# bruised everywhere



## bradtash (Mar 23, 2009)

hey all,

i have just started muay thai 3 weeks ago (1 lesson per week) and just had my first spar. wowee i am so bruised all over my legs. is this normal? or am i doing something wrong?
i was told that i need to condition my legs better is this correct?
if so will just kicking a bag do it?
sorry for the basic questions but i am in pain lol.

also when did you start to see great improvements in your muay thai abilities?
that was my third lesson and i sparred about 10 people for 1-2 minute rounds. i had no chance against any of them, anything i did they blocked and countered so quick that i thought i should of just crawled into a littled ball lol.

any help would be great thanks,
brad.


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## jarrod (Mar 23, 2009)

completely normal, your body will toughen up after a while & you won't bruise so bad.  well, you won't notice it so much anyway, lol.  plus as your defense gets better you'll get hit less.  for shin conditioning just kick the bag & spar, don't beat on your shins with a stick or anything like that.  it's hard to gauge improvement when you're new.  right now your the whipping boy at the gym, sometime in the next year another newbie will show up & you'll be surprised how easy you can handle him.  

stick with it, & good luck!

jf


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## Thems Fighting Words (Mar 23, 2009)

bradtash said:


> hey all,
> 
> i have just started muay thai 3 weeks ago (1 lesson per week) and just had my first spar. wowee i am so bruised all over my legs. is this normal? or am i doing something wrong?
> i was told that i need to condition my legs better is this correct?
> ...



Firstly, get yourself some Tiger Balm, that stuff is great. Maybe massage for deep pain.

Secondly, and this is the part I underlined. Third lesson and you're sparring ten people? What kind of technique have you learnt? Full contact sparring after three lessons seems counter-productive to me. But then again I'm of the mind that unless a student has been taught techniques which they can effectively use in sparring, they shouldn't be sparring.


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## searcher (Mar 23, 2009)

I will echo something jarrod pointed out and add to it.   Don't beat your shins to condition them.   I have my students(not muay thai) get a glass bottle and roll it down the shin bones, then they put Dit Da Jow on it to cut back on the bruising.    Works wonders, trust me.

Don't worry about making improvments, they will come in time.    Just focus on your skills and you will get better.

Do you have any previous experience in MA?   I am also wondering what you are doing sparring so many people so early in your training.


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## terryl965 (Mar 23, 2009)

This is normal and make sure that body get some rest and take care of it before the next time.


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## argyle (Mar 23, 2009)

I'm guessing you weren't actually sparring here, but rather practicing kicks and counters? Which can beat up your shins pretty bad at first. Full-on sparring in your third class sounds pretty unusual and I can't imagine it would help while you're still trying to digest all the techniques that have been introduced the first two lessons.

For the bruises, I second what searcher said - Dit Da Jow liniment has worked well for me. I picked up some at a local Chinese medicine clinic but am sure there's a lot available online too.


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## girlbug2 (Mar 23, 2009)

I dont' do Muy Thai, but I do spar and lol, I'm a "bruiser"! 

My only advice is, get some excellent quality shin guards. The kind with a rigid core are the only kind that offer protection for my thin skin. the pair set me back about 40 bucks, well spent.


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## Carol (Mar 23, 2009)

Avoid rolling glass bottles on your shins - this can cause permanent nerve damage in your shins.

Best way to build up is to kick the bag on a regular basis.   Start with a slow number of reps and work your way up to more.

Also, make sure you have plenty of vitamin C in your diet, which will help the blood vessels rebuild themselves.   Try 500 mg per day of Ester C, or if supplements aren't your thing, squeeze several lemon or lime wedges in your water.  Good luck with your training and have fun!  :asian:


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## Jarrod G. (Mar 23, 2009)

I learned something interesting about bruising while on this training trip in Thailand.   For the first 2 weeks I had bruises all over, especially on my shins.  then over the next 2-3 weeks the bruises started disappearing, but I still got what the other fighters called "soft spots" that felt like bruises but didn't show up as bruises.  Now I'm no professional, but I think that if you beat an area enough, the blood vessels or something get stronger and harder to create visible bruises.  I don't know if anyone with some real knowledge on the subject can confirm this, but it's certainly how it was for me.

oh yeah, and block, block, block.  it will keep the bruises to your shins and off your thighs/ribs.


