Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Not cool
Workout of the Day
Deadlift 3 or 5 RM (add 5-10# to best)
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 reps of:
Power Cleans
Strict Pull Ups
*Perform Power Cleans at 75% of 1 RM
Sectional Athletes Rest Day
A few words about torn callouses
I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while and I noticed that Brendan commented on it as well, so here goes. We’ve become almost obsessed with those “badges of honour”; you know what I’m talking about… bruises on your collarbone from cleans, bleeding shins from deads and torn calluses from pullups. We act as if these are signs of strength. In many ways they are, but they also reveal our weaknesses. We’re all guilty of having done it at one time or another. In fact, I’ve got ripped palms at this very moment. I could attribute it to the over 200 pullups I did in the span of 48 hours, but that still doesn’t mean it’s cool. Read this post from Freddy over at CrossFit One World. He provides perspective on torn up hands. The fact is: if you are strong at strict pullups, you won’t have to kip so hard. This is exactly why we discourage kipping until our athletes have the strength to do dead hang pullups on their own. So what can we do?
1) Get stronger so you don’t have to kip so damn hard. Lots of strict pullups, negatives and weighted pullups. The coaches will help you with this.
2) Unless it’s a competition or some other exceptional situation, stop the workout as soon as you start bleeding all over the bar.
3) Consider factors that are creating extra friction. Gripping the bar too hard, under moisturized hands, over moisturized hands, sweaty hands, too much chalk, a taped bar. A taped bar for instance, helps with grip because it creates a ton of friction. This is why a lot of athletes prefer to use a taped bar, but I know that I get more rips on a taped bar. We’ve actually gone through over 20 rolls of tape in the past 2 1/2 weeks! If you use tape your hands regularly, I would encourage you to bring your own as we only carry small amounts for first aid purposes and for the rings. At the current usage rate, we may need to start charging for it. I would also ask that when you tape the bar, only use what you need for your spot and remove it if you get any blood on it.
4) Learn where your breaking point is and prepare for it. Most people don’t rip until they hit a certain volume of pullups. For me, it’s about 100 on a taped bar and at least 150 on a non-taped bar (I just discovered this recently). If you know what that point is, take a couple of extra minutes to tape your hands or get some gloves ready.
Love your hands…
Coach Turbo
