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Hand Care 101: Preventing Rips

A lot of people are into working out hard and depending on your sport, the sensitive skin on your palms can get rough and become torn. How do you prevent rips? If a rip occurs, how do you treat it?

Becca Borawski

Written by Becca Borawski Last updated on August 9, 2011

A lot of people I know are into working out hard these days. Whether it is rock climbing, rowing, CrossFit, weightlifting, or any number of other activities, your hands take a serious beating. The sensitive skin on your palms can get rough and, in the worst scenario, rip open. Rips are painful, unattractive, and a hindrance to further training.

What can you do to prevent rips? And once a rip occurs, how do you treat it?

Hand Maintenance

The first step is taking care of your hands before damage occurs. Ideally, your hands would be completely smooth. If your skin is not rough and lumpy, there is nothing to catch on the bar when you are lifting or doing pull ups.

Excellent tools for shaving down your calluses are a pumice stone, a PedEgg, or a corn/callus shaver. For those with less patience and a little more bravery, the Dremel with the sanding tool attached is by far the most effective and efficient tool for shaving calluses. Start with a slow speed and work your way up as you gain confidence using it.

No matter how great the tool, it does not do any good if you are not using it. Get in the daily habit of shaving your hands. A perfect time to do it is right after you get out of the shower when your skin is puffy and soft.

Prevention During the Workout

Coming in with smooth hands is one thing, but what happens now that you start the workout? There are a few tools we can use to keep the rips at bay.

Chalk – Chalk is a double-edged sword. Small amounts keep your hands dry and help your grip. This means you are less likely to hold the bar too tight, which is a good thing as far as callus prevention. On the other hand, chronic over-chalkers may actually be creating more friction by having so much chalk on their hands. Be frugal with the chalk and use a towel to dry your hands between sets.

Grip – Think about how you actually grip the bar. Are you grabbing it way down in the palm of your hand? Or are you grabbing it more around the base of your fingers? Think about how rock climbers use their fingers more than their hands. Think about the fact you are pulling on something, not pushing. The bar should not be all the way into the bottom of your palm, it will only cause more folds of skin to bunch up and you are more likely to rip.

Leather Hand Grips – If you just have sensitive hands or you work in a profession where you cannot tolerate ripped palms, consider using leather hand grips. These are not a cure-all. They take some getting used to and it is possible to still rip even while wearing a grip, but they will help tremendously once you adjust to using them.

It Just Takes Time

Conditioning your palms is just like building up any other part of your body. It just takes time. You will go through a period of time where no matter how careful you are, your hands will rip if you hit a high enough volume of exercise. Be patient and be careful and you will get through it. Your hands will come out tougher on the other side.

Take good care of your hands, keep your calluses to an absolute minimum, do not grip the bar too tight, and use grips if you need to. This simple advice will help you get through your training with less pain and more enjoyment.

And, here is one very important piece of advice to take to heart – it does not make you cool to rip your hands. Real athletes care for their bodies and that includes the skin on their palms.

Becca Borawski

About Becca Borawski

Becca found her way to a career in health and fitness through Martial Arts and CrossFit. Originally a music editor for film and television, Becca started studying Martial Arts in 2000. Though she started with traditional Martial Arts it was not long before she discovered Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and her path was forever altered. She began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and Muay Thai and started working with professional MMA fighters, building websites, working on fight promotions, and producing videos.

As a competitor in BJJ herself, Becca wanted to get stronger and fitter. In 2006 she discovered CrossFit and became a student at CrossFit Los Angeles. In only a couple of years she became CrossFit Level III Certified, left her career in the film industry, and dedicated herself full time to coaching. She has since been certified through CrossFit in Olympic Lifting, Powerlifting, Nutrition, Endurance and Kids coaching. She also held an NSCA-CSCS from 2006-2008 and is a certified IndoRow instructor. In addition to coaching adults, she founded the CrossFit LA Kids program in 2010 and taught children aged 5-17.

Becca regularly takes on new sports, which have included indoor rowing, fencing, and most recently, cycling, as she believes it makes her both a better athlete and a better coach. In order to reach more people with her coaching, Becca also created ModernAthena.com – a website dedicated to women in pursuit of physical fitness and self-improvement.

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