Stop Ripping Your Hands: Prevention and Treatment for CrossFit Athletes

In the early days of my CrossFit experience, ripped hands were treated almost as a rite of passage. Athletes would proudly display their torn skin and feel like they were now part of the “club.” What may have started as pride in hard work quickly turns into the realization that torn hands aren’t fun. These rips are painful and limit what you can do in the gym and in daily life.

Hand tears occur when your hands haven’t adapted to the demands being placed on them, or when thickened, dead skin from a callus or blister tears off the palm or fingers, exposing raw skin underneath. They’re primarily caused by friction from gymnastics bar and ring movements (like pull-ups) or high-rep weightlifting (often affecting the thumb). These wounds may be small, but they’re painful and may require several days of recovery before you can resume movements that demand grip strength.

This article covers how to prevent hand tears and how to treat them when they occur.

Prevention Strategies

Hand Care Basics

The foundation of hand-tear prevention is consistent hand care. This involves regularly maintaining calluses, which are protective but more likely to tear when too thick. Calluses should be regularly filed or shaved to reduce the risk of catching and tearing during high-friction movements. Moisturizing is equally important—excessively dry skin is more prone to ripping. Filing your calluses and preventing dry hands improves skin integrity and reduces tear risk.

Chalk and Grips

Some CrossFit athletes become obsessed with chalk, and while its value for enhancing grip is recognized, proper application is key to preventing hand tears. Use enough to keep hands dry, but remove excess chalk that can clump and cause friction.

Consider protective gear, such as gymnastics grips or athletic tape, which creates a direct barrier between your hand and the bar. These tools are especially useful during high-volume workouts. When using grips for the first time, test them before a workout or under fatigue. Some athletes find their grip feels different or need to adjust hand placement on the bar.

Training Technique and Volume

Hand tears are more likely with poor technique or excessive volume. Focus on using the correct grip for each movement — hook grip for certain lifts, overhand grip with knuckles on top of the bar for pull-ups. Watch for excessive hand movement during gymnastics elements, as this increases friction and increases the risk of tears.

Training volume and intensity should increase gradually. Jumping into high-rep sets without allowing time for adaptation creates problems — not just for new athletes, but for anyone returning from a layoff. Progressing slowly allows your skin to adapt and strengthen without being overloaded.

Rep Management

High-rep sets increase the likelihood of hand tears. Consider pacing strategies that protect your hands. For example, in a workout like Angie — 100 pull-ups before moving to the next exercise — use small sets with short rest periods at the beginning when you’re fresh.

Treatment and Recovery

Immediate First Aid

When you tear your hands, immediate first aid prevents infection and prepares the wound for healing. Begin by thoroughly cleaning the wound to remove chalk, sweat, dirt, and debris.

Next, carefully trim away any remaining frayed or dead skin around the tear to create clean edges that will heal more smoothly. Once the wound is clean and prepped, apply an antiseptic and cover the area to protect the raw skin from contamination.

Healing and Recovery Phase

During the healing phase, keep the wound free from infection and promote new skin growth. Continue cleaning the wound regularly to minimize the risk of contamination. Over the next few days, continue applying ointment, but don’t keep the wound covered — exposure to air promotes faster healing.

You can continue training, but avoid contact with common gym irritants, such as chalk and sweat, which can irritate and delay recovery.

Return to Training

As with any injury, return to training carefully to prevent reinjury. Use good judgment to determine when to resume bar work, ensuring the new skin is stable and pain-free. When returning to challenging movements, start conservatively, consider scaling workouts, and use protective measures more liberally than usual.

Final Thoughts

Maintaining hand health is essential for uninterrupted, safe training. Hand tears are more than momentary pain — they’re a direct barrier to performance that can force you to scale back or halt progress for several days. Be proactive with hand maintenance, analyze workouts for potential problem areas, and approach high-risk sessions strategically. This allows you to train harder and more consistently while avoiding a frustrating and avoidable setback.

About the Author

Eric O’Connor is a Content Developer and Seminar Staff Flowmaster for CrossFit’s Education Department and the co-creator of the former CrossFit Competitor’s Course. He has led over 400 seminars and has more than a decade of experience coaching at a CrossFit affiliate. He is a Certified CrossFit Coach (CF-L4), a former Division 1 collegiate wrestler, and a former CrossFit Games athlete.