No matter how much you train or how strong you are, an unfortunate reality of rock climbing is that your skin will often wear out before your muscles. While there is really nothing that can be done to prevent this, there are some skin care strategies and products, that if used correctly, can help prolong your climbing sessions by ensuring you grow tough yet pliable skin.
Here’s an article where climber, trainer, and coach Will Anglin shares his skin care methods and favorite products to help you keep your skin as ready as possible for your next training session or day out.
“Soaking your tips in warm soapy water is a great way to soften up your skin so the callouses slough off. Who doesn’t love slicing open a tip on the first try of the day? Oh wait…no one.” – Will Anglin
Will Anglin – Skin Care Tips:
To stay on top of your skin care and avoid having to take rest day after rest day to let your skin recover, Will uses these tips to help keep his skin ready for his next session.
- Sand!
- Wear dish gloves
- Methenamine!
- Climb on rocks
Staying on top of sanding, wearing dish gloves, and using some methenamine products are all great ways to stack the deck in your favor. However, as Will points out, if you really want good skin for climbing outside on rock, then you need to get outside and do just that. Much like any other kind of training, consistently climbing on rock forces your skin to adapt and grow back tougher and ready to pull on even the sharpest crimps.
Will Anglin – Skin Care Products:
In addition to keeping up with sanding and avoiding soaking your hands in warm soapy water, Will also suggests using these products to help keep your skin firm, dry, and still pliable.
- Antihydrial
- Rhino Skin Solutions Repair and Performance Creams
- Blue Emu
- ClimbSkin
The methenamine containing products like antihydrial and Rhino Skin Performance cream are for hardening your skin up and stopping excess sweating. The other products (Rhino Skin Repair Cream, Blue Emu, and ClimbSkin) are for balancing out the drying effect of methenamine and keeping your skin hydrated.
Click through below to read more about how Will keeps his skin in sending condition. Skin issues are an unfortunate reality in climbing. However, following Will’s advice, figuring out what works best for your skin, and keeping up on maintenance go a long way toward avoiding having to cut your climbing day short due to another split tip.
Full Article: Will Anglin – SKIN!
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(photo courtesy of willanglin.squarespace.com)
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