How do you harden shins

I agree, 5 years of heavy lifting won't be noticeable to the guy. But then again, I don't see your point since injury prevention is not something immediately noticeable, it is rather the absence of things you might notice! Not suffering a bone edema, or a stress fracture is not something noticeable.

On the other hand, I can see how feeling less pain is noticeable, but that doesn't necessarily mean your shin bones are stronger. Deadening your nerves without strengthening your shin bones might result in you kicking harder for a longer time which might increase the risk of injury.

Would direct impact on the shin bone (through kicking stuff) not have a much faster rate of hardening compared to compressive loads?

I don't have enough knowledge on the subject to say anything, but I assume it would.
 
I'm just saying 5 years of heavy lifting, even if it does increase bone density, won't be noticeable to the guy making the kicks.

Deadlifting for years has left me with rather prominent outgrowths of bone midway down the shin, where a bar loaded with 45-lb. plates resting on the ground would make contact with my shins. I'm not in the business of kicking things, but scraping iron up and down my shins seems to have increased my shin bone density.
 
Would direct impact on the shin bone (through kicking stuff) not have a much faster rate of hardening compared to compressive loads?

I don't have enough knowledge on the subject to say anything, but I assume it would.

That's easy for me to answer: I don't know!

I have not come across any studies examining that so I can't be certain. And I definitely cannot say how it would compare to weight training. If you look for related studies maybe you can find some recent studies I have missed, which would make a fine contribution to the discussion.

I definitely expect it to have some effect in increasing bone density (the strain rate is one of the important factors and there's plenty of that in direct impact). I don't necessarily expect it to be more effective than weight training (besides the more advantageous hormonal responses in weight training, the fact that weightbearing is also an important factor might point to compressive forces being more effective).
 
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You can't rely on studies and science journals to arrange your training program. Science has always been decades behind the athletes. At one point in time, many scientists in the States were convinced that steroids did not increase athletic performance. This was at a time when geared up Eastern Bloc lifters were dominating the national stage.
 
You can't rely on studies and science journals to arrange your training program. Science has always been decades behind the athletes. At one point in time, many scientists in the States were convinced that steroids did not increase athletic performance. This was at a time when geared up Eastern Bloc lifters were dominating the national stage.

:)

At one point in time, many scientists believed the earth was flat. Does that mean that we should not trust them when they now say it is round and thus we should avoid flying over the atlantic ocean?
 
:)

At one point in time, many scientists believed the earth was flat. Does that mean that we should not trust them when they now say it is round and thus we shouldn't fly over the atlantic ocean?

The Mayo Clinic said:
Studies of healthy adults taking human growth hormone are limited. Although it appears that human growth hormone injections can increase muscle mass and reduce the amount of body fat in healthy older adults, the increase in muscle doesn't translate into increased strength

...
 
Please link the full article and study.

It's off the Mayo Clinic's website. I think the study they are referencing for that little pearl of wisdom is this one:

Olshansky SJ, et al. New developments in the illegal provision of growth hormone for 'anti-aging' and bodybuilding. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2008;299:2792.

edit: here is a direct quote from the intro to that study, I don't have access to the rest of the text:

Olshansky said:
Systematic reviews have found that hGH supplementation does not significantly increase muscle strength or aerobic exercise capacity in healthy individuals
 
Ironically enough, that same article mentions that HGH can help increase bone density.
 
heavybag man, if you cant get a hanging one, get a standing one and if it falls over too easy put a chain on the top into your roof in a garage or something, and put rubber on the top, prevents loud noise and damage to the roof
 
Through Wolff's law, direct trauma to the bone will increase density much faster.

We use to take a kitchen roller and roll our shins in 3 angles. Within 1 month, I can tell you they were already much harder than ever before. Keep doing it and you will basically have a metal shin.
 
I usually go to the park and kick small children around for 15-20 minutes a day, and running away from their parents also gives a good cardio workout.
 
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