Bruising

We did a lot of bone conditioning in my old school. We would stand there and whack forearms in a swinging/blocking motion and then stand face to face and kick one another in the shins.

Whether or not the pseudo-medical explanation of what takes place is true or not, I don't know, but I do know that the conditioning "worked."

The forearms of the people who did this often and with some intensity were harder/firmer to the touch and they were much more effective when used as a strike during blocking. (Every block is a strike...) Some of them felt like you were getting nailed by solid rock even though obviously you weren't.

Blocking was less painful on the arms as well. I'll gladly put my conditioned forearm to someones unconditioned shin any day. Obviously you can't to that with every kick or you'll get your arm broken.

I shin blocked a round kick once while sparring and my opponent couldn't continue (her school did no conditioning).

Now for the pseudo-medical... As the bone gets damaged it "grows new layers" that make it thicker and harder.

Not sure if that is really how it works or not, but I do know that when you break a bone a similar process happens and the mended break can often be stronger than the original. As for the the pain part, I don't know if it is an increase in tolerance or damage to the nerves. Maybe even both.

not damage, a constant "pressure" if you will.
Light conditioning in other words.

Its much like weight lifting, do it properly and paced and you will gain, do a thousand reps in 10 minutes and it does [censored] all

I can't find the article...but did read a medical description of what actually happens to the bone structure during the 'conditioning' process. Pics included. Was pretty interesting...but it didn't address bruising...only bone density/calcification. Isn't excessive bruising dangerous?

bruising is just the damage to nerves or something isnt it?

dont think its dangerous

It's called Wolff's Law:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolff's_law

Basically means that bone density increases to match loads and forces imposed upon it over time. I don't know what the long term implications are for this kind of training but I doubt that the health of your joints or muscle tissue will be brilliant while using this kind of training.

Conditioning is a grey area for me personally. The benefits do not outweigh the potential costs in my opinion but if you're willing to pay the price for strengthened bones then it's a viable training method. What I can say is that just conditioning training on its own won't make you a good martial artist and you can be a good martial artist even without any conditioning training at all.

P.S. Bruising is not nerve damage, it's caused by capillary damage and blood filling an area under the skin. As with all cases of internal bleeding, it can lead to complications (albeit rarely in the case of light bruising). Nerve damage may accompany bruising.

Repeated light bruising can aggravate the damage and cause more serious injury over time.

Bruising on purpose for conditioning is silly and potentially dangerous with no obvious benefits I can think of. Conditioning is done for the purpose of strengthening bones, not for causing damage to your muscle tissue and capillaries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruise

I'm sure any doctors we have on here can expand on this information.

P.P.S. Weight lifting is a completely different case and is completely safe as long as you follow correct form. Progressive improvement in strength from weightlifting is a result of improved muscle fibre recruitment and an increase in muscle cross-sectional area caused by micro-tears in muscle tissue which do not cause damage to capillaries. Weightlifting should not be used as an analogy for conditioning.

Pseudo-science... I never saw the point in listening to it when there are hundreds of actual scientific studies on this kind of subject.

I agree with Leo-E-49(and like replies) 1st statement that it increases muscle and bone density. The same as someone mentioned that weigtht lifting it breaks down the muscles and the body rebuilds it bigger and stronger. If done properly it in of benifit to a Martial artist or for self-defense practitioner. To a sport ethusueasist it does little because usually you are in pads, and you can put pads on as many places as you like.

In all the various combat orinetated Martial arts, that I've studied (including my base Goju, so I've had a one up), there is a form of body conditioning that can starts with limb banging.

But what about bruising? I thought that excessive bruising was dangerous (blot clots, necrosis, etc.)?

as leo stated, it must be gradual.

So kicking the heavy bag is the way to go, dont go kicking metal poles.

As I stated and this is just my opinion, IF DONE PROPERly (some apply a certain oniment afterwards to show no or hardly any signs of conditioning).

Kicking a metal pole or bigger trees when told you are ready is possible but not practical, you feel your power absorbed into the tree you hardly feel any impact to the shin. This is not recommended training it is just a test, that use to be done.

So you both are right, I'm talking about conditioning not brusing on purpose. But they can be same just done in less haste.

After nearly thrity years my right hand does ache sometimes but that could be from 20yrs of keyboarding (CT) rather then conditioning training. Punching something(makiwari, hbag or pads) seems to make the pain go away.

The question I like to ask people who do conditioning is: what are you going to be punching that's going to be so hard you need to train for it by hitting wood/concrete/other hard objects anyway? I always like to think that if you're going to hit a hard surface, like the jaw, you should use a soft striking implement, like a palm-heel. If you're striking a soft surface, like the floating rib, you can use a hard implement, like a punch. Why risk breaking your hand on someone's forehead when there are much nicer and more effective targets anyway?

Those are good explanations. I suppose it all depends on your fighting style.