Conditioning upper shins

**PPlate** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 3:44am

How do you condition your upper shins, esp. folks who do muay thai?

My kyokushin friend says they bundle up a big bundle of chopsticks, tie it with rubber bands and then beat their upper shins with it.

Kicking the bag with the upper part of the shin is very awkward.

My muay thai coach says by doing kicking block drills with a partner wearing shin pads. However, I'd like to know what I can do on my own without a partner.

**alex** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 3:57am

hitting yourself with **** is stupid. you will get all the conditioning you need by doing bagwork fighting, and sparring.

and it will fucking hurt no matter what, by the way. maybe not while you have an adrenalin rush during a fight or whatever but afterwards. unless you get thrown a beating like kid against that big muscly chick :D

**PPlate** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 4:07am

How do you do bagwork with the upper part of the shin?

**alex** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 4:10am

i was talking about conditioning in general.

**Seraphim** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 10:33am

I've never been able to condition my shins with a bag.
I have beat the fucking bag till it had a huge bulge in it.
Still nothing.

You really need a partner for this sort of thing.

**Epicurus** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 10:59am

Does rolling a beer bottle or rolling pin over your shins help?
Personally, I just do my best to ignore the pain when I spar/hit the bag at a bad angle. Hitting your legs with something is time better spent kicking the bag.

**isol8d** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 11:40am

Originally Posted by Gabster the Bad Elf

I don't think that pain thing ever goes away. You do get used to it the more you get hit. So just spar more. BTW, I think that is why people who whack their shins with sticks. Not to make your shins tougher, but just so you get used to that kind of pain.

We do a shin check exercise for this reason. There have only ever been a handful of guys in my school who truly will check each other, but eventually the pain is not as sharp, if that makes sense. The pain has never gone away, but it becomes muted. Until the next day, which leads to bruises:

Originally Posted by Epicurus

Does rolling a beer bottle or rolling pin over your shins help?
Personally, I just do my best to ignore the pain when I spar/hit the bag at a bad angle. Hitting your legs with something is time better spent kicking the bag.

As per above, I've rolled out bruises from my shins and forearms, but I can't say that it helped in the conditioning. Following the advice of a massage therapist, I always roll towards my feet and not up towards my heart. It helps move the blood, or so I am led to believe.

**Epicurus** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 12:05pm

Originally Posted by isol8d

As per above, I've rolled out bruises from my shins and forearms, but I can't say that it helped in the conditioning. Following the advice of a massage therapist, I always roll towards my feet and not up towards my heart. It helps move the blood, or so I am led to believe.

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I can talk my friend who likes to roll beer bottles over her shins in order to "harden" them that it's a waste of time.

Don't tell anybody, but she also used to do pushups on the edges of her hands in order to "condition"herself for knife hands...?

**Odacon** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 12:19pm

If you're on your own hitting the bottom of the bag is the best thing to do, it's usually denser than the rest of the bag. As for hitting/rolling things off your leg, I'm not sure if it works or not, can anyone with medical knowledge/experience weigh in?

**PPlate** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 8:11pm

Originally Posted by Gabster the Bad Elf

I don't think that pain thing ever goes away. You do get used to it the more you get hit. So just spar more. BTW, I think that is why people who whack their shins with sticks. Not to make your shins tougher, but just so you get used to that kind of pain.

My lower shins are quite conditioned now, that's from kicking the bag. The side of my knee is also conditioned, from clashing legs with sparring opponents when we both try to kick at the same time. The last time I clashed knees with a new student, he was hugging his knee in pain but I only felt a slight pain (bearable). So it does take away the pain, just not 100% I think.