So you just ripped the shit out of your hands doing a million (that's right, a million) toes-to-bar and you would rather be poked in the eye with a red-hot iron rod than wash your hair. What do you do now? Not to worry, RIPT has you covered...literally. POST-RIP REPAIR Protect open hand rips from the elements. Fresh rips burn mostly because of the oxygen exposure to deeper layers of your skin. After washing with soap (which can suck) dry the open wound and apply our QUICK FIX balm directly to the tear. QUICK FIX has a beeswax and coconut oil base, two ingredients known for their anti-bacterial/anti-viral qualities, as well as providing a thick layer of protection from the...

I’m not a flakey person. I’m loyal to the core, but some things are hard to deny, and Dona Jo is one of them.

I wasn’t looking for another brand. I didn’t set out to be a traitor. In fact, the pants were given to me Pro Bono, and when I ripped open the package that arrived at my doorstep, I was skeptical at best.

And then, I put them on.

They immediately sculpted to my skin in a way I had never before experienced. And they stayed perfectly in their place.

Like any other society, small community, tribe, secret society, or cult, being a member of a CrossFit box involves learning the CrossFit language and understanding the social norms of your environment.

It takes time, of course, but the sooner you learn, the easier it will be to avoid being “That Guy,” or in this case “That Girl.”

Why is  RIPT Skin Systems' 3 phase hand care kit the best cream/hand balm on the market for CrossFit hand problems? Because there are 3 stages in which every CrossFitters hands exist at any given moment. 1)Pre-rip maintenance2) Post-rip repair3) Post-rip recovery You trim your nails and cut your hair don't you... Why aren't you taking care of your calluses? PRE-RIP Hand calluses are free gloves from nature. If you take just a little time out of your day to properly take care of them, they will protect you from rips, rather than be the cause of them. Shape and contour calluses to prevent rips. The number 1 biggest hand care mistake that newbs to CrossFit make is shaving, grinding,...

Like any other society, small community, tribe, secret society, or cult, being a member of a CrossFit box involves learning the CrossFit language and understanding the social norms of your environment.

It takes time, of course, but the sooner you learn, the easier it will be to avoid being “That Guy” (“That Guy” is the guy coaches talk about after a personal training session or a group class. FYI - He’s the guy you don’t want to be).

Introducing the Magnificent Seven "Don't be That Guys"

I have a handful of intelligent, educated friends. People who believe in their nutritional theories. Wholeheartedly.

I have a friend who is a Registered Dietician and promotes Canada’s Food Guide, which tells us sandwiches and pasta are great energy sources. I have a friend who drinks only rainwater, and a friend who owns a raw food restaurant. I have a vegan friend who believes a whey-gluten-corn dog is “a great protein blast.” And Lucas Parker sits around pounding quarter pounders from McDonald’s.

The vegan swears it’s the healthiest way to eat, and he has science to prove it. The vegetarian and the carnivore point to contrasting scientific evidence. And I even have a friend who showed me the science that shows that eating just one meal a day is the optimal way to live. He has lost a lot of weight eating this way in the last year, and he says his energy levels have skyrocketed.

I never understood why there’s so much fighting in the NHL. It always made me laugh when I watched spontaneous on-ice brawls. I simply didn’t understand how a person’s instinct in the middle of a game was to latch out and punch someone else.

I do now.

If you've never competed in a CrossFit competition, let me tell you there's always a new lesson to learn with each workout, each day of each competition.

I confess, at the last competition I was at, I almost fought my judge. Luckily, I avoided an altercation and learned a huge lesson in the process, a lesson I can use to turn into a positive in the future, a lesson I'd never learn in training.

Last weekend I went to a personal development course called Choices (http://www.choicesseminars.com/). While I can’t talk about the absolutely out-of-the-box specifics of the course (it would ruin it if you ever took the course), I will explain the emotions I felt: There were a whole lot of unknowns throughout the weekend that I had to face, and as we know from CrossFit, the unknown is daunting. It challenged me in ways I didn’t know exist, in ways I had no idea would challenge me. It scared me to death, it ripped me apart, it inspired me, it motivated me – the list goes on. At the end of the weekend, I was absolutely done. Physically, emotionally, mentally, my body just...

If you ever have to do a half marathon row in competition, or if you’re looking to challenge yourself and put yourself through the pain the individual athletes did last summer at the CrossFit Games, here’s some advice from Nathalie Maurer, former Canadian National Team rower, to help you mitigate the pain and maximize your performance. Maurer competed for Canada at both the 2006 and 2008 World Rowing Championships, and she won two medals – one gold and one silver - at the 2007 Pan American Games.   Nathalie Maurer (far right) with the Canadian National Team   5-Steps to Preparation: 1). UNISUIT: Rowers wear unisuits, a tight one-pieces spandex suit, to avoid any pieces of clothing getting caught anywhere...

I speak from experience when I say, if you’re ever crazy enough to try a half marathon row, like the one Dave Castro programmed for the fittest athletes in the world at the 2013 CrossFit Games this summer, don’t do what I did.

What did I do?