The Ripping and the Tearing

January 16, 2012 / Skylar Pond
If you’ve ever wondered what to do about your hands ripping and tearing during crossfit workouts, I can relate.  My coach likes to say that I’m made of paper.  I prefer to think of my flesh as a weak link that struggles to keep pace with the demands of the futuristic roboskeleton that resides beneath.

This guy can relate too.  If he had the for site to  read this blog before traveling back in time, he may  have  kept his flawless Futrure-Austrian skin intact as well as saving the planet from a robo-apocalypse.

The fact is that I rip my hands for a combination of reasons:

  • Paper flesh/ futuristic cyborg strength etc. as described above
  • Technique- I should let the bell skip to my proximal interphalangeal joint in the bottom of the swing, but I get all excited in competition and hold too tight.
  • My taping techniques have all failed me.  In the photo beneath, the tape that I used was little more than bloody streamers by the mid-way point of the event.  I learned how to make a gymnastics grip from tape that is legal in all kb/crossfit events.  It will be the subject of my next post.  This post is about what I’ve done to harden up my hands.

Example:

Attempt #1 at The Lab

One workout that tore me up pretty badly was in an IKFF competition at The Lab a few months back.  It was a 5 minute demolition derby of #53 kettlebell snatch with unlimited hand switches.  I got 118 reps and the stigmata pictured on the left.

War wounds like these are cute for a minute.  They make nice FB profile updates, but it gets old pretty quick and I’m always on the lookout for a new technique that will keep my skin on my hands where it belongs.

I put two new techniques to the test this weekend at the Oregon Crossfit Winter Games.  Keep an eye on the Old Country Iron Club blog for a full write-up.  I hear it will be posted on Wednesday.

This turned out to be a perfect opportunity to compare the results as it turned out by random chance that event #1 at the OCFWG was the exact same event that opened my hands up just 3 months ago at The Lab.  The only difference was that this time the snatches were preceded by a 2k row and 60 seconds of rest.  Gross.

More Lab grossness

The intervention:

After my event at The Lab, I was approached by a spinal surgeon who was watching the event.  He told me that he uses a product called Benzoin Tincture on patients before surgery.  He applies it to the skin before putting people in casts and before they are bed ridden post surgery.  It toughens the skin to prevent tears and bed sores.  It’s a natural product derived from the bark of styrax benzoin trees.  I came across a liquid compound at the Rite Aid in Jefferson Square, West Seattle for $6 just before I left for the OCFWG.  It has a tacky, sappy consistency which explains why one of it’s uses is to hold athletic tape in place.  I didn’t want any more stick than was necessary so I applied it twice on the day before the event then washed it off.  After washing it off, I still felt the thin protective layer but without the stick.

RESULTS:
Boom!  This flawless future-Austrian skin is alive and well.

Success.

116 reps for a #1 overall finish in that event without so much as a blister.  
Above is a shot of my hands after those events and the 4 more that followed.  As I eluded to before, I also employed a new taping technique that I’ll cover at another time, but there is something to this Tincture of Benzoin.

Skylar Pond

Dr. Skylar Pond is a sports medicine chiropractor in Seattle, Washington. sportsmednw.com
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