Hand Care

The easiest and most controllable way you can attempt to stay healthy for the weeks leading up to the WBC is to take care of your hands.

Science suggests that when your hands are beaten up from training, your entire body can be tricked into feeling more sore, tired, and under-recovered than it is.

Although it should not be expected that you will feel awesome for training every day, ramping up your hand care is a good way to give yourself the best chance of lifting to your potential at your next training session and on meet day.

Listed are some hand care steps to follow, if not already…

  1. Drink enough water each day. This is the most important step. Urine should be fairly clear throughout the day and you should need to use the restroom no less than once every couple hours.

  2. Wash hands and use moisturizer frequently. Wash and moisturize skin on all surfaces of the hands and fingernail areas.

  3. Keep fingernail and callused areas well-manicured. Do not trim off calluses, but do remove any loose skin that frays off your calluses. These can cause skin tearing if not addressed. Most loose skin in need of removal can gently be picked off with your fingers or by using a file or pumice stone. If you have to use a trimming device on your calluses, there’s a chance you are attempting to take off more skin than you should be. If you are unsure about any of this, feel free to ask me.

  4. Supplements and nutrients for skin support. Make sure you are getting a decent amount of protein and healthy fats in your diet. Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Zinc and Collagen supplements can help promote skin health and healing.

  5. Using straps in training. From here on out, singles should be taken with NO STRAPS to condition for meet day. For any number of reps over 1, straps are still acceptable, and can help minimize damage to the skin of the hands. Having said this, if you feel you have developed a dependance on straps, try to use them as little as possible leading up to WBC.