HILL BOUNDING ALTERNATIVES | Uphill Athlete

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HILL BOUNDING ALTERNATIVES

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #42468
    alejandro.horneros
    Participant

    Hello from Spain to all the UA community. After reading your books, I decided to incorporate a weekly session of hill bounding protocol, as specific strength training method.

    The problem is that it causes me a big pain near the tibia. I worked with a therapist to solve the pain and he told me that it was the beginning of a serious tibial periostitis.

    Do you know some alternatives to this protocol, to be able to continue doing some specific strength training?

    Thank you so much.

Posted In: Injury & Rehab

  • Participant
    Hav on #42471

    AKA shin splints. The first thing you need to do is rest and recover from the injury. Shin splints are tricky because you can train through them and turn it from an acute injury into a chronic one. Find something like cycling to do for a week that does not aggravate the injury.
    That being said, I have found that Hill SPRINTS (as opposed to BOUNDING) on a steep hill are significantly less impactful than BOUNDING where you really load up on each foot strike. Doing these steep sprints at say 90-95% effort as opposed to all out will be less impactful as well.
    Less specific, but even less likely to aggravate shin splints would be doing standup sprints uphill on a bicycle.
    Most General strength exercises like Squats and Deadlifts will not aggravate shin splints (I’d avoid lunges), but of course it depends on how severe and inflamed the injury is.
    A few days off in a row now could completely heal the injury vs months of unscheduled days off and compromised training. I wish I had understood this back in high school cross country.

    Participant
    Hav on #42472

    Also, Hill sprints on a treadmill can be smoother and avoid the steep hill descents for repeats.

    Participant
    Pete Dickinson MS,PT on #42475

    Once recovered and pain free with bounding, you can progress into this activity at a slower rate to address the issue of bone tissue stress. Of course you want to make sure that you have sufficient leg/hip strength to attenuate the loads of bounding. I would start off with 25% of time or distance of the bounding activity, also cut the repetitions in 1/2 to start off. After 2-3 weeks without negative response, go to 50%, then 75% etc. Your response to the activity shows you had an overreach situation occur, with some possible predisposing factors. Going at the activity at a slower pace, may allow for you to keep this training in your repertoire.
    Cheers,
    Pete

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