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I've Got To Hand It To You (Part 3) PDF Print E-mail
Written by Keith   
Sunday, 03 August 2008 00:00

 

Success in life comes not from holding a good hand, but in playing a poor hand well.
Denis Waitley

 

This is the third part in my four-part series on handcare. Please read parts One and Two if you have not read them already. This article discusses how to return to training when you have torn calluses.

It is important to remember that torn calluses are an injury. Whenever you have an injury, you must give it time to heal. Altering your training to focus on lower body exercises is the preferred course of action. However, sometimes competition and personal factors makes it necessary for athletes to train or compete with an injured hand. What are you going to do to protect your hands and keep from aggravating the injury? Wear gloves? No way!

Tape grips. That's the answer. I learned how to make these from the guys at CrossFit Marin and I think they are the cheapest and most effective way to train with torn calluses. We have all tried to simply wrap tape around our hands and had it bunch up and make a mess. This technique will keep your hands safe and allow you to train even with the gnarliest of torn calluses. You might even decide to use these when your hands are not injured just to protect them.

Making these tape grips is sort of like origami so you will want to practice making them until you get it right. But once you do, you will be able to make them in a jiffy and also be able to keep a stockpile of tape grips in your gym bag in case of emergencies.

All you need is a roll of 1.5" Athletic Tape and a pair of scissors.

1. Take a long strip of tape about 15 or 16 inches long. It depends on the size of your hands. Experiment until you find the correct length. Do not be stingy with the tape because if you make them too short, they will not work. Start long and eventually you will be able to eyeball the exact length.

First Strip
2. Fold this tape strip length-wise leaving about an eighth of an inch of the sticky side exposed. Having some of the sticky side exposed is necessary for the next step

folded strip
3. Take your tape strip and fold it over on itself leaving a little pointed end. The exposed sticky sides should hold it together.

Second fold
4. Take another long strip of tape about 13 or 14 inches long. This should be about 2 inches shorter than the first strip.

5. Fold this new strip over the previous strip. This extra strip acts as reinforcement and keeps the original strip from splitting in half. Try to cover as much of the first strip as you can right up to the little pointy bit.

Reinforced
6. This is your tape grip. You will want to practice making several of these. Keep the good ones in a zip-lock baggy in your gym bag. They will come in handy.

tape grip

7. Using your scissors cut just enough of a hole in the top to put your finger snuggly through the little pointy bit. Put the appropriate finger through the hole so that grip covers your torn callus. Usually placing the grip over your middle or ring finger works best. Depending on how bad your hand is, you might need to use two or more on the same hand.

Hand
8. The end of the grip should come down over the palm to your wrist. Take a third strip of tape and secure the end of the grip to your wrist with a few wraps around the wrist. Do not wrap it so tight that it cuts off your circulation.

finished

There you have it. Pretty simple really. I hope you find this helpful. Now go do some pull-ups!

Do you have any great ideas to help train with injured hands? Please post your thoughts to the comments.

Continue reading
I've Got To Hand It To You (Part 4)

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Comments (7)Add Comment
...
written by Sam Wernersson, August 05, 2008
Hello, good guide on the hands, thanks.

I have used these myself for some time, works well over the wrist area for MU to.
One extra note that you should add:

Wrap the tape around the wrist one time, then fold up the "flap" hanging out at the bottom(last pic), and wrap the tape around one more time.
This will make the tape stick more solid and not slip out, made a big difference for me.
Great way to protect torn hands
written by CrossFit Metro | Atlanta, August 06, 2008
As you can see here:
http://crossfitmetro.com/wod/o...hes-nice/

I have torn a callus pretty good and was directed to you page. Thanks for the great tip on protecting those calluses.

Cheers!
...
written by Staci, August 07, 2008
Keith - thanks again for this series of articles. I just printed this up to take with me to my Cert this weekend (I've heard that their PU bars are hell on the hands). You're the best!
...
written by Keith W., August 07, 2008
Thanks for the kind words everybody. Glad this stuff is helping. Thanks for that tip, Sam. Excellent advice.

...
written by Audra, August 20, 2008
I thank you and my massage clients thank you!!! Last week I had to cancel clients and deal with the horror in my clients eyes when they saw the hands that were supposed to be massaging them - not exfoliating them!!
"Hand Protectors"
written by Bionic_CF Hardcore_FL, August 27, 2008
Hey guys and gals, i've been using these neoprene hand protectors and they are the bomb. The ripping of my hands got old and annoying. So I searched and found www.newgrip.com. I haven't got a rip eversince and my hands stay faily smooth. They provide cushion and grip as long as you keep them chalked and dry. Check them out. I've turned tons of people in my gym onto them. Some like them some don't. Its just a suggestion. I swear by them. I don't do a pullup without them! Hope this helps...
thanks
written by sean, November 21, 2008
I've tried a few different tapings and this has worked the best. Had a blood blister from doing a max rep pull-up WOD. 2 days later I found myself doing Helen. The previous 2 times I tore my hands up. Used this method and didn't have a problem.

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Last Updated on Saturday, 13 September 2008 11:07