To a certain degree, ripping your hands is inevitable. If you’re swinging around on bars doing 100 pull-ups or toes-to-bar and then throwing a kettlebell around, what do you expect?

Sometimes they hit you out of the blue. You look down at your hands after a workout and notice a giant blood blister has formed. Other times, you can feel one coming on—it starts with some shifting skin that crinkles a bit, and if you keep going, the skin tears right off leaving you with a gaping rip.

Either way, the questions become: “What do I do now?”

Pop the blister or let it resolve of its own volition? Cut the dangling skin from your hand? Keep the rip moist or let it dry out?

To Pop or Not to Pop?

When I was in gymnastics, my coach’s advice, which I followed on a number of occasions, was to get a needle and thread and poke a hole in one side of my blister and string it through to the other side. Then I’d go to bed with thread through two holes on either side of my blister.

The idea with this was that it allowed the blister to dry out a bit so I could get back on the bars the next day with less pain. It sure beats hopping onto the bar and having the blister pop and rip the next day. Not only would this get blood on the bars, but it would make for a much more painful bar session. (Not doing bars because of a blister or rip was unheard of for a young gymnast.)

So, if you absolutely need to touch the bar, kettlebells, or a barbell the next day, this might be the way to go.

But if you’re not a hardcore gymnast and you can avoid heavy gripping movements for the next day or so, then it might be better to let the blister be. It will dry out on its own and when it rips once it’s dry, it’s considerably less painful than when a fresh blister pops and rips.

To Trim or Not to Trim?

If the skin is dangling, and if you plan on continuing to workout with your hands that day or the following day, use some scissors and cut the loose skin as close to your hand as you can. If you leave even a small piece dangling, you run the risk of it pulling back even further and becoming an even deeper, more painful rip.

After you cut the dangling skin, use some sandpaper or a pumice stone to gently smooth the edges so you don’t leave skin protruding higher than the rip. This will stop the skin from pulling back even further as discussed above.

Wet or Dry?

The goal: You want it not too wet, not too dry, but just right.

If it’s too wet because you gave it a good dose of Polysporin, sometimes the wound will remain more moist, raw, and more painful than it should be.

On the other hand, if it’s too dry, then you run the risk of cracking your skin and forming an even deeper rip within your original rip.

Thus, the best way is to put some sort of ointment on it right away. I like Ript Skin Systems’ Quick Fix. They also sell a pumice stone that’s useful for keeping your calluses thin and pliable. Keep it on overnight but don’t cover the rip. It’ll be just enough to keep it the right amount of moisture in the rip.

If you cover it at night, it’ll be way more tender in the morning than if you leave it to air out. Then you can reassess in the morning. If the rip looks and feels really dry when you wake up, put a bit more product on it and leave it be. If it doesn’t look insanely dry, then keep it as is and leave it uncovered.

Rip Prevention

If you’re doing 150 chest-to-bar pull-ups, you’re probably going to rip. But, most of the time you don’t need to rip, and you can do a lot of things to help keep those rips from happening in the first place.

1. Keep the Calluses Thin: That’s what fine grain sandpaper or pumice stone is for. When you feel your calluses getting thick, especially the ones at the base of your fingers, sand them down a bit.
2. The Right Amount of Moisture: Same for moisture. You don’t want your hands too dry, but also not too moist, so pay attention to the state of your skin. Make sure you always wash your hands after you have chalk on them—not doing so leads to dry skin. On the flipside, if your hands are naturally oily, consider avoiding that moisturizer before bed. However, if they’re often dry, moisturize away.
3. Use Tape: Taping your hands is a great preventative measure before any hand-based workout—or you can buy a pair of gymnastics grips, but I find tape works just as well. Check out this article I wrote about ways to tape your hands for prevention.

Do What Makes Sense

Keep your hands healthy and avoid as many rips as possible. When unavoidable, follow the steps to heal them up quickly so you can get back on those kettlebells and barbells.

Any more questions, come chat with us!

The post Heal and Prevent Hand Rips appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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 or on the kettlebell when you’re swinging or snatching.

Excellent tools for shaving down your calluses are a pumice stone, a PedEgg, or a corn or callus shaver. For those with less patience and a little more bravery, the Dremel is by far the most effective and efficient tool for shaving calluses. Use the sanding tool that comes with the Dremel and start at a slow speed. Work your way up to higher speeds as you gain confidence using it. You just want to grind off the dead skin. Trust me, you’ll know if you hit good skin by accident!

Of course, no matter how great the tool, it doesn’t do any good if you’re not using it. Get in the daily habit of shaving your hands. A perfect time is right after you get out of the shower when your skin is puffy and soft.

Prevention During the Workout

Now 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 tightly, 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 barbell, pull up bar, or kettlebell. Are you grabbing it way down in the palm of your hand? Or are you grabbing it more with your fingers? Think about how rock climbers use their fingers to grip, rather than their whole hand. Think about the fact you are hanging on something, not pushing. The bar, or the kettlebell handle, should not be all the way into the meat of your palm. That will only cause more folds of skin to bunch up and increase the likelihood of ripping. Practice hanging onto things with just your first couple knuckles.