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## bradtash (Mar 24, 2009)

hey everyone,

thanks for the advice.
well first of all, yes we were actually contact sparring.... i agree i thought this was way too early for us (my wife and I) to do this. in the other 2 lessons all we learnt was basic stance a few basic punches and the thigh kick and that is it.... the other people were all way more advanced then us, and decided to go all out on us lol.

anyway since then 2 nights ago, we have had a training session with another trainer, all i have to say is that we are never returning to the other place. our new trainer actually showed us how to do proper punching techniques and proper footwork and didnt use the lesson as his own fitness workout. he also said there will be no sparring until he is confident that we have enough skills to be able to spar, and even then we will spar people at a level just higher then ours.

the bruises well they still hurt lol, i am just going to have to tough them out. i like the sound of the medicines for them, but have heard that it is better to let them be so that they heal quicker over time then become reliant on them? is this true?

as for any other martial arts, well we did Hapkido for a few months training 3 times a week but we both didnt really like the techniques it offered, not bagging it out at all but it wasnt for us.

as for the shin pads, we were wearing some provided by the instructor but they were as thin as paper lol.

thanks again for the help everybody, i can now go to training knowing i am normal lol.


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## Carol (Mar 24, 2009)

Can't speak for Dit Da Jow, I don't personally use it.

Vitamin C, however is an important compound for maintaining blood vessel health.  

More info:

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=12536


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## Thems Fighting Words (Mar 25, 2009)

bradtash said:


> hey everyone,
> 
> thanks for the advice.
> well first of all, yes we were actually contact sparring.... i agree i thought this was way too early for us (my wife and I) to do this. in the other 2 lessons all we learnt was basic stance a few basic punches and the thigh kick and that is it.... the other people were all way more advanced then us, and decided to go all out on us lol.
> ...



Sounds like you found a much better place. I'm always concerned when instructors allow students to do contact sparring before they have the basics down pat, cus all you'll end up with is wild brawling.



bradtash said:


> the bruises well they still hurt lol, i am just going to have to tough them out. i like the sound of the medicines for them, but have heard that it is better to let them be so that they heal quicker over time then become reliant on them? is this true?



Pretty much everyone I know of, have talked to (face to face and internet) will advise the use of ointments for quicker healing. From 50+ year old Kung Fu instructors to young adults starting in MMA. It helps and there aren't any real side effects I've heard of. Start with Tiger Balm cus that's pretty universally used. Dit Dat Jow is something you use only if you trust the supplier. I've seen some pretty aweful recipes for Dit Dat Jow including some ointments which used rust.


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## bradtash (Mar 25, 2009)

oh yeah forgot to add that, thanks carol we are adding lemon to our water for our morning walks form now on.

i had my second lesson with our new instructor tonight. we have definately found a great instructor. he pushes us just enough to not make us lose interest and really helps with all techniques. 

i can really see how unfit i am after being pushed in training instead of forgot about like my previous instructor.

thanks,
brad.


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## Bangis (Apr 1, 2009)

bradtash said:


> oh yeah forgot to add that, thanks carol we are adding lemon to our water for our morning walks form now on.
> 
> i had my second lesson with our new instructor tonight. we have definately found a great instructor. he pushes us just enough to not make us lose interest and really helps with all techniques.
> 
> ...



two more weeks and you'll be a lean, mean fighting duo.  keep it up! good luck.


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## fight4fun (Apr 4, 2009)

That first gym you went to where you sparred all of those people on your third lesson?! WTF! what A-holes! Thats not even funny. Typically most people dont start sparring until after a minimum of 3-6months depending on how fast they can learn.

 It even sounds like the instructor didn't even provide you with proper shin guards for muay thai. He gave you karate shin guards!? What a joke. That gym you went to, it sounds like they are either A-holes or fake.


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## bradtash (Apr 5, 2009)

you are absolutely right....
the shin guards are karate ones (my new instructor told me).
yes it was terrible, the sparring was bad but the worst part was the fact that the instructor didnt watch to offer help rather he spared other people. so we werent getting any tips on what we were doing. dont get me wrong some of the fellas there were great they stopped and helped by telling me how to block certain things (even knowing the instructor said not to at the start). but there were others there that just got straight into us. one of them actually landed full on punches to my wifes face so she sat the next round out (much to the dismay of the instructor and others).

well 2 weeks on we are still absolutely loving our new place and instructor. we feel as though it is a private lesson as he is always there to offer advice and push us hard. we have been having vitamin C tablets everyday to stop bruising and havent had a bruise yet. 

i guess that this is really a good example of choosing the right place to train, if we would of stuck with the other place we would of just gave up or left muay thai for something else and think muay thai was dodgy. it is places like that that give any martial art a bad reputation when really it is only the school and instructor that deserves it.


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## girlbug2 (Apr 5, 2009)

I've never heard of vitamin c to stop bruising, I have vitamin c in my multivitamin every day but I still bruise 

What dosage are you taking?


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