Why do you condition you shins/forearms?

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Ok, to all you persistent martial artists out there. Before going on to conditioning let me ask you;

Why do you want to condition? Unless you're going professional, I don't see the need to condition anything. The best conditioning you can do is just work on the bag and with a sparring partner using pads and then a little full contact every now and then.

Ok, I hijacked the thread, but it's kinda odd that everyone except me wants to condition. I find it boring, slow and just a waste of my time when I could just go onto the bag. I mean, there's more conditioning if you can kick the bag for 30 minutes constantly than rolling a pipe on your leg for the same amount of time AND by kicking the bag you'll be conditioning the right part of your leg e.i. the part that makes contact. Condition elsewhere it's just a waste of time. Let me ask you again, would I ever kick you on the knee with my instep? If it's a sidekick, no matter how good the conditioning, you're knee's are GONE.

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Ok, discuss!

-Taison out

Ripped this from the other conditioning thread this post was ripped from.

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I could see doing shin conditioning if you are a competetion fighter,but if you aren't I think you are doing more harm than good.
My shins are well enough conditioned from sparring and kicking a heavy bag over the years.
My forehead ,however,needs work.

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There are individuals in this world that I pray no descent man will ever have to face. You throw your strongest kick, at such an individual, and not only does your leg bounce off with no effect to him, but it felt like you just kicked a telephone pole. You block his incoming strikes and realize that your hurting yourself more than him.

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This man is not going to play nice and hit you in just your conditioned areas either (ie.the part of the shin that you kick with.)

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Um, even the people I do play nice with don't kick at that part. That's why you condition it - so YOU can USE IT to BLOCK
ps - Taison didn't write that himself, he quoted it.

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There are individuals in this world that I pray no descent man will ever have to face. You throw your strongest kick, at such an individual, and not only does your leg bounce off with no effect to him, but it felt like you just kicked a telephone pole. You block his incoming strikes and realize that your hurting yourself more than him. This man is not going to play nice and hit you in just your conditioned areas either (ie.the part of the shin that you kick with.)

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ps - Taison didn't write that himself, he quoted it.

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The thing about busting your knees with a side-kick. You don't believe me? Well, stand still with your legs straight. Now let your friend side-kick your knee with full force. I wonder if any conditioning can stand that. Happened to me once, and trust me, I couldn't stand for a while.

-Taison out

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Sure if you stand there rigid, most techs will do extreme damage. If you stand there face on and I hit you with a straight right, I garuntee you'll go down! But a fight is dynamic. Every small action invokes a reaction in your opponent. Thats why its so hard to KO someone with skill. And its also why so called deadly techs aren't all their made out to be.
Thats why we do our best to condition those body parts we need for attack and defence and learn how to protect those parts which we cant condition.
Traditionally thats always been a part of MA training.
Still you also have to think about the long term effects of your training and not go overboard. For some people conditioning can turn into an ego thing.
For those of us who compete in full contact its just a necessarry part of our training. Try using shin blocks or kicks without conditioned shins , and no pads, and you'll realise the importance of conditioning very quickly!
Kicking the heavy bag is the best form of conditioning. You can kick it with the intention of conditioning by using different parts of the shin. Rotating the shin slightly up or down to get the entire surface. Because in a fight you dont always make contact with the part you intended . Your whole shin has to be strong.
I also hit the bag without gloves or bandages sometimes to strengthen my wrists and knuckles. Boxers have been known to break their wrists when punching in a street fight because their wrists werent strong enough to support the power of their punches.

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All things would work if your opponent just stood there and let you do whatever you wanted.

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In psychology, that's called "begging-the-question". You're trying to argue by using an unvalid reason. I said conditioning only works to a certain degree, if you use a particular technique it wouldn't help. The statement you use to argue is "Any technique would work if opponent stood still". Wrong argument point.

Ok, try it in randori. I wonder if 5 years of conditioning would help against a sidekick against the knee. Or if conditioned forearms can stand a kick to the elbow.

-Taison out

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But what's your point, your basically saying that if your technique is unable to stop everything than it is not worth practicing.

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I had pro thais trying to kick my knees out it's not that easy. A kick to the knee is one of the most overrated fight stoppers out there.

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You seem to be obsessed with kicks to the knees thinking that they are the ultimate fight end-er.

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I am obessed with sidekicks but ultimate fight ender? nah, my shining .38 is THE ultimate fight ender. On a more serious note, however, I used sidekicks to the knee as an example to where conditioning wouldn't help much. If I used, say, low kicks a'la MT, it's kinda useless against good conditioned legs whereas sidekicks are a lot better against the knee.

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So the question should be "does conditioning help you as a MA".

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Yes. My grandpa used to say "It's better to have something and don't need it, than to need something but you don't have it."

Eyrie, again you awe me with your wisdom. Yes, MA this days should follow along the line of good health than to be a "fighting machine".

-Taison out

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Nobody does conditioning to stand there and take a hit. That is one of the biggest misconceptions about conditioning. If your body is well conditioned it allows you to give and receive more punishment, and in the ring you need to be able to take a lot of shots.

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So, if you're "taking punishment", it means what? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you get hit, and "take punishment" it generally means you're either not moving or moving too slowly to get off the line of attack or outside the range.

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So, if you're "taking punishment", it means what? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you get hit, and "take punishment" it generally means you're either not moving or moving too slowly to get off the line of attack or outside the range.

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Kickboxer I have to tell you my biggest frustration. The ropes. I really hate them, the reason? It blocks my way when I try to dodge backwards. In the ring, moving away isn't much of an option, thus if you don't posses good parrying/blocking skill, you won't have much of a career as a ring-fighter.

As a kickboxer, it is one of my strategies to take and give more than was given. Many times "baiting" is needed to lure the opponent's attack. Sometime I will move into range and let them kick me so that I can go for the clinch, that is why conditioning is sometimes important.

Sometimes, one can win by solely blocking with their conditioned legs. If the opponent don't possess good conditioned legs, the blocker will tire out the aggressor.

-Taison out