Shins

[Bluto]

Ok this might sound corny, but is there a way to work the front of the shins, that make a difference? No so much in size, but functional strength? I'm into martial arts etc as well so just curious... I stumbled over an article written by a mountaineer, and she had this excercise:



Lemme know what you guys think, if that's a waste of time, or if might be of value, at least functional strength-wise, injury preventing or whatever.

[Bluto]

Here is her description:

"Use a light weight plate, theraband, surgical tubing or manual resistance (such as your own or a friend’s hand) for this next exercise to strengthen the muscles in the front of the shins."

"If you tend to suffer from what some people refer to as “shin splints” when you try to race walk, of if you have suffered from any sort of nerve damage that makes it more difficult to pick up the toes during exercise, then you may benefit from training the anterior tibialis for endurance (i.e. use light weight for many repetitions). Use a stiff-toed boot if you intend to use anything more than about 5 pounds, so that you don’t hurt a toe. If using a band, tie one end to a vertical rod or even a chair leg and pull your toes toward you. To increase resistance, simply move back farther from the attachment surface. Work up to doing this for 2 minutes at a time."

[Tailz]

i was told to make shins hard like steal pipes...  you have to kick a hanging sand bag or a wooden pole in the ground...  its a painful process but the rewards are great if you like kicking people in the face 

[Ledd]

I'm  sure that you can strengthen the fronts of shins(the muscle there) through that exercise, I mean ofcourse if you arent already doing anything for that area then its gonna get stronger.  If you want to solidify the bone, which you can do, then you are going to have to do something akin to what Tailz said.  Just like knuckles this is very beneficial to martial artists to have larger, harder bones where you are hitting someone.  When bones are damaged they draw calcium to the wounded area to repair, that calcium doesnt go away, so over say a year you could greatly harden your shins.

[JPM]

That front plate lift has been around for quite some time. Some guy's will have their heels on a 2X4 when doing this for a better range of motion. Can also sit and have some one place a towel, martial art's belt, etc around the toes/feet and offer resistence while you curl the toes towards the body. I found that running or even walking in sand is great for that area. Beach volley ball players seem to have good developement in that area. I prefer the women pro beach volley ball player the most....yes I do. Some Ballet dancers will do a form of these front toe rases. Use to wait for an old high school girl friend at her ballet class and some of those workout's are very intense.

 Any of the above would not be a hardening agent for the front of the shin. Usually a light stick or bamboo is struck around the front part of the shin for many reps every day to build up that boney area. I've heard that this does have it's price with poor blood circulation in that area as well as the boney ridges of the knuckles, as one gets older. Kicking the bag with the top of the foot ridge to just below the  knee is usually done when that shin structure has built up a bit. The area becomes very discolored & callus, which I guess is the point after all. They tell me they feel no pain what so ever. Good Luck.

[onlyme]

Hammer made a piece that worked your front lower leg

[Drij]

when I first started out in muay thai hitting the bag was a pain but it took about a month of everyday training to get my shins conditioned it just takes time. Start hitting the bag! regular boxing bags are better if your a beginner a muay thai bag is much harder and kicking once is going to hurt badly nevermind multiple times. Now my shins can take anything very bumpy.

[Bluto]

Thanks guys. I'm not so much into hardening the shins, but I think kicking a heavybag will be enough... just want to strengthen that area, I'm kinda trying not to leave anything out... so I do a lot of neckwork, gripwork etc

[jpeso]

This post is along the lines of a post i made a bit earlier concerning cardio and shin splints.  Is there a concensus that this type of exercise could strngthen the 'shin muscles' enough to avoid pain?

[Jr. Yates]

I have seen people do that excersise.

[coltrane]

Try this...seems to work great....
After donkeys or seated calf sets, stand up, and with one foot, simply tap your toes 20 times...Repeat w the other foot..
Depending on how much of your weight you place on your foot doing the tapping, you can get a great burn...
--Do a few sets and let me know!  (this post is for working the front of the shin..not for shin splint relief)

[sli]

I've seen collegiate soccer teams use this to strenghten the front shin muscles, which I guess are important for kicking strength and ball handleing.
They sit on a bench, facing a lower set cable pulley; slip the single handle attachment over one foot (around the base of the front toes) and with the foot on the edge of the bench, they curl the weight towards them then lower it and repeat for 12-15 reps then switch feet.

I've tried it and it works great, but here's a tip, if you have the kind of single handles that are made with nylon webbing, you can slip the ring on the webbing through your bottom shoe lace before cliping it to the carabiner on the cable. That really connects your shoe to the exercise and you get a great range of motion.

[Cleanest Natural]

Try this...seems to work great....
After donkeys or seated calf sets, stand up, and with one foot, simply tap your toes 20 times...Repeat w the other foot..
Depending on how much of your weight you place on your foot doing the tapping, you can get a great burn...
--Do a few sets and let me know!  (this post is for working the front of the shin..not for shin splint relief)

[coltrane]

try it...it works.  or you could just stick to dbol for your massive, nonexistent gains

[Bluto]

hehe i forgot about this thread and sadly i didnt do any exercise either

maybe i should 

[dizzleman06]

weighted toe raises...Hammer strength has a pretty good lil rig for this, but I have always just super set none-weighted toe raises during calf training.