Bahahahahaha oh man Michael you're gonna have plenty of bruises like that for a few months... but it gets better. I've never used a pad to take low kicks, we block them or eat them, but I know the pad that you're describing.

A while back, I used to have one of the fighters kick my legs for a few minutes after class to condition them- inside, outside, inside, outside, increasing the intensity as they go until I couldn't take it anymore. No pads and no shinguard, just bone on thigh. I did this for maybe 2 months straight? Allowing time for healing when needed. Leg kicks do not phase me anymore.

Mother of god.

You don't bruise anymore!?

I rarely bruise on my legs, yes. But I'm not so much concerned with bruising as I am with being able to take the kick and keep fighting. So in other words, I condition not to avoid bruising, but to toughen my legs.

As I'm sure you'll find out, when you start sparring you're gonna have bruises and fractures everywhere (shins, feet, ribs, nose, etc). What makes the difference is being able to push through that burst of pain and finish the round (or fight), which is where pre-conditioning is helpful.

Damn you guys go hard. I got put down once when I was doing kickboxing but I have never had any fractures!

@Mark: yeah that's the ultimate goal, I don't care about the bruising or markings, but I would be concerned about fractures!

My DD will now be my Talon, so if anything happens to my left or right leg I'm screwed! Haha

@Bryan: not really! Well I'm speaking for myself. It hurt, but it wasn't anything crazy.
It's almost like going shot for shot playing knuckles as a kid. lol
I beat 2 guys in one go, but stupid me, didn't realize my right fist was the size of a small melon at the end of it. ***STUPID***



Edit: @Mark: I wonder what prevents the bruising? Tougher skin or muscles?

I haven't the slightest clue, to be honest. In the shin, I would say microfractures that eventually deaden the nerves and calcify the bone, but in the quad/thigh area I'm not sure... maybe it gets calloused? lol I don't know.

Bryan, we spar lightly (30-40%) with emphasis on technique most of the time; it's really the only way to learn and try out new things without having to worry about getting knocked out. However, when a member of the fight team is prepping for a fight, the cirriculum changes... we will rotate the other fight team members into the ring to spar hard (round 80-90% depending) with the person training in order to acclimate them to the reality of fighting someone who is trying to hurt you. At the beginning of this year, I was rotated in with our only 100kg+ fighter for a few days per week and came away from those sessions with a broken left foot, a fractured rib, and a litany of other bumps and bruises. He still got his ass handed to him come fight time. Go figure.

Right on man!
As for the shins, yes I've read into this and that's it exactly. Small microfractures that continually heal themselves and strengthen the bones, and I guess you could call it nerve damage, but you lose feeling.

As for the lack of bruising, I guess your muscles just toughen up.

Edit: I just Facebook stalked you Mark. You're friends with Peter Montrait eh? Jeez the Muay Thai circle is small. haha

Haha creeper
I have no idea who you found on facebook but it's not me - I don't have a facebook account

LOL!!!



Hrmm, there's another Mark Bondy who knows Peter then.

Do you know him though?

Nope, don't know him. I see him on the Krudar.com fight list for 2010 though. Are those guys pro's? They look pretty serious...

http://www.krudar.com/fighters.htm

Yeah, real deal.

Some fighters out of Krudar fighting world wide.

Great guys/gals there.

Niiiiiiccce. We only have one fighter that's international and it's a girl :S

I only wish I could train somewhere with credentials like Krudar - I'd be a frickin machine

!? Come on down buddy! It's not THAT far even for you. Hop onto the DVP, down the Gardiner and exit at Spadina.

Welcome to China Town lol

I train with UFC fighter Antonio Carvalho at Bruckmann Martial Arts in Oshawa. His next fight is in July, on the UFC card in Calgary.

Sick!

That Calgary event is going to be nuts.

How much do you pay at Bruckmann per month?

$90/month

It certainly will be! I know 2 ppl fighting on that card. Antonio, and Mitch Gagnon from Sudbury fighting out of Team Shredder.

Good sh!t man must be exciting to root someone on that you know!

$90 a month that's pretty good.

I could've had around that price, but was one month too late so I'm paying 130 ish a month locked in for a year.

Seeing your friends fighting is actually really stressful, lol. It sucked watching Sean Pierson get knocked out by Jake Ellenberger.

You're paying for location being downtown Toronto.

Peter Montrait is on Krudar's list he's a friend of mine. And he is a machine. He could kick my ass in one round if i lasted that long. We did roofing together for years before he took up security and Muay thai.

