Killer shin splits, please help

[Chris Nagel]

It was a big problem with me. For me what helped was to gradually increase the length and frequency of my workouts. Road work, and especially jumping rope were what I had to be very careful about. You'll feel like you can do more, but you got take it easy at first and gradually increase it. For the average person, going from no running to doing roadwork on a regular basis could cause shin splints. Your body has to adapt to it. You can strike a balance for cardio by doing bicycle, rowing machine, etc. and then on other days doing road work.

For running, I found that good shoes, warming up by running at slower pace, and working on technique helped. I did a stretching program, and I think it helped a little too.

You should check around and see if you can find the RopeSport Basic video. I even found some that are available to download. Besides showing you a lot of jump rope techniques, they also show you a sort of active rest exercise where you'd stop skipping for a minute or so, and then just step forward and backwards while swinging the rope vertically from side to side, and then jumping back through the rope to continue skipping. It's a little hard to describe here, but I found that it enabled me to skip for longer periods of time without getting tight calves or shin splints.

If I were you I'd really let my legs recuperate until the shin splint feeling goes away. Do something else in the meantime, and then gradually ease back into it while being cautious about how your legs feel.