WOD
Snatch
Today we'll break down the snatch, work on the skill transfer movements, review footwork, body positioning, and learn some new cues. All you ever wanted to learn about the snatch….and more!
Ryan's hands after his first ever Death by Pull-up. As he told some of you today, with managing his calluses and using the cornhusker lotion kept on the cubbies, he doesn't tear anymore.
There were lot of pull-ups during Monday's WOD, and not only was there some sweat and tears shed, there was also some blood. I was happy to see that everyone who did leave a bit of themselves behind on the pull-up bars grabbed the clorox wipes and went to work. Thank you for that!
As you guys know, the gym isn't the most sterile of environments. We work to keep the place somewhat presentable. However, there's plenty of stuff lurking out there that we can't see. We know that it's important to wash our hands often to avoid getting sick. In the gym, we need to take it a step further. Everyone's heard of staph and MRSA. These are commonly found in gyms. Throw a little blood and skin and things can get nasty.
So please, if you leave a little extra on the pull-up bars, rings, or o-bars, clean it up. When there's back-to-back WODs the coaches usually won't have time to thoroughly clean all the bars. If we see something obvious, we'll make it a priority to get it clean before anyone else gets on it, but sometimes we don't even know if blood's been shed! Think of it as if you were going to be hitting the next WOD, would you be psyched to grab a bar with part of someone's shin still attached? Probably not. There's several containers of clorox wipes on the shelves, as well as a gallon jug of pure bleach. Feel free to grab it whenever needed!
Ouch
Gross post, but thanks! I’ve often thought about the blood, sweat, and skin that’s left behind at the gym, and I’m glad we’re taking precautions to keep everyone healthy!
Hey Guys,
How about a discussion on these types of hand tears and if they should be avoided? It seems there is a fine line between building callouses that can withstand work and doing so much damage that is causes a detrimental amount of down time during healing. What is the opinion amongst you coaches?
Kristine,
I have torn my hands up quite a bit climbing, and have tried all manners of hand lotion and salve. Burt’s Bees makes a great one, but I have found that works better for rock climbing, a dry environment that makes us prone to cracking. Honestly, the best stuff I have found is the one there at the gym. It seem to be better suited to repeated contact with smooth metal surfaces. The Cornhuskers is cheap, and when used routinely works great. Its like $3 a bottle and it lasts. Dollie and I use it routinely along with using a pumice stone. Use the pumice stone on your calluses when they are wet. (We keep ours in the shower) Buff them down a couple times a week and takes off the loose edges. Don’t go crazy, just enough to keep them smooth and pink. When they turn white, that is the build up of dead skin, which eventually is gonna lead to the big tear. That is what we are trying to avoid having. Hope this helps.
Hey Kristine, since those are my hands in the picture I can offer some pretty good insight! You will find that all of the coaches would probably agree that fighting through a workout to the point where you are destroying your hands is NOT the best option. Obviously you will want to build up a tolerance to high reps of pull ups, kettlebell swings, and muscle ups which are the dominant exercises in which those hot spots, raised callouses, or bad peeling tears will occur. With that said, if you are hitting a work out and DO feel a potential rip coming on, or if it happened suddenly and its to the point where you are already bleeding, take the time to let the coach know so we can apply tape as needed, and get you back on the WOD, or offer a scaling movement to get the pressure off of the hand. This leads to the transition of hand care…Pre and post tear treatment is super important, yet often neglected. I don’t shave my callouses down as much as I probably should, but there are plenty of pumice stones, sand paper, and razor products out there with the intention of shaving down those callouses. It is recommended that you soak your hands to the point where they are wrinkly and pruned, and that way the callouses with raise a little, become a whitish color, and ultimately be soft and easy to shave down. DO NOT shave so far down that you are hurting yourself, just scrape the surface, lower the level of the callous, and just use common sense. That is good for pre tears, but when it comes to a large tear like my hands from the picture, chances are there wont be much shaving involved until they have almost healed over. So in that case where you do have holes in your hand, it is important to keep them clean, and the use of certain salts and ointments will help heal them faster. I am a HUGE fan of the Corn Huskers lotion. I use it 3-4 times a day on my hands, and over time I have found that my callouses are still there, but they are very tough and almost rubbery. So sometimes after a WOD with a ton of pull ups my hands are sore, but I have no tears to show from from the pull ups. The only time I have had to shave is when my hands get super dry, and the callouses start to crack, other than that, the corn huskers lotion is very effect pre, and post tear. It has alcohol in it so it may burn when you apply it to a fresh tear, but I recommend doing so because it will help toughen the fresh skin even more. In conclusion….and hopefully to answer your question…sorry for being so long winded…do not suffer through a workout with bloody, mangled mits…if it happens, bring it to the attention of the coaches, then take the necessary measures to heal it properly. In my case, all of those tears happened on my last set, on my 2nd to last rep of death by pull ups. They had raised sooo much throughout then entire workout, I made it to round 19, and on #18 of the 19th round, literally all of then ripped off…I had not yet developed an effective kip, and so a lot of my technique was based on my upper body, and the bar would really pinch my callouses. This past weekend for death by pull ups, I did the workout with my 30lb vest, a better kip, and had trusted in the care that I had put in my hands…I did 18 rounds successfully…and suffered no tears what so ever.
Here’s a post on handcare we made a while back. Lots of good info:
https://www.crossfit-evolve.com/2010/08/saturday-100807.html