What do nipples, armpits, and your nether regions all have in common? They are all areas suspect to chafing...and chafing isn't funny. Here's what causes it and how to prevent it.
Good morning, family of fast. Matt Mosman, the Chief Endurance Officer over at EndurElite.
I've come to the conclusion that the three most dreaded words in endurance sports are, bonking, explosive diarrhea, yuck, and chafing.
And the last one is what we're gonna talk about today.
What Areas Are Most Prone To Chafing?
Now, the classic image that comes to mind when I think of chafing is that poor son of a gun at the end of a marathon, who has bloody nipples. Ouch.
Other common areas of chafing are:
- the armpits
- for you gentlemen, the twigs and berries or nether regions
- and then where the top of the leg meets your buttocks is a common area for chafing.
- So what we're gonna do today quickly is really talk about what causes chafing, how to prevent it, and then how to heal it up so if you jump in the shower after you've been chaffed, you don't jump like 80 feet in the air, screaming in pain and agony.
What Causes Chafing?
So, chafing is really caused by one of two things.
- The first being really loose-fitting clothes that causes friction on certain parts of your body, like the bloody nipples or skin-on-skin friction.
And to make matters worse, if you're a really salty sweater and as the duration of endurance exercise goes on, that salt residue is left on your skin and that acts as a further irritant to chafing as you're running or biking along or doing other things.
- Chafing can also be caused by well, marinating in you're sweaty-ass exercise clothes after you're done, you know, racing or riding or running or off course racing or whatever the heck you do.
So, that's really what causes chafing in a nutshell. The loose-fitting clothes, this repetitive skin-on-skin friction and then marinating in your stuff and not get it off right after exercise.
How To Prevent Chafing
So, what's the best way to prevent chafing?
- I think the best way, one, is to lube up those certain areas that are inclined to get chafing in the first place. So lube, my favorite one is a Brave Soldier Friction Zone just because it stays on really, really good. So I'll put a dab of that underneath my armpits before exercise down again on the nether regions or on my ass if I go for a bike ride.
So first things first, I would say lube up those areas or like if you get bloody nipples, get those little nip guards, if you're gonna run a marathon if you wanna prevent chafing.
- The second thing to prevent chafing is, wear proper fitting clothes. Now, this doesn't have to be like spandex. You can basically wear like a, you know, microfiber or sweat-wicking materials that kind of keeps that moisture and friction down a little bit.
And they can be form-fitting, but again, they don't have to be spandex, but if you like spandex, it's a really good option because it kind of keeps some things in place if you know what I am talking about gentlemen.
- The third is, don't do manscaping. I don't know what you women call it, but basically, God put hair in certain areas for a reason. And that is to prevent chafing. At least I think.
So, I know manscaping is like the cool new thing to do, but real guys don't manscape anyway. So just leave the hair there, all right? I'll just, I'll leave it at that.
- And then really the last thing, like I said before, to prevent chafing, get out of your sweaty-ass exercise clothes as soon as you're done with exercise is if that is possible.
That moisture and moving around can kind of cause some skin irritation and then, chafing can even happen after exercise. So that's the best way to prevent it from happening.
How To Treat Chafing
Now, what if you got chafed all the hell anyway because you didn't follow those three or four things to prevent in the first place?
Then, you want to get like an antiseptic, healing cream and rub it on those chafing spots to promote quicker healing.
And again, probably my favorite is the Brave Soldier Antiseptic Cream.
You just slap that on the old twigs and berries and that spot between your thigh gentlemen and you'll be right as rain the next day.
I'm so gonna get in trouble for this video by saying twigs and berries. Somebody is going to get offended inevitably.
So, that is all I have on chafing today, my endurance friends. If you have a buddy that gets bloody nipples are other areas that get chafed a lot, please share this video with them. If you want other videos like this on endurance training, nutrition, supplementation, and other random musings, subscribe to your EndurElite youtube channel or head on over to the EndurElite blog at www.endurelite.com. Get social with us on Facebook and Instagram. And until next time, stay fueled, stay focused, stay fast and stay informed.
