Absorbing low kicks and minimize the pain

[Rainbow_Warrior]

Hey, sometimes when I do (free)sparring with my KB/thay friends , they atack me with strong (round) low kicks to my first leg.

Some of those kicks go to mi cuadriceps , and y try to absorb the hit raising the feet with my leg ing 90 º. (if they are kinda high ) , or with the foot /hip twist without raise the foot if the kick is a little . In these cases , I do not have major problems.

But when they attack lower than my knee, I can not absorb it very well...and really hurts . I lose speed and move crappier after that hit...of course.....sometimes I can evade those kind of kicks , but in some cases is impossible .

What can I do to make more resistant to that pain ? ( avoiding ´´get used ´´)

[bushido_man96]

I have been told that it just takes time to adapt to it; building up pain tolerance. If it hurts too bad, you should rest it for a while before jumping back in to those kicks again.

[Dragn]

You shouldnt be focusing on how to absorb/ handle the pain. You need to focus on not getting kicked!

If you get kicked hard enough or often enough its gonna get the better of you sooner or later.

You can build up a certain amount of pain tolerance over the years, but thats a by product of the training , not the goal.

Learn to shin block. Your shins can be conditioned alot easier than your thigh.

Practise foot work and feints that help you avoid getting kicked in the first place.

If you are handelling the pain of thigh kicks its because your opponents dont know how to kick very hard or they're just being nice because its only sparring. If you take a full power thigh kick from a Thai trained fighter you wont be doing much with that leg for a while.

Its gonna spoil your whole week!

[KamasandSais]

id say the best way to absorb the kick is to move out of the way, then it feels like theres no pain at all!

[bushido_man96]

You shouldnt be focusing on how to absorb/ handle the pain. You need to focus on not getting kicked!

If you get kicked hard enough or often enough its gonna get the better of you sooner or later.

You can build up a certain amount of pain tolerance over the years, but thats a by product of the training , not the goal.

Learn to shin block. Your shins can be conditioned alot easier than your thigh.

Practise foot work and feints that help you avoid getting kicked in the first place.

If you are handelling the pain of thigh kicks its because your opponents dont know how to kick very hard or they're just being nice because its only sparring. If you take a full power thigh kick from a Thai trained fighter you wont be doing much with that leg for a while.

Its gonna spoil your whole week!

I like the idea behind what you say, Drag'n. However, I still see guys take quite a few of these kicks in the course of a fight. How do they handle it? Are they moving just enough to lessen the load? Or is part of it toughness?

[Dragn]

Sure its pretty inevitable that you're gonna get kicked. Being able to handle it is part mental/physical toughness and part just pure adrenalin. You can take alot more when you're really fired up in a fight than what you usually would in the dojo.

But of course your focus is always not on taking the pain, but in avoiding taking a kick. Even if you can move slightly enough to lessen the impact it helps.

I dont know any MT fighters who train to take the pain of leg kicks. We all take kicks in sparring. Even with shin pads on it still hurts. I often have large bruises on my thighs, especially when I'm sparring hard in the weeks before a fight. So you naturally build up a sertain amount of resistance to the pain through regular sparring.

I dont know if theres any physical process of adaptation involved. You just get used to it.

I think its more mental than anything.

[bushido_man96]

Cool, thanks, Drag'n.

I don't know why, but I always invisioned practitioners lined up, taking leg kicks to build up resitance.

It may be from the Kickboxer movie, I guess.

Sorry, I know better than that, now, though.

[Leopard claw]

I'd go with a sune uke (shin block)!

[bushido_man96]

I'd go with a sune uke (shin block)!

I saw a clip of a fighter getting his leg broke when another fighter shin blocked him! It was almost unnerving to watch.

[Leopard claw]

Man, must have been one hard kick?