Small ass world man.

We're all connected somehow.

I've been having some back pain issues for quite some time. It gets especially aggravated when I play soccer. Usually it subsides after a few days. I decided to see a chiro, but that made is even worse. Last year I had an incident where I was pretty much incapacitated for 3 weeks after a game of soccer. It took months to recover from that incident. I slowly started working out again and got to the point where I could dead lift and squad moderate weight without issues. What really helps is stretching.
Anyway, all was well until I went to play soccer two weeks ago. I have a sensation in the back, although it’s not painful. I had an MRI done four days after the game and I just got the results on the weekend.
I have a mildly herniated disk between L5 and S1, which is impeding the nerve. I also have a mild degenerative disease of the lower lumbar spine.
This is something that 60 year olds have to deal with, not a 36 year old.
This is basically confirming something that I suspected for a long time. I’ve had lower back issues for many years.
Now I have a dilemma, soccer is basically out of question, but what do I do about working out?
I love to lift heavy…now I don’t know if I should quit all together.
Does anyone have any experience with such condition?

My old boss had something very similar it was on his L4 or L5. He decided not to listen and pushed it. He pushed it too much and he ended up having to get surgery. After a few weeks of break he could still feel it so when I went in he would basically tell me what to do and watch cause it would hurt him to bend over (we were doing hardwood flooring). I think the best thing to do is talk to a doctor and find out what your options are. If you really want to keep lifting, then get yourself a belt, that should take the pressure off of your back and put it more on your whole core.

I did go to see a doctor. In addition to a mild disk herniation, I was also diagnosed with a mild Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease Symptoms.
I was told that my condition is not severe enough to warrant a surgery. Apparently, I have to listen to my body and avoid things that aggravate the pain, aside from that there is no treatment.
I know someone that had a severe disk herniation, they went to a chiro, and after a year of treatment (spinal adjustment, stretching, icing), while they completely stopped physical activity (soccer), they symptoms completely went away.
I also went to see a chiro, but that only made things worse.

Jakub, go check out Rosedale Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Centre.

http://www.toronto.com/listing/253951--rosedale-physiotherapy-sports-injury-centre

Many friends have been here and worked there.

Stephen is the owner and a genius.

Give him a try. He studied in China for many years then came back with the know how.

I have to get my sh!t checked out too. Im staying away from certain exercises. Believe it or not its actually better for the back to be working out. But stay away from dead lifts, squats, Military press, leg press and there are some other exercises. Just do your research and find whats right for you.

I am not sure how these are caused but I would think you would need to figure out what it is that caused it and try to avoid that exercise. I had a pinched nerve in my right hip. I had no idea what it was but I kept going with my biking and my leg workouts. One day I decided to change my seat on the bike and it seemed to fix everything, took a while till there was no pain but it has never come back.

As for back stuff I would definitely get a belt. If you are doing work around the house and such go for one of these http://images.allegrocentral.com/2B...ing-Belt-500307-PRODUCT-MEDIUM_IMAGE.jpg and if you are weight lifting then go with one of these http://www.physiquebodywareusa.com/Images/Large_Images/Weight%20Belt%20Lg.jpg.

I would also say, don't stop doing back stuff. I would go for body weight exercises, physio will give you a bunch of stuff you can do. One I can think of is do chest raises, you can either raise up all your limps or do alternating, left arm up with right leg then switch.

I actually have a bb belt that I got long time ago. I stopped wearing it cause I was afraid it would cause an imbalance in muscle development. My rationale is that by wearing it you are preventing certain back muscles from working thus creating an imbalance.
This is just my theory, I don't know if it holds any truth.

I understand the importance of having a balance of developed muscles; otherwise you will encounter issues over a long period of time.

I think that for now, I will take it easy, do my stretches, core strengthening exercises and wait for this to subside. This onset was brought by the fact that I went to play soccer. It's just too bad that I had the MRI a couple of days afterwards. I won't know now if this condition is a result of the soccer outing of it's been that bad all along.

The cause of this?
I've had back issues on and off since I has a young teenager, after I jumped off a considerable height and landed on my heels. I remember not being able sit or stand for more than 5-10 minutes at a time. It did go away after a while. Once I started working out and playing soccer regularly it came back. It took a few years, but I would have onsets here and there. Usually the pain would go away 2-3 days after a soccer game. During that time I stopped doing deadlifts and squats all together. A few years ago, I've decided I would not play soccer over the summer, to let my body have time to recover. I was mostly symptoms free, unless I did very strenuous physical activity. I remember the symptoms came back when I was finishing my basement.
You need to keep in mind that I have been working out regularly for over 15 years and playing soccer for 10. It’s a habit that is very hard for me to stop. In addition, I am the type of guy that does things all the way or not at all. This whole thing sucks.

