Education

Saving Your Shins

By February 26, 2017 November 7th, 2017 No Comments

Our bodies are our tools when it comes to fitness. Without them working properly, we just can’t do the job well. So it’s important that we take care of them, in order to be able to do our exercises properly. In CrossFit, one of our body parts that often needs the most protection is our shins. There are numerous exercises where shins become prone to injury. Shins can get scraped during deadlifts and Olympic lifting, burned on rope climbs and banged on box jumps. So how do you avoid injury to your shins? Wear proper attire!

Here’s a guide on what you should have in your fitness drawer:

Knee High Socks

  • These can greatly help to reduce scraping of the barbell during deadlifts and the Olympic lifts. Any knee high socks will do, however there are weightlifting specific socks available that are a little thicker over the shins, thereby offering a little extra protection. While these are plenty to avoid barbell scrapes, they offer minimal protection from rope burns and even less so with missed box jumps.

Shinguards

  • These are a thin neoprene sleeve that goes over the shins. They offer a much higher level of protection over long socks. Rope climb burns are virtually eliminated while wearing these and they can certainly cause less damage from a missed box jump.

Soccer Shinguards (Thanks for the idea, Juan!)

  • These are plastic inserts that fit inside a pair of long socks or thin compression calf sleeves. Soccer shinguards offer the greatest amount of protection over any damage occurring to the shins from missed box jumps. Although very helpful, they can be overkill on barbell movements and rope climbs, and may well get in the way of doing these movements properly.

So heed our advice and wear shin protection during these specific activities. You’ll be happy you made the investment.

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