Do you guys use any supplements to help with the shins?

Discussion in 'Thai Boxing' started by Saved_in_Blood, Jan 22, 2014.

  1. Saved_in_Blood

    Saved_in_Blood Valued Member

    Is this another myth or do Thai fighters drink more milk/take calcium and or vitamin D supplements for shin hardening? Just curious.
     
  2. fire cobra

    fire cobra Valued Member

    Plenty of Rice for the Thai Fighter:)
     
  3. Saved_in_Blood

    Saved_in_Blood Valued Member

    Ok, what's everyone else's opinion? I was just wondering because I'm just going to start really working on my kicks, both chambering and more thai style kicks as well. I have a standard boxing bag, so I guess I could either lean it against something or hang it lower. How many kicks per day is good to start with?
     
  4. Dave76

    Dave76 Valued Member

    My trainer told me in Thailand they rubbed fresh red turmeric root on their shins. It supposedly helps deaden the nerves but leaves the skin stained.
    Kicking a bag is the beginning of shin hardening so you'll be off to a good start. How many kicks really depends on you. If I remember correctly I would do maybe 20-30. In the beginning not much power was used as proper form was the focus. As my technique improved more and more power was added.
    I wouldn't worry too much about numbers and such, your trainer will know how much/how hard you should be going and will be pushing you to improve with every session!
     
  5. daggers

    daggers Valued Member

    It's all a load of rubbish :) hit leather spar and after 10 fights with no shin pads you'll still hurt like hell after each fight
    Enjoy!
     
  6. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    To be honest if your diet is good, you don't have any prior noticeable injuries and you're not stupid or reckless with your kicks, then you shouldn't need extra supplements or anything for the shins.

    As for kicks a day...it's easier to develop good routine by going with smaller numbers and not at maximum effort. For me personally, around 40 kicks (20 per leg) per type of kick is perfectly fine, it may be more or less for you depending on what you feel you can manage.
     
  7. Mushroom

    Mushroom De-powered to come back better than before.

    Padwork and bagwork for shin conditioning. Theres no special potion that targets shins specifically.
     
  8. Saved_in_Blood

    Saved_in_Blood Valued Member

    oh wow... I was thinking like 300-500 a day after a while lol. I guess not. Admittedly I overdo everything and need to start to leave well enough alone. Overtraining has been a big problem. I don't really NEED to ride 80 minutes a day for instance, yet if I don't do as much or outdo what I have done the day before, I feel like a failure, and then I wind up with my legs so sore after about 2 weeks I feel totally drained.
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2014
  9. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    Yeah, I get that feeling too. My wife berates me horribly when I come in whining that I've only done 100 kicks or so in a day on the bag for that reason - as far as she feels, she wouldn't even manage 100 and so I'm just being a fussy muggins.

    300 - 500 is fine to work up to doing in a day when you're ready. Try it to start with and you'll just burn out after a few days, have to rest for a bit, then be more reticent to try again. There was a time I was doing close to a good 1,000 kicks a night. While I can still do it, after a few weeks it starts to hurt a bit too much. Now it's a heavy night if I go to 500, but at least I can manage that and still be OK to train the next day :).

    What I tend to aim for is practising mawashi geri & roundhouse kick (there's a difference in the mechanics - bear in mind my main art is Karate though I do kickbox as well now) and then do about 20 - 40 per kick, per height (head, chest, legs). Then you can also break it down to 20 - 40 w/ top of the foot at each height, ball of the foot and shin. Like this:

    Chudan (chestish height) mawashi geri (circular/roundhouse kick) w/ top of the foot x 20
    Chudan mawashi geri w/ ball of the foot x 20
    Chudan mawashi geri w/ shin x 20
    Roundhouse kick to ribs w/ top of the foot x 20
    Roundhouse kick to ribs w/ ball of the foot x 20
    Roundhouse kick to ribs w/ shin bone x 20

    And there you have 120 kicks already. You can repeat the same for head height & leg height, too. Then there's front kick (push with the flat of the foot, ball of the foot, pinching the toes together), with the knife edge of the foot, variations of the spinning back kick, knees...

    When you're ready you can very quickly take it to silly, silly levels. But while you're still finding your groove, it's easier to just do the 120 I posted above a day until it becomes habitual and natural. Then you work up from there :)
     
  10. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    You mean 300-500 shin kicks to the bag a day?

    Sounds like a fine way to mess up your legs.

    I just found that after about a year of sparring or so, my legs stopped being entirely purple and yellow and painful.
     
  11. Saved_in_Blood

    Saved_in_Blood Valued Member

    yeah :thinking:
     
  12. Saved_in_Blood

    Saved_in_Blood Valued Member

    Sounds like a good workout. In my CHKD class, we don't work on any kicks much above the waist, so I'd mainly focus on leg kicks and front snap kicks.

    Are you a big fan of the ax kick? Not sure if that's the proper name for it... it's where you chamber and then instead of kicking say the upper area of the leg you angle the shin down and hit the top of the knee area.
     
  13. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    That's cool. The principle would be the same as posted above, just at a different height. You could always try and get a feel for higher kicks in your own time if you want to.

    It's not a bad way to stay warm for 10 minutes or less actually.

    Ah, gotcha. Took me a moment to figure out the mechanics of that in my head as I'm old and infirm :p

    The axe kick (as I think of it) tends to be the one where you swing your foot into the air, then bring your heel slamming down on an opponent (usually on the upper torso/collar bone area). That one I hate more than jumping techniques.

    The one you mentioned I've only done once. It wasn't hard and I still nearly broke my partners' knee/leg area. He was limping for a full week afterwards so I haven't done it since. Mostly I stick with snap kicks to the inside thigh or sweep the lead foot if the opportunity presents, but that probably makes me sound better than I am at it :p
     
  14. Saved_in_Blood

    Saved_in_Blood Valued Member


    I must have gotten the axe kick name wrong... it's not the heal... trying to think how to expain it the way I saw it done. Ok, think of a kick where you chamber it, and your intention is to high the thigh area, but you sort of turn your foot downward to come down in a diagonal direction, as to hit the top of the knee, or I guess you could use it as a feint like you were going to kick the thigh, but you kick the knee instead. Does that make more sense? Perhaps it's still the same name of the kick or no?
     
  15. Unreal Combat

    Unreal Combat Valued Member

    The only supplement you need is a heavy bag.
     
  16. fire cobra

    fire cobra Valued Member

    Tae Tawaad the downward round kick:)
     
  17. fire cobra

    fire cobra Valued Member

    On the case of shin conditioning hit bag spar hit pads and..avoid hitting peoples blocks then the leg doesnt hurt:)
     
  18. LemonSloth

    LemonSloth Laugh and grow fat!

    Yeah, I know the one you mean. It's the one I mentioned I hurt my partner with. It's hard to find the right words for it. I know it from my karate as "gedan mawashi geri" or "low level roundhouse/circular kick". I've also seen it referred to as "tae kod" or "down round kick".

    Fire Cobras' probably got it right though.

    But yeah, just regular practice with the bag should do wonders for your shins as has been said already :)
     
  19. Saved_in_Blood

    Saved_in_Blood Valued Member

    Ok, that's cool.
     
  20. Teflon

    Teflon Valued Member

    I also use an extraordinary supplement called Milk! ;D
     

Share This Page