# Conditioning against low kicks?



## Giorgio

I know we get a lot of topics posted on how to condition your shins, and I think we've dealt with that. But how about the thigh? It's easy to condition the shins by hitting the pads, the bag, or other people enough, but I'm just curious how all of you condition your thighs to take low kicks better.

Of course there's sparring, and after every training session I have my partners sink a few into my thigh, but how about if you're on your own?

Any tips?


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## CuongNhuka

have someone that kicks trees kick your thighs... lol


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## Dave Leverich

You can get used to the thigh kicks, but you can't condition the legs so much. Are you rolling the leg upon impact? That helps disperse the impact and makes it NOT deaden the leg. Other than that, your shin block, or not being there is the answer. (Distancing is huge, jam/clinch or distance back etc).


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## Dave Leverich

I should clarify, you can condition the muscles etc, make them more tone and that. But unlike the shins where you can actually deaden the nerves (not something I do or recommend, to each his/her own though), the thigh is all muscle and doesn't have that option.


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## tellner

When you condition the shin it's not just "deadening the nerves". It's also increasing bone density.


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## Sukerkin

Isn't it the case tho' that the nerve damage is an inevitable side effect of this quest for bone density?  It was my impression that this was why such draconian measures to toughen shins were so frowned upon.


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## Giorgio

yeah, I think nerve deadening occurs along with the effect of Wolf's Law ( an increase in bone density). Of course rolling your leg with the impact will deflect the blow, I should probably try to do that more. But I'm sure that your muscles themselves have to get conditioned to taking more blows. After all, a boxer can only take one or two flush kicks to the thigh, whereas buakaw can take upwards of fifty, even without rolling his leg.


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## no_kata

Sukerkin said:


> Isn't it the case tho' that the nerve damage is an inevitable side effect of this quest for bone density?  It was my impression that this was why such draconian measures to toughen shins were so frowned upon.



You are correct. However, in the grand scheme of things is having nerve sensitivity or bone density more important in order to live a long and healthy life? How often do you do enough damage to your shin in day to day activities that you really need sensitive nerves? There isn't much on your shins to really damage anyway.


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## no_kata

Speaking of low kicks did anyone check out Nate Quarry's UFC fight on Saturday? I'm willing to bet he threw 30 leg kicks and the majority of them landed. How that guy was still able to put any weight on his lead leg was nothing short of amazing.


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## tellner

Depends on how you do it. The odds are in favor of it, but there are ways to do it gradually that will minimize the damage and promote the (slow) healing process.


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## Zero

The problem with the thigh area is that with all the conditioning in the world there are a few choice nerve ending sites that you cannot effectively protect against a decent direct hit if someone pulls it off.  These are the spots I try to target and having been kicked here I have felt the effect. I have done some body conditioning and have a lot of muscle due to weights but have felt some real pain a couple of times due to being hit in the right spot on the thigh.  Maybe top and experienced muay thai fighters are impervious to upper thigh attacks also, but having deadened/nerveless shins is one thing (bad enough though it must be in later life), getting to the stage when you're killing off these crucial nerve endings in your thighs (if it can be done) sounds bloody crazy to me however!! 

All the talk re shin conditioning is true in my own experience of working up from the heavy bag on to kicking trees of varying density and hardness.  I never rolled coke bottles full of sand etc on my shins, never had to.  That said, I have only had a few MT fights for experience and the closest fight competitions that I have had to a style that inflicts repetative, in close, leg attacks is kyokoshin so I have not focused on this so much I guess as a muay thai fighter.  I do believe in conditioning the shins to a degree though, just to save your leg from caving in under you when you get that hit, or when you dish one out and are met with a decent block/check.


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## newmartialartist

no_kata said:


> Speaking of low kicks did anyone check out Nate Quarry's UFC fight on Saturday? I'm willing to bet he threw 30 leg kicks and the majority of them landed. How that guy was still able to put any weight on his lead leg was nothing short of amazing.



I saw that fight.  I agree with you; it was about 30 leg kicks that hit. It was quite amazing that he could continue fighting.   I am also glad that St. Pierre beat Sera! That was a good fight even though St. Pierre dominated Sera.


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## USP45CT

I've been doing Muay Thai for about a year and half and I still think low kicks tend to suck ***.  You kinda just get used to the pain and have to have the heart to work through it.  For conditioning I have always felt that sparring is the best way to condition against them.


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## no_kata

USP45CT said:


> I've been doing Muay Thai for about a year and half and I still think low kicks tend to suck ***.  You kinda just get used to the pain and have to have the heart to work through it.  For conditioning I have always felt that sparring is the best way to condition against them.




Really? Tell that to Yoshida after his tapout from 5 low kicks against CroCop


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## USP45CT

no_kata said:


> Really? Tell that to Yoshida after his tapout from 5 low kicks against CroCop


 
Really!  A low kick is always gonna suck is what I'm trying to say.  There really isn't some kind of magical formula though sparring will help you kind of get used to the pain.  Either way your muscles will end up tighting up and you just won't really be able to walk or they can hit the nerve and your leg will go numb.  That is why you check them.


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## no_kata

USP45CT said:


> Really!  A low kick is always gonna suck is what I'm trying to say.  There really isn't some kind of magical formula though sparring will help you kind of get used to the pain.  Either way your muscles will end up tighting up and you just won't really be able to walk or they can hit the nerve and your leg will go numb.  That is why you check them.



I didn't read the context in which you were trying to say that


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## USP45CT

no_kata said:


> I didn't read the context in which you were trying to say that


 
It was in the very first sentence of my first post.  Something along the lines of low kicks still suck ***.  I was just saying that through sparring you atleast begin to know how they feel and won't get absolutely blindsided from the pain.  Just keep sparring and you will begin to just learn how to avoid them.


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## lombriz

My opinion is that you can condition against low kicks to the thighs.
You start kicking each other lightly to the thighs. Then you move up to intermediate strength in your kicks.  You condition your muscles to the impact.  You don't want to go really hard because then you are damaging the muscle.  Also the more muscle mass the more muscle can absorb the impact.
I guess the more compact,denser muscle fibers are stronger and more resilient. Which one can take a greater hit, developed muscle or undeveloped muscle?


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## Giorgio

yeah, you definitely need to condition your legs to receive low kicks, as well as learning to check them. You won't always be able to catch them, after all! I remember the first time I got hit hard by a low kick, it left me limping for a week. Now I can take a few dozen and still walk (slowly!)


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## TylerInTraining

lombriz said:


> My opinion is that you can condition against low kicks to the thighs.
> You start kicking each other lightly to the thighs. Then you move up to intermediate strength in your kicks.  You condition your muscles to the impact.  You don't want to go really hard because then you are damaging the muscle.  Also the more muscle mass the more muscle can absorb the impact.
> I guess the more compact,denser muscle fibers are stronger and more resilient. Which one can take a greater hit, developed muscle or undeveloped muscle?



Yes.  This is the same idea as kicking bags for toughening up your shins.  If you ask around you will find that people who have been doing this will swear by it.


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## MuayThai

well, if it was a ufc fight I wouldn't be surprised at all...I didn't see it, but I've seen them before...there is some pretty lame striking that goes on in mma from what I've seen.


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