TOP 5 TIPS ON HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR HANDS AT THE GYM
Are you a Crossfitter, Ninja Warrior or Weightlifter? And continually battle with sore callused hands that rip, tear or blister!
Here are our top 5 tips to prepare and care for your hands.
Your hands take a substantial beating during every workout. Here’s how to manage those hotspots.
1. Keep Your Hands Callus Free.
A build-up of hard skin or calluses is the root to hand soreness. Leading to rips, tears and blisters. Whilst it important to build some resilience in the hands by allowing the skin to toughen up, too much build up can bring your workout to an abrupt uncomfortable end. The loose skin builds up in the hot spots (see pics) and eventually detaches itself from the main epidermis (A fancy word for the top layer of skin) of your hand.
Removing the calluses and hard skin with a sharp implement such as a stanley knife blade, scalpel, nail clippers or sharp knife is the answer. Spread your hand a wide as possible to elevate the palm of your hand and carefully get to work chipping away at those callus nuggets. Once you've removed all calluses from the hand and fingers use an abrasive cosmetic skin file to diminish any further hard dry skin and even out the surface of the skin.
2. Managing Those Blisters!
Blisters are caused by continuous rubbing on the hands…pull ups are the main culprit!
If you get a blister the first thing you should do it burst it! This probably goes against everything your mum used to tell you but the problem is… a blister on your hand is likely to get irritated easily and get more painful or tear and will slow the process of healing. Yes it’s gross when the fluid flies everywhere and yes the removal of the damaged skin can be painful (Deep Breath!) But by bursting the blister you gain access to the layer of skin underneath that requires your attention to heal and prep for your next workout. Clean it out and get ready to treat.
3. Treating The Skin.
If the skin goes untreated then it can lead to dry damaged skin and cracking in the creases in your hands which sometimes get infected. We recommend keeping your hands as clean as possible and apply a barrier cream that heals the wound. Product such as RipFix and our personal favourite Steph’s Stuff will do the trick.
For healing hands - https://stephsstuffwa.com/
Steph's Stuff - This pot of gold is made by one of our awesome members. If you want a pot to call your own then enquire at Athlete X Gym.
4. Hand Protection During Workouts.
There’s many ways to protect your hands during workouts. We recommend Jaw hand grips and rigid taping such as Goat Tape Scary Sticky for the fingers as it sticks forever! Other options include pliable tape such as Rock Tape and Roo-grips for hand protection.
See this site right here for your very own pair of Jaw Grips! www.thewodlife.com.au
5. Maintenance
Keep on top of it! This has to be a regular ritual. If you experience a skin blow out get on to it straight away so you can hit your next workout.
My personal tip is to do all of the above after you've had a hot shower or long soak in the tub and turn yourself into a prune. This makes the skin softer and easier to remove.
