legshot420 said:
i've been into muay thai and other martial arts for quite some time now, and i've noticed that my shins still get bruises. they don't hurt or anything, they're just... there. i don't know if this is even the right forum to post in, but i see no injury forum here on sherdog so... yeah. LOL Thanks in advance, guys!
This is what I saw on the Bas DVDs. I don't know if it's right or wrong, but you're welcome to try it. I haven't gotten around to it yet. But I pretty much believe it; Kyokushin guys know what they're talking about when it comes to body conditioning.
Bas says that when you're "toughening" your legs for contact like Kyokushin, Thai boxing, or MMA, the trick is to get hard contact without bruising. So if you kick the bag, kick it just hard enough so that you get just before the point of bruising. This takes some time to figure out, but eventually you will. Continue to do this, and eventually you'll be able to work your way up the contact scale before bruising.
The drill that Bas gives on his DVD is to stand across from your partner at the end of class. Each of you take turns throwing light leg kicks. The defender blocks one, throws back, then takes one, throws back, blocks, etc. etc. This way your shins and your legs get conditioned. During the drill, he says to make sure NOT TO BRUISE; if you bruise, you basically need to start all over again. Welts are fine, but not bruises, because they're deep and need time to heal.
My guess is that you keep bruising and working through it, and your shins don't get to recover. I could be totally wrong. Try getting Tiger Balm or Thai liniment and rubbing it on your shins each night while doing the drills I listed. Hopefully it works.