You know what’s cool? Here’s what’s cool: Puppies, The New England Patriots, Sons of Anarchy, and CrossFit 858.
Ok, Cool.
Know what is not cool? These things suck: Eli Manning and the New York Giants, getting hit by a bus, Hitler, and tearing your hands in CrossFit.
NOT cool.
It’s really the last topic that I’d like to touch on, tearing your hands in CrossFit. I get it, especially if you are new. You’re new to this type of routine, and attacking your workout with the ferociousness of a rabid wolverine. You feel like Edward Norton in Fight Club. You feel finally alive as you pant, sweat, and bleed during your wod, especially after sitting for the previous 8-12+ hours at your desk, listening to your boss ramble about stuff frankly you nor anyone else cares about.
Here’s the thing: in no other sport have I seen a (sometimes) sidelining injury be worn like a badge of honor. For example, I’ve never seen a tweet by a NFL player boasting that getting the snot knocked out of him and having a concussion is “cool”:
This tweet is fictional
However, I see both on the internet boards as well as Facebook constant postings about how proud people are to have ripped their hands during a brutal bout with “Fran”, or “Helen”, or any other WOD:
Ok, maybe that last pic was a bit extreme, but you get the picture. While it may seem tearing your hands is cool or some kind of badge of honor, having to sit out from workouts isn’t cool. Setting PR’s and continuing to train according to your schedule is very cool.
With that said, check out the following link/article from Fitbomb.com regarding taping your hands. It’s very comprehensive and talks about everything from preventative care to what to do if/when your hands DO rip: http://www.fitbomb.com/2011/09/crossfit-hand-care.html
I refer a lot of people to the above and have heard good reviews and feedback. The only criticism that I have is on the very last section. The offer a very intricate and in depth way of taping hands. While it works very well, I later found that those people that I referred to the article were the same ones that sat for 10 minutes prior to the start of a WOD trying to make those tape hand grips. Athletic tape would be strewn all over the floor with people huddled in groups trying to fold the tape into grips. It looked like a combination of an origami class and a sweatshop in mid production (Racial epithets unintended). When I sat there with the timer remote in hand waiting to say “3,2,1 Go!” and rushed them, I’d hear “Hold on! YOU told us to make the grips this way with that article!!”
So, after attending a CrossFit Gymnastics cert with Keith of CrossFit Virtuosity and doing some research on my own, I’ve developed a very FAST, but UGLY, but EFFECTIVE way of taping your hands. This method has been battle tested and is perfect for when you have just a few minutes/seconds before a wod to tape up, or if you are in competition and need a fast fix.
Check out this video and have it in mind next time you need to tape up:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSr4JVmcLLI&list=UUot1EdPNy8GH2fSTo88aaMA&index=2&feature=plcp[/yt]
Hopefully that helps. So next time you are working out, or competing and this method works, I’ll take full credit. Remember, if you still tear, it’s probably your fault/user error. And definitely take a photo of your bloody hands, post it on Facebook, and tag me in it.