Training Muay Thai: Guide To Bone Conditioning

Lethwei is technically the art of 9 limbs 😏

Before you start planting banana trees in your back yard, or buy a one way ticket to Thailand ( there’s nothing technically stopping you) READ THIS BLOG. It’s good for your bones!

There’s plenty of misconceptions about the way that training  Muay Thai practitioners condition their bones. And I’ve seen some HORROR videos on the internet of people raking broomsticks over their shins to kill nerves ( DON’T) or other needlessly brutal ways to toughen up. VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM OMG DON’T DO IT. NSFL CLICK U WERE WARNED.

Welp anyway, Here’s Some BETTER and SCIENCE based ways that the pros use to toughen up their shins to be a real Muay Thai Fighter!

First of all, let’s clarify the whole purpose of bone conditioning: It’s to toughen up your bones so that they are more dense and can take more impact. It’s not to kill the superficial nerves in the leg! Those sensations don’t come back. Anyway, the way that your bones get stronger is a combination of diet, dynamic stressors, percussive impacts, and hormones.

Osteoclasts and Osteoblasts are like lil roombas inside your bones that are controlled by hormones secreted largely by your thyroid gland. They are roaming cells that break down and build up the trebeculae inside the spongy, hollow part of your bones. Anyway, when these lil guys sense earf-quakes inside yo’ bones from those gnar bag sessions after 7 pm muay thai class, they get BUSY AF in a pac-man style ghost chase, melting the inside of those bones along the way and building em’ back stronger and denser! Anyway, this obviously sounds fake but it’s true.

Takeaway: Bones are ALIVE and rich with blood. There are no quick easy fixes to building up your bones for training muay thai!

Anyway, how do you get your lil micro bone roombas to go HAM in your legs again? Welp, all you really gotta do fam… IS KICK THE BAG.

Yeah, that’s a great start! What next?

Did I mention, kick that bag. Also, wear shin pads, go to Muay Thai Class and spar with folks. That will definitely toughen up your shins. “But, but what about when I actually get into a fight? I don’t want it to hurt when I check kicks for my first rumble at da roseland”

Fam, TRUST ME. You’re DEFINITELY NOT GONNA FEEL PAIN.

Adrenaline is a hell of a drug and you’re not gonna feel that pain in your shins from checking kicks in the ring, you’ll sense it. It’s different. It will hurt later, but you probably won’t have broken bones because you built up your bones LIKE A BOSS.

Final thoughts:

Do: allow time for recovery, look out for odd bruises that hurt very badly or affect your walking, ice your legs, kick the heavy bag, eat healthy, be patient, wear shinpads

Don’t: ignore sharp stabbing pains, kick hard stuff for no reason, overdo it, try and kill your nerves, kill banana trees that don’t belong to you.

DO NOT DO THE THING IN THE VIDEO IT’S VERY DUMB.