Ok guys, but you owe me for this one. One of the things I have noticed on the shins of the thais was that the skin on their shins was very hard and thick, the skin seldom breaks due to the direct contact with other fighters shin, which occurs quite often in fights in Europe, and maybe in other countries as well. I came up on this little secret when we were buying pads and other stuff. One of the bags in the camp was all banged up so the trainer came along with us to buy a new one. They had whole bunch of bags to choose from, leather, synthetic leather and canvas style bags. The trainer bought the canvas one right away, when I asked him why he showed me a up and down movement on his shin and made a sound like sandpaper and said very good. Not to say that the surface of the canvas bag was really very rough almost sandpaper like. The bag was filled so it was not to hard and not too soft . I did notice that my shins were very sensitive when I arrived to the camp as we in my gym have leather and synthetic leather bags. First week my shins were all red and very sensitive to the touch it got better later but as Mark L said they seemed even weaker than in Europe. One of my fighters stayed in the camp for about 3 months when I asked him when did his shins stoped to be sensitive he said after around 6-8 weeks.Also the skin on his shins looked much different then before.
Kicking the canvas bag surface first irritates the skin , but after a while it starts to toughen up and together with constant kicking and force on the shins that is made when kicking the bag it makes it much more durable and helps to kill the nerve endings much faster.
We got a bag like that in the gym now and it works beautyfully. It is like a fine sandpaper working slowly on the skin, which causes it to adapt more quickly.
Remmember first it will sting and the skin will be more painfull than before but after some weeks when the thickening starts you will see the difference.
I remmember a long time ago we had a bag like that in my gym but nobody wanted to kick it because it did hurt the skin.
OK guys this is the secret, I hope it works for you. Try it and then tell me how it went for you.