If you’re like me, a long time fan of combat sports, then you’ve certainly noticed the trend of leg snaps in MMA. Ever since the rise of the calf kick, even the sport’s most famous stars, like Connor Mcgregor, are catching injuries throwing these kicks. Personally, I don’t aspire to much more than the occasional toughman contest. But that doesn’t mean that should the opportunity arise, I want to be worried about my shins should I throw a low leg kick. So today, we’re going to cover exactly how to condition your shins.
Not only that, but we’ll touch on things like the Thai method of shin conditioning. Also, why exactly these injuries are becoming more frequent.
How to Condition your Shins: Myths
Now, there’s a lot of B.S. out there regarding this topic. A generation of guys rolling pins across their shins or tapping them with beer bottles has made such extreme and, frankly, weird methods the norm. However, it’s just not the way things really work. Just look at the Thai fighters for example, you’ll usually see the most extreme things they do being relatively tame in comparison.
For example, you’ll see them kicking down things like banana trees and bamboo. Mind you, neither of these are soft materials. But kicking down a soft tree that tends to rot quickly, and a thin (though hard) shoot of bamboo isn’t really going to break your shin in two. In fact, these feats seem more like an occasional show off than actual technique. You’ll find dozens of south-Florida farmers on YouTube that can do the same thing to those trees despite never having fought a day in their life. Or at least, trained to fight. I bet those farmers do get down from time to time.
And in the case of the old glass bottles and rolling pins, they’ve never made sense to me. Apparently, the goal is to ‘deaden the nerves’ to make you feel less pain. Well, it doesn’t do that. It hurts every time. Sure, your pain threshold may go up. But you don’t need to be pushing too far past that threshold when it’s your own shin bone on the line anyway.
And I’m sorry if you’re a fan of Kickboxer, but you shouldn’t kick walls. Or concrete. Or any stone really. You’re not a superhero, don’t hurt yourself. These are all poor examples of how to condition your shins.
How to Condition your Shins: The Right Way
Well, now that we’ve made sure you’re not going to hurt yourself, time to lay down some truth. Just going forward, if some of this stuff sounds too “soft” for you, I want you to think of some questions. For example, knuckles! What is the number one way that boxers condition their knuckles? They’re bones too! And, very similarly, can break if you don’t condition them.
The Heavy bag
That’s right, it’s just that simple to start with. How to condition your shins? Kick the heavy bag! And this goes for good sets of Thai pads too. Day after day, week after week. In fact, this is going to be your number one method of conditioning those shins. And like I said, it’s going to take time and insane amount of kicks. But as the months go by, you’ll notice improvement for sure. As for which kind of heavy bag you need, click here to read my review of some that may catch your interest and fill your needs.
If this is a massive goal of yours, and you’re just getting started, do what the pros do. Make time for more kicks. In fact, get there ten to fifteen minutes before everybody else and slam your shin into the heavy bag 100 times. Not only will this be great for your cardio and conditioning, but the added benefit of practicing your kicks makes something like this a no brainer.
Sparring: With and without gear
If you’re not quite so new to this, you’ll see the truth here. Even with thick, new shin pads on direct shin-to-shin contact hurts. It can blow straight through the pads and cause a sharp pain that lasts for hours. And not just freestyle flow sparring. Set up partner drills where you throw shin kicks that are blocked on purpose, and the same goes with high kicks.
Sparring without gear on is another good avenue of conditioning. It keeps you from going too hard on your kicks but does facilitate the conditions where you can get a real shin-on-shin check. This is something you’ll have to get used to and will harden you up in the long run.
And this may sound weird under the “strength training” headline, but running will help in this arena too. The impact of your feet on the ground can create small microfractures as well, so putting in that road work is good for more than just your lungs.
Strength Training
I’ve always been a firm believer in the fact that fighting without lifting is like driving without an engine. More muscle mass will always support stronger bones, and bones can be conditioned through weight training. At this point, it’s all but common knowledge that weight lifting increases bone density. This is backed up by several academic studies. If you can squat 400lbs, your bones will be denser than someone who can squat 200. It’s just simple logic.
How to Condition Your Shins: Will it be quick?
No. And it will never not be painful to make shin-to-shin contact. When you go out there and fight, keep that in mind and never just whip out kicks with bad intention and poor techniques. Leave behind “deadening the nerves” of the shin and beating it up with objects that make no real sense. Instead, put in the work. Take the time.
Kick the heavy bag, lift heavy weights, spar frequently and technically. You can harden them for sure, and though you’ll still be sore after a long fight, shin-to-shin won’t have you on the floor ready to cry. When it comes to how to condition your shins, too many people go for the quick fix. Put in the work, get it done, and enjoy the benefits. It’s that simple.
