#Handcare Is #Selfcare
Take care of your hands.
Today we want to touch on the topic of hand tears. They suck. They’re painful, they bleed and most importantly, they limit us from training. While sometimes they may be unavoidable, that’s often not the case. Let’s first address the "why."
Why do my hands tear?
Soft Skin
This is typically someone who’s new to barbell or pull-up bar movements. A slightly callused hand is ideal.
Overly callused skin
Thick calluses become much tougher than the surrounding skin which means that when you tear, a larger piece of the softer skin surrounding the callus is the weak point and causes a larger tear. This is an extremely common cause of hand tears for non-beginners.
Weak grip
This can be defined as the inability to hold ourselves on the bar for long periods of time or the ability to perform kipping movements without our hands sliding or having to readjust our grip. The constant friction caused by hands sliding and then regripping higher on the bar is the fastest way to tear your hands.
Large sets
More advanced athletes will run into issue with hand tears as well, usually as a result of performing large, unbroken sets.
Staying on the bar for a set of 15 kipping pullups is significantly more likely to cause a tear than 3 sets of 5 pullups. This should be factored when deciding what our sets should be in a given workout while training.
Bare Steel vs. Powder-Coated Bars
Everyone has their favorite pull-up bar, and for many of you it’s the bare steel bars, as they provide more friction/grip. This extra grip is a double edged sword as the additional friction can go from helping you stay on the bar to causing a tear. Powder coated bars provide less friction, but as our grip strength improves that will allow us to complete more gymnastics volume with less abrasion on the skin.
What can the location of the hand tear tell us?
Torn palm or center of hand:
This tear is more common in athletes with smaller hands and/or weaker grip. In an effort to try to find a better hold, we grip the bar in the palm of our hand; this can also be described as having our hand "too high" on the bar. If this is you, grip strength is the likely culprit. You will need to work on holding the bar in your hand so the majority of grip is coming from just below the fingers.
Tear just below the fingers:
Set size is too big for our grip strength/stamina; you have the ability to hold onto the bar correctly but only in smaller sets.
Calluses could be too large; it’s time to do hand maintenance (see below).
Tears in this location can happen in a high volume workout, even if you’re doing everything correctly.
Tears on the fingers:
This is most commonly caused by "dangling" or hanging from the bar from just your fingers. Grip strength and technique will need to be addressed. Ask your Coach!
You need to do hand maintenance. Built up calluses on the fingers can tear even if you do everything else correctly.
How can I prevent hand tears?
Work on your grip strength. Talk to a coach about how!
Hand maintenance should be a part of everyone’s life; missed training means less fitness.
Callus removal/maintenance can be done through several methods. Follow the links below to see various tools
Callus Shaver: If you have not used this before, ask your coach for a demo first, this one works great but can be overdone.
Aftercare once you’ve torn:
Clean and wash the area thoroughly. This will not be pleasant but you need to do it.
Clean the barbell or equipment that caused the tear, along with anything else you used.
Keep it moisturized. This cannot be emphasized enough. The worst thing you can do with a hand tear is nothing. If you allow the tear to dry and crack as it heals, the process will be significantly longer. Applying Chapstick or an antibiotic ointment to the area SEVERAL (10+) times a day will cause it to heal days or even weeks faster.
We hope this helps you prevent unnecessary hand tears in the future! For more information, talk to your coach today and stop fearing those gymnastics workouts!
