the palm of the hand technically right below the first knuckle.
Additionally if there are some callouses on the thumb that can indicate that they do olympic weightlifting meaning snatch and clean and jerk because there everybody uses a hook grip where the thumg is squeezed on to the bar by the other fingers to increase grip strength.
Generally I do think that from the callous you could also get to when they have last been there and with what intensity or weight they train. People on a higher level tend to have callous and rough skin already built up as far as I know, while people who are starting out or haven’t trained consistently with exercises that include pulling as those exercises are harder on the hands might have some but since it won’t be a mature cornea it is likely to fall of and be unsmooth.
The callouses are different from those that climbers get, as climbing and bouldering has a way bigger emphasis on the fingers so if the callous is also on the fingers on can conclude, that they climb.
If there are no callouses this doesn’t have to mean that they do not train as some people use lifting straps, but overall I have been able to observe it quite often with others but also when looking at my hands depending on if I was actively going to the gym or took a couple months break.
There might be other reasons for getting callous on the hands but I could not think of any that produce the same characteristics.
This is my first post so please be kind and let me know what you think
Thanks! I am particularly interested on the hook grip calluses on thumbs, I’ll look into that.
Calluses at the base of the finger (say, the knuckle-joint of the palm) are in my experience very difficult to classify. I get them there by climbing as you said, and though I also get some calluses on my fingers those tend to be less persistent and probably disappear most of the time (after climbing for awhile at my level of intensity I stop getting calluses). I have also seen them from biking—when I started out I used to look at people’s palms a lot and never came up with a reliable way to distinguish this from weightlifting. But if you could go into some more detail on the differences, perhaps I’ll add a more speculative entry and see how it stands up!
(If it’s your first post on lesswrong, welcome! I think you’ll find that kindness/politeness is the community norm here)