Tricks of the Trade: Torn Skin on Hands?

I am finally starting to get my deadlift in the range of what I think is respectable and I am ripping skin off my hands pretty regularly. Is there any thing I can do to make this happen less or heal faster? Just hoping for some tips.

Ripped skin + Super glue = Wonderful

I just use duct tape after it tears, then cut the callous off when i get home.

Jason

the congealing blood of my enemies

well if you are deadlifting heavy once a week, in that week your hand will be much tougher evn if you do other exercises although maybe a bit more sore. I never cut them off or anything I just leave them be…what I do though is if it is peeled back quite a bit (where it needs to come off) I just bite them off (the extra skin) by the next day my hands are already gaining that extra layer and getting tougher. The process will go on forever.

[quote]jakerz96 wrote:
I am finally starting to get my deadlift in the range of what I think is respectable and I am ripping skin off my hands pretty regularly. Is there any thing I can do to make this happen less or heal faster? Just hoping for some tips.[/quote]

One way is to change your grip. If you are like me before I developed the same issue, you are probably letting the skin from your hand (near the fingers) take the weight of the lift. This is way more comfortable, but it’s like using the skin of your hand as a built in strap. It’s going to tear as weights increase.

The adjustment sucked (lower weights and more pain while adjusting), but I started gripping the bar so all the weight was on my fingers. After about 6 weeks the weight was back up and the pain was back to normal levels. And I haven’t had a problem since.

Hope that helps.

Moisturizer and a razor blade to cut off the calloses before they get so big and dry they rip off.

[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
Moisturizer and a razor blade to cut off the calloses before they get so big and dry they rip off.[/quote]

Sand paper (grit 200-ish) worked better for me than the razor. Each to his own.

After washing dishes I will use a nail clipper and clip the extra skin from the callouses away. I used to rip my callouses just about every week when deadlifting once a week. I have now switched to pulling twice a week and in 10 weeks I have only ripped 1 callous thanks to clipping the callouses.

My two cents:

Prevention:
Chalk a lot, grip with your fingers and not your palm, shave your calluses with a razor and get some lotion on there after lifting. reset your grip after every rep on deadlifts.

Post-ripping during workout:
Chalk a lot or use straps, wash your hands after you finish the rest of your workout and put some lip balm on the raw parts. then get home and put some lotion on the boo boo.

If the bar is sliding in your hand, getting a stronger grip and or chalk will help prevent it.

Whenever my calluses start to, for lack of a better term, get bigger I will file them down on the knurling on the bars. It shaves them down to where they will not tear. Simple and fast solution you can do at the gym.

make your hands leathery, like a construction worker’s, or do manual labor :slight_smile:

Thanks for all the ideas… I think I am holding the bar in my palm a bit as you mentioned humanjhawkins. I will certainly try the cutting or sanding them off. I guess if I’m going to hold the bar in my fingers my grip is going to have to get a lot stronger… Time to do work…

Just another suggestion, I work with a lot of baseball players. The guys who don’t like batting gloves tend to get nasty blisters/calluses from the bat (especially wood bats). What one of the pro’s I work with said is to do one of 2 things, soak the area in pickle juice, or (sorry if I offended anyone here) urinate on it.

Jorge Posada has been known to do it (doesn’t use batting gloves and loves pine tar). I’ve had kids try pickle juice and it works, but nobody’s manned up to whiz on their hand(s) yet.

So pissing on the bar serves another purpose besides marking your territory? Fascinating…

You can also purchase a callous shaver from a drug store. It is basically a curved razor with a ‘guard’. Shave your callouses weekly and you will never tear a callous again.

beef

[quote]scubasteve2105 wrote:
or (sorry if I offended anyone here) urinate on it.

Jorge Posada has been known to do it (doesn’t use batting gloves and loves pine tar). I’ve had kids try pickle juice and it works, but nobody’s manned up to whiz on their hand(s) yet.[/quote]

Old time olympic weightlifters including my coach used to wee on their hands.

Well, yesterday was the moment of truth and… No torn skin this time. Gripping the bar in my fingers was a little less comfortable and more difficult, and I used about 20 pounds less, but no torn skin. Thanks guys.

Do you piss on your hands after or before or just every time you use the bathroom? Partly kidding… Is the point of this to draw moisture out of your skin?