As a former college rower, it’s sometimes painful to watch CrossFit athletes do what we call “fly and die” on the rowing machine. Meaning they go out too hard and crash somewhere in the middle of the workout. To avoid flying and dying, you need to understand one simple thing: Pacing! The great thing about the ergometer is there’s a monitor with a screen that tells you exactly how fast you’re going, so you don’t even need to guess! Before I get into exactly how to pace the row during a workout like Christine or Jackie in Part 2 of this series, it's important you understand a few things:  Step #1: Understand what the monitor is telling you Two important numbers...

Time and time again, athletes approach and ask me to teach them a skill—be it a pull-up, a muscle-up, a handstand push-up or a pistol. Here’s how the conversation often goes: Client: “I really want to get a muscle-up. Can you teach me after class?” Me: “How many chest-to-bar pull-ups can you do?” Client: “Maybe one on a good day.” Me: “What about ring dips?” Client: “One. In a band.” Me: “Johnny, you're not ready to work on muscle-ups. Once you can do 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups and 10 ring dips, then we can start looking at the muscle-up.” Client: "So you don't think I will be able to learn one today? Me: small chuckle. Client: Sadness overtakes his/her face.   ******...

There's nothing more frustrating for a coach than watching an athlete skip warm-up and head straight to the bars and start busting out butterfly chest-to-bars or muscle-ups.

Remember, even the best of the best take the time to properly prep their body before big swinging moves like ring muscle ups. I watched Lucas Parker, a six-time CrossFit Games competitor, train a couple times, and he spends more time warming up than working out.

Rips aren’t created equal. When a client gets a large blood blister that turns into a deep rip in the palm of his hand, I usually recommend avoiding handwork for a day or two.  Versus, when someone whimpers about some superficial skin loss on his thumb from hook gripping during high-rep hang cleans, I tell him to tape it up and suck it up!  Generally speaking, regardless of the rip, tape can be useful. It’s great for preventing rips, and it’s also great for reducing pain when you do rip. Further, it helps prevent further damage to the skin when you hit the bar. 1. Finger and Thumb rips  These guys, which often result from using a hook grip on the...

 Have you ever been held back because of your grip in a workout with high reps of toes-to-bar, pull-ups or hang cleans? Your shoulders or legs weren’t even lactic yet, and your lungs were breathing comfortably, but your damn small hands (or at least that’s what you told yourself) just couldn’t hang onto that bar any longer. What a shame! You have worked so hard to improve your pulling strength and barbell cycling only to have your grip fail… Don’t blame your small hands. Work on your grip strength instead! Seven Ways to Improve your Grip Strength quickly 7. Deadhang Holds Some high level gymnastics coaches don’t teach their young athletes any great swinging moves on bars until they can hang from a bar...

Long-time RIPT Skin System's user—Canada East Regionals athlete and owner of Nutrition Rx in London, Ontario Jennifer Broxterman—explains she never leaves home without her RIPT Daily Dose. “It fits so nicely in my purse,” she said. Broxterman's well-used Quick Fix  Keeping it in her purse at all times also means she doesn’t have to remember to pack it when she goes on vacation, and happens to rip her hands, like she did recently when she was working out at CrossFit FXTX in Allen, Texas and joined in on a group class with 35 bar muscle-ups. Here were her hands after her workout: Unconcerned, she pulled our her Quick Fix and Daily Dose, lathered them on her rips, left her hands to...

When I was in Grade 10, my school decided to put us in gender-segregated fitness classes. 

Twice a week, we took a school bus to the local gym “Fitness Avenue” and spent our time in the “Women’s Only” room.

Disengaged girls with nobody to flirt with stood around looking bored, applying lip gloss between sets of whatever lame movements we were doing that day.

...

I’ve never understood the concept of “Women’s Only” gyms or classes. Never understood how it benefits women. While I’m sympathetic that some women might be intimidated and scared of aggressive men dominating the squat rack, I just can’t wrap my head around the idea that shying away from it is somehow a solution.

Somehow as a community, we’ve adopted the belief that if you rip your hands, you’re a wimp if you don’t work through the carnage and finish the workout—even if you’ve lost multiple layers of skin and are bleeding through your tape. A belief that people will somehow be impressed by a picture of ruined hands uploaded to Instagram. #100-pull-ups=destroyed-hands. 

Despite a deeply-entrenched fear of looking soft, many of the top CrossFit athletes in the world don’t live by these standards. They don't think letting your hands rip recklessly makes them tough. They don't think training is the time to rip at all. And if they do rip, working through the pain and creating deeper rips on rips is just silly.

When a person experiences his inaugural rip, he or she comes running to me legitimately confused what to do next. 

“Should I pop the blood blister?”

“Should I cut the skin off?”

“Should I cover up the rip, or let it dry out?”

Although the answers to these questions are like diet advice—all over the map—as someone who has been doing hand sports my whole life, here’s my best advice: