Shin Conditioning

[Zaharia]

Hi. Can anybody give me some advice on how to condition my shins, please.

Thanks.

[GreenCloudCLF]

Kick somebody elses...

[Xiao3 Meng4]

Some ways to condition your shins:

Kick a training partner's shins (Basic SadoMasochism)
Kick a heavy bag (Masochism)
Kick a dead tree (Kick it till it falls down, then find another tree... unless you want to condition the ball or heel of your foot)
Kick waterfalls (ooh, mystical)
Play Soccer (This one's the best, really.)

CSP

[Taiji-Rory]

Why condition your shins?
When your get to around thirty five it will only come back to haunt you, in the short term you will damage the nerve endings in your shin, and in the long term, such prolonged trauma has been linked with arthritis and various forms of cancer.
I would recommend just training with your friends and warring no pads, over time you will become accustomed to the sensation learn to ‘relax’ and finally, shin related damage will no longer impede your training, rushing these things only tends to do more damage in the long term.

[SevenStar]

relaxation and ignoring the sensation of pain from kicking with an unconditioned shin aren't related. However, all those extreme methods are unnecessary. People have to realize that things take time. A heavy bag and some thai pads are all you need.

[Chief Fox]

The price you pay for conditioning your shins: http://www.okinawan-shorinryu.com/vi.../shinkick.mpeg

You feel pain for a reason. To ignore it is not the smartest thing to do.

[GreenCloudCLF]

such prolonged trauma has been linked with arthritis and various forms of cancer.

TR,

has been linked by whom? I would be interested in seeing some of that research.

[BentMonk]

I too would like to know more about this supposed link between shin conditioning and bone cancer. This is the second time I've heard this. Please post some accurate, verifiable medical evidence. I condition my arms, and train with people who have been conditioning their shins and arms for several years. This conditioning is very methodical, and lots of dit da jaio is used. I've been doing it for close to six years and have yet to lose sensation, damage any nerves, or develop any form of cancer. To my knowledge neither has anyone else I train with, and they've been doing it much longer than I.

[GreenCloudCLF]

I think this cancer/conditioning thing ranks right up there with masturbation/blindness

And since I can see this forum, that link sucks...

[Taiji-Rory]

Firstly SevenStar, you are correct relaxation has nothing to do with shin conditioning, that is to say the actual toughening of the area, but it has everything to do with ones ability to tolerate pain, as the regards to link between bone cancer and bone trauma, that information was given to me by my Chinese doctor, back when I too conditioned my shins, I didn’t ask for her to prove it because she’s a very good doctor and has helped me through injury on many different occasions, I didn’t mean to cause anyone undue distress.

BentMonk well, maybe you suffer no ill effects now, but you probably will in later, life,
(I hope not though I'm not wishing on you if that’s how it sound)
I know my Sifu has a permanent injury to his left shin from his days in the shoalin temple, it came from having to kick wood with his shins, it flares up every winter and he has to apply wood lock on it x3 a day every time it flares up.

Any way I hope I made my meaning clearer this time, as you’ve probably guessed I'm some what in articulate...

[Zaharia]

Thanks for the advice, everybody

[Gen3sis74]

Yeah I would think shin conditioning would cause some unwanted damage, plenty of large blood vessels travelling through your legs.

[Oso]

thanks, CF.

I just puked up my protein shake.

and I've seen that video dozen's of times...it needs a warning.

[Judge Pen]

We condition our shins by rolling a PVC pipe full of sand up and down them and using copious amounts of jow. I have not lost any sensation in my shins, but I can tolerate more pain in that area. I think it's a non-impact way to build up your tolerance to pain while the jow is supposed to help the are heal and get tougher.

To quote Lawrence of Arabia, "The trick is not minding that it hurts."

[Oso]

I think that western ideas of what 'kung fu' is, is very different from what it was and is supposed to be.

IMO, 'kung fu' didn't start as a way to be healthy.

It started as a way to beat the crap out of the dude from the next village who was trying to steal your pig.

Do I need to spell the rest of that thought out?



'kung fu' training hurts. You're going to sustain injuries that mean you move like **** when you're older...except, if you trained hard enough when you were younger, when you 'do kung fu'

if you're training to learn how to fight (and if you're doing 'kung fu' why the fizzuk aren't you?) then you need to condition your body to take blows.

this means parts of your body won't work right, later in life, except when you 'do kung fu'

but, that's ok. why else did you spend all that time doing something other people made fun of?