Since bones are living tissues, they have the capacity to adapt their structure and mechanical properties to the functional demands of the whole body.
Bone mass can be much greater among athletes such as Muay Thai Boxers, Mixed Martial Artists, and Runners compared to the general population.
During various movements, the peak reaction forces can be 10x the weight of the athlete, reaching up to 20x bodyweight during a high intensity jump or roundhouse kick.
In order to survive these conditions, bones must be able to adapt to the forces by updating the characteristics of their structure.
Bone adaptation can be simplified as follows: New bone tissue is laid on skeletal areas which are subject to increased loading exceeding the level of usual loading.
Fighters may look to increase and condition bone mass, especially in regions such as the Tibia (Shins).
Here are some facts about bone adaptation -
1. Bone adaptation from increased loading is a slow process taking up to a year or more.
2. Bone Adaptation is driven by dynamic, not static loading.
3. Only a short duration of high loading is required to begin an adaptive response.
4. Bone cells adapt to the same loading environment, making them less receptive to routine loading stimuli.
What does this mean?
Like training for strength or power, shin conditioning requires progressive overload.
Doing too much, too soon will result in injuries and setbacks.
Fighters and coaches should have a multi-year schedule set with periods of overload and deload to allow sufficient adaptation.
Fighters should add plyometric exercises to their regime as well as continuing to kick heavy bags and pads.
The height that the Fighter jumps up to or down from (as in depth jumps) is one of the most potent predictors of intensity and therefore bone adaptive response. This is due to the ground reaction force.
Begin with low intensity plyometric exercises such as skipping, squat jumps and low box jumps progressively moving onto depth jumps and single leg jumps.
