PAW CARE.
By
When I was just a fledgling CrossFitter, I was absolutely mesmerized by awesome it was – with one exception – I hated it when my hands ripped. It was painful to shower, uncomfortable to see patients with either 4 bandages or 2 gaping wounds on each hand and put definitely put a damper on my “love life”.
Check out this really great 4-part series on hand maintenance from CrossFit Virtuosity – here’s a snippet:
“My hands tell the truth about me. When I am nervous they sweat. When I am lazy my hands are soft. But when my hands are tired and sore and callused, I know the rest of my body has worked and been hardened by effort. I know I have lifted all I can lift when my hands are cramped, swollen and sometimes bloody.
Think about not only how strong your hands can be but also how delicate they are. Consider the ability to sense with your hands differences in texture and temperature, the ability to feel the difference between things that are imperceptible to the naked eye. A musician can subtly manipulate the strings to create music, the surgeon can carefully remove the tumor leaving the healthy organ intact, and the lover can sweetly caress the object of his desire and convey a wealth of emotion.
While I am proud of my calluses (and all of my scars really), I am conscious of the fact that touching people with rough callused hands is often unpleasant for them. Since touching people is part of my job I take measures to try to make my hands less grizzly.
This is the first of my four-part series on handcare tips. This first article deals with basics of handcare. The next part will focus on rip management and first aid. The third part will focus on how to train with ripped hands and finally a little article on hand exercises for strength and rehab.”
Enjoy!
Today’s Workout:
“Nasty Girls”
3 Rounds for Time of:
50 Air Squats
7 Muscle Ups
10 Hang Power Cleans (135#/95#)
11 Comments
September 30th, 2010 at 10:46 am
This may be the inner gymnast in me clawing it’s way out to attempt to utter the word… GLOVES… I know we are supposed to be tough crossfitters, however as a child/monkey slinging my body in multiple revolutions around a bar for hours on end, I was thankful for my wraps, my chalk, and the care I took too my hands…. Just an option… is all I am saying…..
September 30th, 2010 at 11:03 am
“Rough hands interfering with your ‘love life’?!” That’s just a little too much info.
The Claw
September 30th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Hardened, Gaping, Naked, Manipulate, Organ, Sweetly Caress, emotion, lover, touching…jeez Traver. I just didn’t know that Hand care could be so…Harlanesque.
I look forward with fluttery anticipation at your next installment of this 4-part mini series!
Aug
September 30th, 2010 at 11:21 am
We had an interesting conversation about this topic this morning in class. Gloves or no gloves. There’s certain things that one must accept about CrossFit. No gloves is one of them.
If you’re a surgeon or a hand model, we would gladly encourage gloves upon written proof of such occupations.
September 30th, 2010 at 11:22 am
This is a great article – thanks Traver – salt water and paddles don’t mix well with torn up hands – looking forward to the remaining series.
September 30th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Sorry Sarah, gloves ain’t an option. I don’t think that they solve the problem and they completely disconnect you from the piece of equipment that you’re working with. Yes, I firmly believe in the relationship between my body and a piece of steal.
My hands stopped ripping for the most part about a year and a half into my CrossFit career. Unless I’m doing over 150/200 pull ups in a given workout or over consecutive workouts I’m fine. This would not be the case if I had spent those early years babying my hands with gloves.
Also, for anyone curious – try doing 150 pullups with gloves on and let me know if your hands are any less torn up.
Claw – it was so hard to explain to those coeds that the bloody, gaping lesions on my hands were actually attractive…(or something like that!)
September 30th, 2010 at 11:56 am
I know GLOVES (they are not really gloves…more like cool finger, wrist and hand wraps) are not allowed in Crossfit…I have come to accept this (head hung low)…. I just have to find a man who finds my calluses sexy and all will be well in the world! I may look better naked one of these days…but my hands will never be the same….
September 30th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
He’s out there Sarah!
September 30th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
I’ve come to love the calluses on my hands, and now when I’m bored I have something to do- I pick at them!
Sarah- The right guy is not going to care about calluses. If he does care- well, that’s just weird
September 30th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
it’s emasculating when a woman has better calluses than a man. they are probly just ashamed of their inadequate hand scars.
October 1st, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I’m with you Sarah.
My relationship that fulfills my basic need for human touch supersedes my relationship with a piece of raw steel.
It’s totally counter-intuitive to want blisters and rough hands.
Out of respect for my fellow cross-fitters and our amazing coaches, I’m really trying to embrace this whole “callouses are cool” thing. And out of self-respect & determination, I WILL build up callouses to get to my elite goal in pullups. But yuck!
Truth be told, I’ve practiced pullups at home lately and wore gloves once or twice (cuz no one was watching hee hee). Traver’s completely right. My hands were in no better shape afterwards with gloves.