Leather Hand Grips: If you have sensitive skin or you work in a profession where you cannot tolerate ripped palms, consider using leather hand grips. These 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. You can also make something similar yourself out of athletic tape, but it won’t be as durable.

It Just Takes Time

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

NOTE: It does not make you cool to rip your hands. Real athletes care for their bodies and that includes the skin on their palms.

What If I Already Ripped?

But now what happens once a rip has occurred? What can you do to heal quickly and safely?

#1: Wash It Out: The first thing to do when your hand rips is clean it out well. It’s going to be painful, but you need wash it out with warm water and soap. Depending on the state of the gym you’re in, you may also want to rinse it with iodine.

#2: Trim Excess Skin: If the skin looks like it might catch and rip further, then use sterilized scissors and trim the excess skin away. If the tear is small and more like a burst blister, than leave the skin to protect the healthy flesh underneath.

#3: Bandage and Keep Moist: The key to healing quickly and minimizing pain is to keep the wound site moist. Use a product with vitamin E, or anything from Vaseline to bag balm can do the trick. But keeping the rip moist will prevent it from drying and tearing further.

#4: Bag It Overnight: One trick many gymnasts use is to wear gloves or plastic bags over the hands at night. It keeps your hands moisturized and also helps prevent you from spreading lotion all over your bedding.

How to Train With Ripped Hands

You have ripped your hand, but you want to keep training. What can you do? Three different options are quick and easy:

New Skin: Applying liquid New Skin will create a tough, synthetic layer over your rip. Be aware, New Skin sticks to healthy skin, too, and if it starts to peal off you do not want to pull on it.

Synthetic Skin Patch: There are a number of different brands out there and they work with varying success, so you’ll need to test the out on your own skin and while doing your sport or activity of choice.

Leather Hand Grips: You can always use the same leather grips you wore when you were trying to prevent your rips to begin with. Keep your rips moisturized and bandaged, and wear the grips over the bandage.

But, remember the best way to deal with rips is to prevent them. Take good care of your hands, keep your calluses to an absolute minimum, don’t 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.

Photo 1 by Horst74 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 2 courtesy of CrossFit Impulse.

The post How to Not Rip Your Hands (and How to Fix Them if It’s Too Late) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

If you’re a serious athlete, you probably (or hopefully) do some kind of flexibility work. You may know a variety of stretches for your quads, hip flexors, hamstrings, and other areas that athletes have a tendency to stress. However, you might be ignoring a less obvious, but just as crucial body part: your hands.

You would think it would be a no-brainer to give your hands a little stretch every now and then. Our poor hands get a beating with heavy lifting, pull ups, and other exercises that use and abuse them. Add to that the hours most people spend typing and texting every day, and it makes sense that your hands need some restorative exercise, too.

Enter Yoga Hands. We’ve reviewed Yoga Toes here at Breaking Muscle before, and this new product from Yoga Pro is just as effective and high-quality. Yoga Hands provide a convenient, effective way to stretch your hands and prevent cramping. As a full-time computer worker, I’ve definitely reaped the benefits of Yoga Hands. Before I started using them, my hands would cramp up frequently throughout the week, particularly after a longer work day or a workout with a lot of grip-heavy exercises. I’m still working on building flexibility in my hands and fingers, but I’ve noticed a significant improvement both in flexibility and in cramping since I started using them regularly.

The first time you use Yoga Hands it might feel a little weird and even uncomfortable. I think a lot of this is because we’re just not used to stretching extremities like our hands and toes. I started by wearing Yoga Hands for about five to ten minutes at the end of the day and worked my way up to longer stretches (no pun intended). The product is made of lightweight material and will fit any size of hands, since you can adjust the width of the finger wedges.

This product is great on its own, but I recommend purchasing the Yoga Hands gift set for maximum benefit. It doesn’t cost much more than the Yoga Hands on its own, but you also receive a few bonus items:

• Celery Stick: The Celery Stick is a restorative blend of arnica and celery seed oil. Arnica is well-known for its anti-inflammatory properties, and celery seed oil is an antiseptic that also relieves pain and discomfort due to arthritis, rheumatism, sciatica, and neuralgia.

• Organic Intense Hand/Foot Salve: This organic moisturizer contains shea butter, coconut oil, coconut butter, sunflower oil, jojoba oil, tamanu oil, and other luxurious oils to moisturize and rejuvenate the hands and feet.

The cost for the Yoga Hands gift set is $45.95, which is only $6.00 more than the Yoga Hands alone, so it’s a great value. Yoga Hands also come with a 30-day money back guarantee, although I doubt this service is used very often. All in all, Yoga Hands is a must have for anyone with tired hands, whether the fatigue and cramping are due to office work, athletics, or both.

Want to win a pair of Yoga Hands? Leave a comment below and like the Yoga Hands Facebook page to be entered into a giveaway! We’ll select one winner and announce the results on Facebook and Twitter. Entries will be taken until Monday, June 17 at 12pm PST/3pm EST.

The Yoga Hands Gift Set is available for $45.95 at YogaPro.com.

The post Product Review: Yoga Hands + Giveaway! appeared first on Breaking Muscle.