Issue 075

May 2011

Solid shins are a crucial component to every fighter’s arsenal. So we bring you a masterclass from Michael Bisping’s Muay Thai trainer on intelligently crafting shins of steel

When it comes to shin conditioning I’ve seen it all. I remember when Kickboxer first came out showcasing a ripped Jean-Claude Van Damme repetitively smashing banana trees with round kicks. Predictably, ER departments were overloaded with people who’d flocked to the streets to kick concrete posts thinking they’re Tong Po. I also recall a guy in the early '90s thrashing wildly with his legs at an oak tree, achieving nothing but a bleeding leg covered in green bark – all in the name of self-improvement. The inalienable truth is that there’s no quick solution to hard, conditioned shins; it’s a gradual process.

So, you want to emulate all the Hollywood action movies by going out and kicking trees. Or perhaps you’re thinking of flocking to the streets to kick mailboxes, brick walls, lampposts etc to condition your shins. This idea is dated and apart from making you look like a complete screwball, it just simply won’t work. 

Why? The theory behind conditioning states that when your shin, or tibia, experiences repetitive impact you get calcification on the bone (the bone flooding with calcium) which helps repair the damaged bone while making it grow back stronger. If you go out and kick a tree there will be an overabundance of swelling. This swelling can cause a hematoma, which can calcify and form hard lumps on your shins. Not only does it look disgusting but it is incredibly painful, as these lumps rub against the muscle. At the same time, conditioning the shin means making the leg get used to the pain during impact. Repetitive impact slowly deadens the nerve endings making them less susceptible to pain and therefore building tolerance. Kicking a tree or a wall may kill the nerve endings, but at the same time it’s going to seriously mess up your shin. Fortunately you can get excellent shin conditioning results using a punch bag or Thai pads.

Hit the bag or Thai pads 

There’s no substitute for a normal, straight punch bag. Kicking the punch bag numerous times strengthens the shin bone without damaging it beyond repair, while building up a pain tolerance. Free-standing punch bags are fine if you’re about 145lb or below. Larger fighters who have considerably more force behind their kicks can easily knock them over. Fighters who train with me at Salford Muay Thai near Manchester, England, such as Michael Bisping, Ross Pearson and even Cassie Robinson, who’s only 130, could all kick one completely over doing a round kick.

Thai pads are great because, although they’re quite hard, your partner is holding them so they don’t have as much resistance as a solid immovable object, and therefore won’t hurt your shins as much. Very hard bags are not as forgiving and can be as damaging as hitting something solid, so avoid.

Glucosamine is the key

Take glucosamine for training and particularly during recovery periods after a sparring session. It's great for joint stability, tendons and bone strength. If injured, using glucosamine to treat the injury within the first 24 hours is crucial. Also, use a cold compress to get the swelling down followed by a hot compress to increase the blood flow for repair. The quicker the swelling reduces, the quicker the shin will heal. 

Wear shin guards when sparring

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, if you went into the gym with a pair of shin guards on you’d get laughed back out the door. Now they are a sparring essential. Without them, you may continuously damage your shins and not give your body time to repair. Don’t try and kick posts with shin guards on as it can be just as damaging. 

Turn up the heat

By rubbing methyl salicylate (or you may know it as Deep Heat) onto the shins causes local vasodilation, meaning the blood vessels widen increasing blood flow. As the blood is pumping through the legs, this makes it less likely for you to pull your muscles and it hurts a lot less when you kick the bag hard. Don’t substitute this for a warm-up though. Always warm up before exercise.

Thrash metal

Don’t go round kicking solid inanimate objects such as poles (or solid animate objects for that matter). It creates swelling on the shins. Failing to treat the swelling with a hot and cold compress can lead to calcified welts on the shin. Basically, you’ll have lots of hard large lumps running down your shin that won’t go away. Nasty.

Forget to stretch

Stretching before warm-up is imperative but stretching down after the session is just as crucial. Hip flexes are very important because they stretch the rectus femorous muscle. This muscle crosses your hip and your knee and failing to stretch it means you gradually shorten the muscle giving you back problems.

Kicking bags filled with sand will make your shins stronger

If you kick a punch bag filled with sand you may as well kick a wall. It’s an absolutely crazy philosophy. Doing this will seriously damage your shins.

Regularly rolling a glass bottle down your shins will condition them

Back in 1986, when far less was known about shin conditioning, I used to roll a rolling pin or a glass bottle filled with frozen water down my legs as hard as I could. It’s the most excruciating experience you can imagine and will only damage your shins. Don’t do it. Knowledge about physiology has come a long way since then. A good trainer or coach will put safeguards in place but still achieve the original objective. 

Punch bags wrapped in hemp rope

While getting the right result eventually, you will have to go through a world of pain to get there. Hemp rope will seriously damage the nerve endings rather than slowly building and conditioning them to take pain over time. 

Working out in the sun increases vitamin D3 for higher calcium absorption

Again, a dated myth. In reptiles, they require a higher amount of vitamin D3 because that’s how they get their calcium production. While vitamin D3 is a calcifier, we are mammals that have evolved over thousands of years so we are able to get different supplements such as glucosamine. The only thing this will do is potentially give you sunburn.

The routine

You need a solid warm-up to get the blood flowing into the legs. Start by going up and down on your tip toes. Be sure to stretch your hamstrings and quads and free up your ankles by rotating them in circles in both directions. 

On a heavy bag, start off slowly throwing simple round kicks with 30–50% power and work your way up to a fast pace with a comfortable level of force that isn’t hurting. You don’t want to hit it full-force the first time and hurt yourself. For beginners, throw ten kicks on each leg. For intermediate, throw 25 on each leg. Advanced fighters such as Michael Bisping can throw 50 on each leg.

For beginners rest for 45–60 seconds. For intermediate rest for 30–45 seconds. 

Repeat for another four rounds, resting in between each round.

Warm down by doing light skipping or light squats for three minutes. Once you have done this, stretch all the active muscles you’ve been using.