I found when I first started riding in 2010 that it made a world of difference as my rides gradually increased to more than 20 miles. The saddle that was fine before...suddenly wasn't so much and it took some time to eventually find that the Sell Italia LDY Gel flow worked best for me. I had a flat-bar road bike which is the same riding position that your hybrid has. Working on your core strength off the bike may help your hands, it depends on what is causing the hand problem. You could be unconsciously weighting your hands too much and not engaging your core enough, or it could be other problems. All of my bikes have had bar-ends, but I removed them this year as I've never actually used them. We found that, for me, most of my weight MUST be on my sit bones to avoid hand pain (arthritis). Once we figured out the right balance I could ride all day long, literally, without hand pain.

The bottom line is it can take some time and experimentation to figure out what the problem is. If you can afford and have access to a GOOD fitter who knows how to think outside of the box you owe it to yourself to do it.