Muay Thai Newbie Questions - Bag Kicking

poundcake42 · 3 months

Just keep at it. There's no easy way. Conditioning just happens over time as you kick it more and more. As far as stretches, just anything that stretches the hips, thighs, and groin. You won't be high kicking 6 ft guys in the head anytime soon, but it will come with patience. Put a regular stretch routine before every practice and workout. When you are kicking really let the hips go.

darbyshaw891 · 3 months

i've been training on-off in bangkok for the past half year... it used to hurt. A LOT. i've been training everyday for the past couple weeks (my first fight is on weds) and i just realized that now, it only hurts if i kick the bag wrong. example, if i swing and get too much foot and not enough shin on the bag. my tolerance has definitely gone up, and once you start to nail the technique, you will begin feeling immune to the stinging pain upon impact. good luck my brother.

aonanj · 3 months

It really happens far quicker than you would think. I remember the first month I was training, I sat on the couch with Advil and ice an hour every night after class. By the time month three rolled around, I was fine. Based on everyone I've met that has started training, this is the standard time frame to condition your shins for heavy bag work (and know it gets better every week).

Stretching: Little difficult to explain in words, but place one leg on a chest-high surface. From there, try three different angles: chest facing your toes and torso rotated to each respective side, then try to grab your foot. Hold each position for one minute. Do this after training, never static stretch for muay thai before training (jump rope or shadow box with weights).

Hope that helps!

NeoSolid · 3 months

I'm also new at Muay Thai but from what I read so far the solution is that your bones get stronger. Pretty much your chin toughens up.

Ind2spd · 3 months

Just keep kicking the bag and icing your shins as soon as you get home. I don't feel the pain anymore these days and rarely get welts on my shins, but I've been practicing muay thai heavily for the past 4 months. I also used a Chinese remedy called Dit Da Jow from PlumDragonHerbs.com to help with my bruised shins in the beginning. Now I don't really need to use it at all.

In terms of stretching refer to this thread here and there's a lot of useful info on stretching.

http://www.reddit.com/r/MuayThai/comments/p1ao9/i_am_a_jiu_jitsu_guy_who_has_just_taken_up_muay/

Good luck and have fun! I'm addicted to Muay Thai as well!

sharked · 3 months

if you are hurt, there is no shame in kicking a bag with shin guards on.

here something you might want to try in the future. but for now, stick to the bag. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x13uc0_shin-conditioning-from-k-1fans-com_sport

[deleted] · 3 months

If you're on class 3 and you're already too injured to train, take it down a notch. Technique, then power.

chinchilla_muaythai · 3 months

Whatever you do, don't start beating your shins with bamboo sticks or roll glass bottles/rolling pins up them.

AFAIK (could be wrong, I suck at MT) it deadens your nerves without building up your bones, so you run a risk of pulling a Corey Hill and snapping your tibia in two.

What kicking the bag does is deaden your nerves while causing your shins to calcify...at least I think that's how it goes. I need to refresh my knowledge on this subject, but it'd explain the lumpy portions of my tibia after 2+ years of training.

And as for kicking high? Stretches that work the hips, thighs, and groin work, but there comes a point where you gotta go with the sport-specific motion and just do a crapload of kicks, kicking higher as you progress in your training.

Whether it's shadowboxing, sparring, padwork, or bagwork, incorporate some kicks and try to push your limits little by little as you train.

Sawadeekhap, train hard.

qwortec · 3 months

Ice your shins after class to keep the swelling down.

Make sure to mind your technique. Power is nice, but you should be focusing more on your technique at this point. Your shins will toughen up quicker than you'd think.

Just wait till you start checking kicks... that's when you'll get to feel the real shin pain.

In regards to the advice not to roll/beat your shins for conditioning: I've heard different things. We will occasionally roll wooden dowels on our shins to deaden the nerves. We always have one person sit on the floor with one leg extended and another person slowly crush the pin into the shin and roll up and down about 3 times. It's excruciating. The thing is we only do this once every month or two to help condition for shin on shin checking. If you do this all the time you might get the problem of no pain but weak shin bones that could cause you issues. Most of the conditioning comes from moving up in heavy bag hardness, from the soft canvas ones up to the huge sand filled ones.

If something hurts a lot and it's not just a bruise, don't damage it more! Better to take it easy and keep training then to hurt yourself and have to take a few weeks off.

subxero173 · 3 months

I just got over having the same issue. I've been doing muay thai for about 2 months and when I first started kicking the heavy bag I could get maybe 10 kicks in before it was too painful. I would let my shins heal for two or three days then go at it again. A month later I'm at the gym kicking the bag and I couldn't feel anything. You just get through the pain and eventually you won't feel it anymore

woyervunit · 3 months

My advice would be let it heal. Conditioning takes time, but if you don't give it time to heal, you will only slow this conditioning time. If your shins are sore, throw knees in place of kicks, straight or round knees. Techniques are almost the exact same movement, and you need to practice these anyways.

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