what things can i do to strengthen my shins so my kicks don’t hurt as much?
Just keep kicking the thai bag.
It’s always gonna hurt, you just get used to it a little more.
ummm, kick things and u develop hardened shins… that’s all u can do.
walk on your heels, do toe raises
look on exrx.net, they have a few vids of shin exercises.
Man not a expert for sure, but im here in Thailand satying at a Mauy Thai camp and ill tell you the REAL fighters the Thai’s, trainers,fighters etc. The have AWESOME lower leg developement Im talking CRAZY big in comparison some as large as there thighs the rest very close. just Huge ass stumps.
I say do what the above say get used to it I see these guys beating that damn bag for hours and work the calfs and shins.
Get a sack and fill it with alot of sand, find a way to hang it, you can make a frame out of wood or somethin. Kick it several hundred times a day.
Not to hi-jack this thread, but to those who practice/do Muay Thai,
How old are you?
When did you start?
I am currently 34yo and am thinking about starting but i’m hesitant to start at this age. Any older guys just starting out?
I started at 28, I’m 30 now. I say go for it.
get shin bone implants.
i’m 23 and started 2yrs ago. perfect for me and my body type. tall, skinny with strong legs.
Just remember when people talk about kicking trees and door frames, etc. that the trees Thais kick are actually relatively soft rubber trees, not oaks…
For the guy looking to get into MT: go for it.
Get more flexable. Then you can kick people in the face rather then in the leg. That tends to end the bout faster and in turn less leg damage. 
Other then that its just a mattter of getting used to the pain and the nerves dulling. Tiger balm or numbing spray is helpful before and after. Ice baths can help in recovery so you limp around a little less.
[quote]dave1847 wrote:
Not to hi-jack this thread, but to those who practice/do Muay Thai,
How old are you?
When did you start?
I am currently 34yo and am thinking about starting but i’m hesitant to start at this age. Any older guys just starting out?[/quote]
I’m 27 and just started this year…go for it.
Kick stuff. Repeat.
[quote]Djwlfpack wrote:
dave1847 wrote:
Not to hi-jack this thread, but to those who practice/do Muay Thai,
How old are you?
When did you start?
I am currently 34yo and am thinking about starting but i’m hesitant to start at this age. Any older guys just starting out?
I’m 27 and just started this year…go for it.[/quote]
Just be sure to emphasize proper warmups and stretching and don’t push too hard too fast. The mind may be willing but the body isn’t 18 anymore…just experience talking. I’m 35 going on 55 from pushing too hard too long, too often.
To disagree with Eggs, I don’t use anything on my shins other than a bit of tiger balm before and after. Before fights for sure, but in training I like to feel each kick so I know if something really wrong is happening to my body.
The others are bang-on though. Don’t run pipes or bottles down your shins, or kick trees, or kick stone pillars like Tong Po in Kickboxer, just put in the time.
My Kru told me about a guy he saw at the gym when he was about my age (22), who came in every day with 20 coins, and dropped one every time he finished 100 kicks with a leg, before doing 100 with the other, etc. Badass.
You don’t need to be that extreme, but you get the picture. Time = results. Improve your flexibility so you can kick torso-height, if you can’t already, and gradually work your way lower to where the bag is the hardest.
Also, try some set sparring, where you check your partner’s kicks while wearing shin guards. It’s nothing at all like going shin to shin (rap your knuckles hard against your shin to get a sense of how bad bone on bone is), but it’s a great start. I’ve blown out guys’ knees with my low kick, so I’m doing something right.
As for the question of starting Muay Thai at an older age, I would highly recommend it, but would also suggest you warm up very dilligently, and start taking fish oil, glucosamine, greens (or just up your veggie intake) and creatine. If you Kru works you as hard as mine does, you’ll need it. Also, be extremely dilligent with your hand wraps - most beginners don’t wrap properly, and it just obliterates their wrists.
second the wrist thing…benching with a barbell bugs the shit outta me now cause i used to never give a fuck about wrapping my wrists.
[quote]dave1847 wrote:
Not to hi-jack this thread, but to those who practice/do Muay Thai,
How old are you?
When did you start?
I am currently 34yo and am thinking about starting but i’m hesitant to start at this age. Any older guys just starting out?[/quote]
In Japan all kickboxing is just called “kick” even if it is Muay Thai. So I am 27 now, so nearly seventeen years training.
17, started this year. What I like to do is find the heaviest banana bag/heavy bag in the gym and do 20 cut kicks, teeps, roundhouse, shift kick, head roundhouse, shoots (don’t know the name but it is a grounded shin to shin kick) as warmup and cooldown. I always do everything %100 and it is suprising when a shin block hurts more than a full power heavy bag/thai pad kick. Thai pads are also great for the instep as you’ll hit with it a lot at higher heights.
does anyone have/use shin/instep guards? j/c
This thread came just in time, I was going to pose the same question.
Does anyone here have an opinion on BOB or any other freestanding heavy bag? I know everlast makes one called the wave, I believe.
My old dojo had a BOB but I never really cut loose on it since we had other equipment. But if I get one, it would have to take all the punishment I can dish out as a hvwt.
Is it worth it? Will it last? I’ve found a few available at a decent price on craigslist