Hand Care - VERY IMPORTANT

Hand Care

Spend enough time on a barbell, and you'll develop calluses. This is good in the sense that your hands are adapting to the stress and becoming thicker and stronger where necessary. However, some of you find that those calluses can become the cause of problems significant enough to disrupt your training.

A callus rip is inevitable over the long term, but it should by no means be a regular occurrence - frequent callus tears mean frequent training disruptions. It's tough to make progress when you have to stop doing what you're doing all the time. The solution? Take care of your hands in a way that will minimize if not eliminate tears and allow you to continue training.

First, don't shave off your calluses. They're there for a reason. You want that thick, tough skin. What you don't want are rough or sharp edges that can hang up on the bar and start a tear. Some people get crazy with the callus shavers and take the skin right down to the weak stuff below. Or worse, they shave them down so much that the area formerly armored is now sensitive to the touch.

I prefer fine-grit sandpaper to any other tool out there (200-220 type stuff). Cut some pieces and fold them into little 2x2" or so squares and they'll be a little stiff, but flexible enough to get into the places you need. Smooth out the rough edges before and after workouts and you'll be fine.

To improve on this, start using a liberal dose of Cornhuskers Lotion every day. Don't use your girlfriend's silly body lotion - it won't do the job. Just rub some into your hands every night when you're going to bed and pretty soon you'll have hands like baseball mitts. In fact, you might want to try rubber-banding your hands shut around a barbell-sized chuck of pipe all night to break them in.

Greg Everett
Catalyst Athletics
The Performance Menu