Have you noticed thick layers of skin on your fingers or hands? Those are calluses! Calluses develop due to the skin trying to protect itself from outside friction or pressure. And this is something that happens a lot at the gym.

Think about it. Every single barbell movement you do? Friction. Every single kipping pull-up or toes-to-bar? Friction. Every kettlebell swing? You guessed it — friction! All of that wear and tear takes a toll, and eventually, you might have hands that feel like leather.

Now, we want to be clear: A little bit of callused skin is a good thing. As we said, this is how your skin protects itself. Without calluses, you would have nothing but baby skin, which more easily rips. In this case, you’d constantly be dealing with torn hands and fingers. Ouch.

We all get calluses in different places. Check out the picture below.

This athlete gets them just below her ring and middle fingers, which tells us that this is the area that experiences the most friction between her skin and the barbell. It might be different for you. Maybe the insides of your thumbs are extremely callused. This is normal and commonly happens as a result of using the hook grip.

What Should You Do About Your Calluses?

Since calluses serve as a protective barrier, you want to leave a little bit of that toughened skin there. However, too much of it can backfire and have the opposite effect. Once calluses get too thick, they can end up tearing and cause a bigger mess.

So, you want to keep them under control with something like a pumice stone or callus shaver. A pumice stone sort of “buffs” away some of that dead skin. A callus shaver is a blade you use to literally shave it off. Neither of these hurt! Remember, that skin is actually dead. (Just be careful with the blade. You don’t want to cut into live skin.)

This is one way to maintain your calluses, but you also want protective gear to keep your hands in one piece. This is where grips and tape can be a huge help.  

Finger tape is a flexible material that wraps around your fingers, hands, and wrists. The adhesive on one side makes it sticky and moldable. That’s why LYFT-RX stays put and won’t budge throughout your WOD. Start with clean hands. Anchor the tape where you want to start it, wrap, squeeze and mold it to your hand, and rip it off. No scissors are required!

Grips serve as another barrier between your hands and the equipment you’re using.

LYFT-RX uses a fingerless design that gives full coverage of the inside of your hands. The grips are made from premium carbon fiber. They’re thin enough that they won’t get in the way of hanging onto the bar but thick enough so they can stand up to the challenge of even the most grueling, rep-heavy workouts.

Because we know that you won’t need grips for every exercise you do in a workout, we made ours easily “flippable.” That way, you don’t waste any time mid-workout taking them off and putting them back on again.

Maintaining and protecting your calluses largely comes down to training with the right gear. Grab a nice pair of LYFT-RX grips, a roll of LYFT-RX tape, use a pumice stone or shaver, and with a little TLC... you’ll be able to keep rips and tears at bay!