Hand Care for CrossFitters and Preventing Rips
Our hands are our tools, if they are not at 100% we can’t train at 100%. Posting a picture of your hands being ripped doesn’t mean you are hardcore and train super hard. It means you didn’t take care of yourself properly. Proper hand care falls into the same category of proper nutrition, getting enough sleep, and all general recovery work. Taking care of yourself outside of the gym is important to make sure your training time is as productive as possible. People who train even only a moderate amount will develop calluses and be at risk of ripping. Calluses are good: it is our body making our skin harder to adapt to what we require of our hands. The issue the causes the hand to rip is not the callus, it is the skin around the callus. If you have ever ripped, you know the callus doesn’t split or break, the whole callus comes off in one chunk. It’s being uneven that creates a weakness, a place for all the pressure to go. This is made worse by gripping the bar incorrectly.
Pic of bar in wrong spot (middle of hand)
Pic of bar in right spot (base of fingers)
What to do if you rip
If your hand rips, you’ll need to take care of it fast to get back to and get the most out of you training. It’s important to keep it covered. When it first rips, it won’t hurt that bad. What will bother the most is the next few days when the area dries and cracks open as you open your hand. This will take longer for it to heal and overall it just sucks. It’s best to keep it moist and covered until the rip is fully healed with a new layer of skin.
If you rip and need to get back to your workout, here is a way to tape it:
1: Rip on hand
Split the tape half way down and cross around the finger closest to rip
2: tape Length twice that of base of finger to wrist
tape around your wrist to keep the tape secure
We can use this same way of taping in the following days as the rip heals.
How to train around a rip
Until the rip heals it may be best to adjust your training to let it heal as quickly as possible. This will allow you to get back to your regular training as soon as possible. Many movements can be traded out with others that won’t require grip. Although not ideal, these substitutions are better than nothing. Example: if because of a rip you can’t perform cleans, that day you can still do box jumps to work on explosive power and squat to build strength. Using lifting straps, gloves, or gymnastics grips may also protect your hands and allow you to train around a rip.
Preventing a Rip
It’s far better to prevent rips from happening in the first place than it is to adjust after it happens. Many common solutions are extreme and unnecessary (also stupid). Some people will use razor blades or an electric sander to deal with their calluses. That’s crazy, our hands are not hardened chunks of stone. It is best to do a little each day and keep them consistent and even. Here are some steps to prevent rips.
Wash your hands
Chalk is great to help with grip during a training session, but after it will leave your hands dried out and more likely to rip in the future. After you have done your workout wash all the chalk off your hands.
Use Lotion
Any type of moisturizing hand lotion is great to keep your hands from drying out and cracking. I recommend using it after you wash and dry your hands post workout, as well as right before bed. Any other time your hands feel dried out, use some. Don’t put on lotion before a training session, the bar will slip right out your hands.
Use a Pumice Stone
This is the best tool to take care of your hands. Lightly filing down the callus that builds up each day takes almost no time at all and will keep your skin polished and even. Allowing your calluses to over develop will cause the whole thing to rip off. Pumice stones work well, because you can file your calluses down each day at the same rate they build up. I recommend using a pumice stone in the shower when your hands will be softened by the warm water.
Where to Find the Tools of the Trade
There are multiple companies out there that provide hand maintenance/rip prevention kits for CrossFitters that include a pumice stone, lotion and more. These kits are nice to keep with you for easy access inside or outside of the gym. Our favorites are listed below.
The main point is take care of your hands. They are important.
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