Tape & Chalk

So tonight I was at the gym and I was getting asked a lot of questions by a few beginners about tape and chalk. I decided to write this post to help out other beginners out there. So when do you tape up and when is the right time to use chalk? My answer was pretty much something like this.

The use of tape should be kept to a minimum. You really want to tear up your skin and let it  callus over.  This makes your skin a little stronger and the goal is that your hands won’t rip open as much in the feature. There are only three scenarios in which I use tape. 1.) When I have a cut or some type of wound that I don’t want to split open. 2.) When Iv’e been climbing for a while and my hands tear open and start bleeding or become so raw that they are about to start bleeding. 3.) When I am crack climbing. Crack climbing tears up the back of your hands which you don’t normally use on a regular climb.

Other then those three scenarios I try not to use tape. It is also important to get tape made for climbing or medical tape from Europe because their tape tend to be more stickier. You certainly don’t want tape falling off while climbing. I use Metolius tape which can be bought at REI. I also use Climb On! Skin Repair on my calluses to help them heal. It works wonders and can also be bough here at REI.

So now lets get into chalk. My favorite thing on the planet! So I was asked when to use chalk. The answer is simple. All the damn time! Chalk is used in two ways, on your hands and on your face. Chalk is used to keep moisture off of your hands and to give you better grip. The second you feel a bit of moisture chalk up! I keep chalk on my hands at all times. You may be wondering why does it have to be used on your face? Well that part was a jake, well, sort of. Ten out of ten times I leave the gym with chalk all over my face. I sometimes smear it all over my face being a goof and I sometimes get it on my face during a good workout. I know I climbed hard when I leave the gym with chalk all over my face. When I start working out hard the hair starts falling out of my ponytail and into my face and when I go to brush the hair out of my face with my hands it some how results with chalk all over my face. The people at the gym have gotten so used to it that I am now known as Chalk Girl.

And if your wondering what brand of chalk I use I swear by Frictions Labs . They sell three different types of chalk, Unicorn Dust  which is a fine powder, Gorilla Grip which is chunky and Bam Bam which is super chunky. I personally use the Unicorn Dust because I like my chalk really fine so that I get a nice even coating. However, if you’re a beginner I suggest going with the Gorilla Grip, which is mid grade, so you can use it to gage how you like your chalk. At the end of the day what kind of chalk you use is all personal opinion. I hope this blog post has helped out all of you beginners out there!  Chalk up and climb on!