02: The Pillowcase

I know the first few weeks of January 2010 are going to be the most painful for me. I'll be strength or endurance training five to six days out of every week.

Right now, I get a little running in, a little weight lifting, and a little Muay Thai. I also try to get an additional day in each week just kicking the heavy bag. What I do in an entire week right now should be less than what I will be doing in just one day, one month from now.

(( DISCLAIMER: The following is not intended for instructional purposes. It is not recommended that anyone try this. How I choose to train or condition my body for this sport is my own personal preference, and you should seek the advice of a professional before beginning any training or conditioning process. ))

I've already started conditioning my shins with a twisted up pillow case, like my Muay Thai instructor told me to do. This helps to deaden the nerves so I feel less pain from kicking heavy bags, car tires, and people.

He said to tear a pillowcase in half, twist it up, and cover it with Tiger Balm ointment. However, I thought that might be too small, so I didn't tear it in half - I just used the whole pillow case. I twisted it up real tight, so that when I folded it in half, it twisted up on itself. Then I just cinched down the open end with a heavy rubber band to keep it from untwisting.

I couldn't find any Tiger Balm at the grocery store, and it was pretty expensive online. I just used Vaseline instead, which you can get for two or three dollars. I put a generous layer on my leg before I begin the process, instead of on the pillow case. This helps to keep the hard, twisted cloth from wearing down my skin. The pillowcase also absorbs some of the Vaseline, becoming heavier and harder, but less abrasive.

It is my understanding that the pillowcase method is preferred to the use of sticks or bottles, because anything too hard can cause hairline fractures in your shin bone, which would only impede with your training progress.

The bruises from the pillowcase beatings are really not too bad, but the conditioning itself is time-consuming and a little boring. My arms get tired from the hundreds of repetitions. I do about 600 whacks for every 10 minutes. After 30 minutes, my arms are tired enough that I always plan to do the other leg the next day.

Each portion hurts for about 5 minutes, then it goes numb. It becomes very easy to beat the tar out of your leg once it goes numb - you would be surprised.

On the inside of one of my calves, a nerve twitches the muscle every time I hit it with a certain amount of power. I find that slightly entertaining, but I'm pretty sure my family thinks I'm nuts. The pain really does not bother me. I know how much easier it will make my training in the gym, so it's worth it. If I have to stop kicking a bag or person because my leg hurts, then my endurance and power in the area of kicking cannot progress.

I usually watch television while I do this, to pass the time. I just turn up the volume so I can hear it over the whacking noise, and check the clock every now and then so I know when to rotate to another portion of my leg.

The entire bottom half of the lower leg is the most tender, so that is what I work on most. I begin with the lower shin. The left and right sides of the calf, working from the bottom up, are next priority. It is important to realize that no one should strike things with their foot if it can be avoided, because that puts the metatarsals and other joints at risk of injury. It won't impact an opponent the way a sharp shin bone will, so I don't bother conditioning the tops of my feet or insteps.

With schoolwork, household chores, and family functions, it's hard to find the time to do the conditioning as often as I should. Also, since it makes a lot of noise, I try to limit it to when I'm home alone.

It takes around 30 minutes a day to condition just one lower leg. Altogether, I work on the front, left, and right sides of each leg, below the knee. These are the areas which are used either for striking your opponent or "checking" his kicks

Due to current time constraints, I alter between legs every couple of days, which is not quite enough. When January rolls around, I'll be working various types of pain/impact conditioning into almost every training day.

We have a group of about 12 bags in our gym. Most of them are reasonably padded, but one of them is fairly hard. Kicking it at full power will really make your legs hurt, deep down inside. I see our head instructor kick the life out of it, and it doesn't even faze him.

During my first two weeks of class, the tips of my feet were completely bruised up, from my foot slapping the back of the bag like a whip whenever I connected with a shin kick. It looked bad, but my feet didn't hurt at all.

There are days when I try to get about 100 kicks in per leg, but I'm not moving at nearly the same speed that my instructor does. My speed needs tremendous improvement. I feel like my body torque and power are pretty decent right now. After strengthening my core however, I hope to eventually double - maybe even triple - my output. Right now, I'm too inexperienced to know if that is shooting too low or too high, but I will find my answer in due time.

30 days.