By Bri Springer
Congratulations to Angela getting her first strict pull-up, Aubrey killing it on the kip swings and kipping pull-ups, and to all you other BCF members that have been improving your pull-up skills! I am so proud of you all. However, as some of you may have noticed pull-ups, barbell, and kettle bell work can trash your hands. So, I am writing this article to share with you some quick and easy ways to prevent tearing.
· File down your calluses. Buy a “callus kit” this includes a callus shaver, pumice stone, and a filer. Use them all to shave down your calluses to keep them small and smooth. You can also use a razor, but I recommend filing them.
· Moisturize your hands. Apply lotion regularly, lotion provides moisture, without moisture in your hands that are susceptible to cracking, ripping, and makes the healing process way longer.
· Grip the bar across your fingertips as opposed to across your palm. It feels weird at first, but make a habit of it and you will be much less likely to tear your hands.
· Go light on the chalk. I know its fun to put on your hands and it might give you a boost of mental support (I’m guilty of it too), but it can be a cause of tearing your hands. Chalk increases friction, and friction causes tearing. If you are going to use chalk, wipe the sweat off your hands and only use a little.
Unfortunately, ripping your hands still happens sometimes, so when it does here’s how you take care of it. First, stop working out; go to the bathroom and use hot water and soap to wash it out. This will prevent any types of nasty infection you could get. Next, tape your hand up, wipe down the bar and anything else that got blood on it, and then you can do ring rows rather than pull-ups to finish off your workout. Please don’t forget the part about wiping down whatever you got blood on, we don’t need any more germs spread in the germ than we already have. Also, I know its temping and hard to just slap some tape on and finish out the workout, but its only going to continue to get worse and then your out of training for at least a week because you can’t do anything with your hands. It’s simply not worth it. For fast and effective healing, keep the tear clean and moist. Cover it up and use Neosporin or any other type of cleaning/healing substance you can. Its extremely important that you don’t let it dry out, because if it dries out it will crack and take twice as long to heal. Hopefully you all found this helpful and I didn’t scare you away from the pull-up bar. Pull-ups are fun and awesome and if you take care of your hands and pay attention to your body you really have nothing to worry about.
How To Help Avoid This!!!