6 Muay Thai Shin Conditioning Tips

At the Bristol Titans Combat Academy we train a lot of stand up fighting so it is useful to look into ways of toughening up the body. Like any type of toughening, body hardening or conditioning it will take some time before you reach your goal but each step forward is one step closer to your goal!

1. Be Persistent! 

Yes I know, that sounds cliche, but really the one thing that stands out time and time again, if you want to achieve your goal: don’t give up! The martial artists I aspire to, the martial artists that I train with, all the men and women who are tough, skilled and have that next level resilience that people admire, none of them gave up.

There is no quick fix solution to getting hard shins. It will hurt. You see the pros checking leg kicks shin to shin, it hurts them! They have just gotten used to the pain over time so it doesn’t hurt them as much as the same kick hurts a beginner.

So, be patient, be persistent, develop your physical and mental resilience and tenacity. You keep training and you will become tougher. Even the mighty oak starts off as an acorn 😀

“It’s at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.” – Emil Zatopek

2. Kick the Heavy Bag! 

Every time you get on the heavy bag, make sure you kick it at least 100 times with each leg. Even if you just put them on the end of a workout thats fine. This will also help develop good form and with good form comes power! If you have a heavy bag you can easily perform 200 kicks a day in 10 minutes. If you don’t have a heavy bag…get a heavy bag! If you don’t have somewhere to hang a heavy bag, find a way around it. Either get a partner you can take turns kicking each other, I’ve even used duct tape to wrap a kick shield around a tree before. Find a way.

3. Spar! 

Sparring should be a major part of your training in self defence. You need to learn to move, defend, attack.

Your shin conditioning will improve as you spar. Sometimes you will catch an elbow (with your shin or your foot) and even with thick shin guards it will hurt! Eventually it will hurt a bit less. Hopefully. Eventually. Really it will.

Drill combinations where you can check kicks and some combinations where you take the kick. This will all help toughen up your shins.

Sometimes train light and without any protective kit, to get your body used to that lovely shin on shin pain.

4. Look after your shins! 

Use ice for bruising and linament oil for recovery. Don’t just assume that your shins will heal quickly on their own.

5. Get Stronger! 

Make sure that you do some basic strength training a couple of times a week. This can be bodyweight focussed such as jump squats, pressups and so on have a look here for Mike Tysons bodyweight training programme.  This will help increase your bone density as well as your explosiveness, strength and balance.

6. Eat well! 

Make sure that you get in a decent amount of calcium and vitamin D every day! Training breaks down our bodies, food builds them back up again!