I just thought of this this morning. It may be the way that you run. I assume that you run toe to heel like most of the world. I would honestly try teaching yourself to run toe to toe. When you run with those shoes that are supposed to be equivalent to running barefoot you are supposed to run toe to toe because there is no cushion on the heel. If you are really against this then maybe look into shoes with a bigger heel cushion, but I think the best route would be running toe to toe.

Agreed.
My ex's brother in law went to a "running seminar" and picked up several seconds on a track that they were timing themselves on.

Try to run on the balls of your feet and avoid major impact on your heels.

Also try to run as if you're falling forward and keep your hips forward and still.

It's so hard to explain. lol

Jakub> just a thought.

How many guys here leave their wallet in their ass pocket?

If you do, take it out. That can offset your back enough to cause back pain.

I have not had my wallet in my back pocket for a long time. Usually the only things in my back pocket are receipts. You can still do it just make sure you take it out before you sit, I know some guys that do that.

LOL oops, more details needed, I forgot to add that part, to take it out when sitting, otherwise of course it's fine in your back pocket.
Haha haven't had my coffee yet.

Alright back problem guys, Elliot just posted up this video, give this a watch.
How To Workout With Back Pain, Bulging Disk / Herniated Disk

Interesting.

Been training for Tough Mudder, and well just training, and my friend realized his back pain is bad.

Lower back. Cannot do leg lifts he just feels it in his back really badly.

He occasionally pulls his back, from time to time just from sleeping wrong.

I wonder what it is?

Otherwise he's in decent shape.

Me on the otherhand, I'm worried, because at my Muay Thai gym they encourage a lot of traditional situps, leg lifts and holding your legs in the air while on your back.

I've been shown to support my back with my hands cupped together, but after many leg lifts my lower back is sore. Not in pain, but sore.

Freakin' worrying me a bit, not like I can "opt out" of doing the prescribed workouts at the classes.

Hrmm.

Mark Bondy> thoughts on the traditional Muay Thai workouts?

Hey Michael... sorry, I'm clueless.

In thailand you run for miles on concrete and do endless situps, chinups, pushups, etc. so we end up doing a lot of the same here - it's primitive but it's proven. Some of the people in my club use gym mats beneath them to do situps and whatnot, they seem to prefer it. We try and stay real loose, foam rolling a lot, stretching, etc and that helps a bit too. But hey, if you feel something slipping in your back or whatever, find another way.

Have you started sparring yet? I have a feeling once you get going, the aches and pains from hard sparring will make these discomforts seem trivial; not that I'm minimizing them at all, it's just that you might see them differently. I don't wanna say too much, everyone is different and you know more than anyone else what your thresholds are and whether or not the things that are bothering you are just uncomfortable or potential injuries waiting to happen.

Yeah no, I'm doing okay so far, just a tiny complaint hehe.

I haven't started sparring just yet. I think I'm a long ways from it.

I started at the end of Feb.

Have yet to do my Yellow shorts test.

I'm getting stronger by the day, which is great, but I've switch to south paw.

Trying it out. I'm confused with my stance. An instructor Oliver from Siam No.1, is telling me to try south for a while.

Thing is my left foot/leg is so "sensitive" that it's bruised badly right now. Well it's tender as hell, the bruising hasn't shown its colours just yet, but from the top of my foot to the top of my shin it is SUPER tender.

I'm pushing through and kicking hard through it, but damn does it hurt.

My right leg is fine though, I can abuse the sh!t out of it.

Oh well, I'm still "fresh" so I'm quite pleased with my progress thus far.

Excited to get sparring.

Yeah I went to the this one place to learn kung fu, but it was more of a fighting type than forms (which is what I was looking for), but I decided to stick with it anyways. The thing was that they would only let you fight south paw there, so it took some getting used to, supposed to be better though because you catch your opponent off guard, at least from a non experienced attacker.

Only south? That's weird.

Woke up to find my left foot is bruised pretty badly. The colour is coming in. LOL

I'm loving this man!

When you say time for healing, how long? Because bruises take some time to heal man! Can't be sidelined just because of a bruise, but then again don't wanna bruise too bad and end up messing something up.