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Hi, I havent really done much fitness at all for about 4 years and I have put on quite a bit of weight. I have recently gone back to Rugby training and its great - im really enjoying it. Unfortunately the muscles up the front of my shins are tiring very quickly and become very sore to the point of seizing up.

Also its normally 2 days after training that I become quite sore and this can last for a s long as 4 days.

Is there anything I can do to build up the muscles on the front of my shins and to improve my recovery time?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Rob

Well, you can do toe raises to help strengthen them. You can use ibuprofen and ice to relieve the pain temporarily. How often are you training? 'Cause if it's not every couple days, then I'd say to get out and do some running in between times. That can help get the blood flowing and relieve the pain. Also, be sure to stretch after workouts.

Also, here's an article on shin splints. You can see if you think that's what you're experiencing, and it also talks about solutions.

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/shin.html

I suggest not to do too much too soon, and make sure you get a lot of rest. 4 years without doing anything your Tibialis anterior will be relatively weak. If that's the case then you'll be prone to shin splints even with relatively little running. Rugby's hard! You're pounding back and forth on the pitch for 80 minutes during matches, and probably longer for training.

You'll find yourself gaining cardio fitness pretty fast, but your tibialis anterior will still be the weak link.