Recommendation for footwear for martial arts

Baz_

Hi,

I was training tonight when the soul of my foot split open in four places, and the splits were so deep, I was actually bleeding, making me miss a new movement into the bargain. Great!

So now I need to get some footwear, but obviously footwear for martial arts can't be big docker boots, cant be too heavy (unless you actually intend to wear weights for practicing kicking, I don't), and need to be grippy enough to not have you falling over like a dick all the time, and also not too grippy so that you don't have full mobility. How's that for a list of demands?

Anyway, surely some people here use some footwear, or know of others that do, so does anyone have any recommendations?

Baz_

vasch_ro

you can get really thin runner like martial art shoe's

Baz_

do you know where I might get a pair of them bad boys vasch?

vasch_ro

http://www.karate-mart.com/footwear.html

Musashi

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7705731338&ssPageName=MERC_VIC_ReBay_Pr4_PcY_BID_Stores


I've a pair of these and they are comfy and good for turning,stopping etc. Made for TKD and general MA stylists and they are Adidas,what more do you want?

Cabelo

I've always been in favour of barefeet. I know it's not something you want to hear but I train over the cuts/blisters and whatever else. It's toughened my feet up to train on concrete indefinitely. We're pretty hard on our feet too, so I do know how bad it can be. The answer is usually, bandage up and play on it as soon as you can...

Maybe shoes are the way to go, but I always thought MAs should condition any part of their body that needs it. Sadly, headstands hurt Anyone know where I can get a good MA hat?

Roper

I wouldn't bother with footwear, like Cabelo said, you should probably be aiming to condition the parts of your body you'll be using. I'd let it heal and then go back or just strap it and put up with it.

If it's just a temporary fix to allow you to keep training, or if the pain or discomfort is keeping you out of training altogether, I would go with a standard cross trainer type runner rather than a martial arts shoe. That way you haven't spent any additional money on equipment and you get the ancillary benifits of less impact on your joints that MA shoes don't have.

Also I have a pair of MA shoes for reffing and let's face it, they are naf.

Baz_

personally I prefer to train barefoot too, but I've been training on a different surface lately, and this surface seems to love the taste of human flesh.

I don't mind the blisters and calluses either, in fact I see them as a sign of progression, but when you start to bleed, its time to make a change, I wouldn't like to be training in somebody elses blood tbh.

Are those shoes available to buy in the shops?

memphis

i bought a pair of the forementioned footwear in Heatons, they were only something like 18 euro at the time.

pma-ire

The skin on my left heel is cracked because it has gotten so hard!!

The first time I noticed it, it was bleeding at the base of the cracks (about 2 or 3 mm below the surface!). But it's all hardened up now again :cool:

Cake Fiend

I'm not sure what actual benefits some callouses and slightly thicker skin on the soles of one's feet would be in a real fight (especially bearing in mind the likelihood of shoes being worn in a real fight). Ankles and knees, sure, they would benefit from toughening up, but I doubt tougher soles are going to be much more useful.

ed6hellsfresh

if you dont mind me asking how did the sole of your foot.....split. it sounds rather disgusting

Cabelo

Why must it necessarily be of use in a fight? I'm quite sure we were coming from the point of view of training barefoot being preferable to training in shoes (in my case at least). I have to admit, for myself, that there are a few guys with us whose feet are completely messed up but they're bearing with it.

Capoeira => blood blisters on feet and our Maculele => holes in left feet.

Baz_

The floor of the gym I was training in just seems to be like glue on skin, i.e. you turn one way, but your skin stays put. I've trained there a number of times before and while it was uncomfartable, my skin was stayin in one cohesive piece but the other night my very calluses were ripped from my big toes, the centre of the sole of my foot tore apart, and the first I knew about the actual tearing of the skin was when I put my foot on the ground after a kick and slipped because my big toe on that foot was bloody underneath.

And yes it is/was quite disgusting.

Baz_

Reading that again, it sounds a lot worse than it is, while the sole of my foot did tear, it's probably not much more than a centimetre of a tear, its not terribly deep either, its uncomfortable to walk on, but not painful.

All in all it's tolerable, but like I say, me putting up with it is one thing, but allowing others to train in my blood is something I'm not willing to do, even if they were.

dudara

I've a pair of the adidas Delta-x as well, and they're the job for days when you have to wear runners. I bought them on ebay for about £10stg. I used to train in a standard pair of cross trainers, but I found that the soles were too thick, putting too much strain on my ankles, and causing my feet to hurt.

normally we would train barefoot, but sometimes the halls can be freezing cold, or amazingly dirty, in which case, I'm not going to torture myself. Plus, right now the ball of my foot is bleeding from a huge piece of skin i tore off it last night in a turning kick. As a result i'll be wearing shoes for the next training session or two for purely hygienic reasons. I don't want this thing to crack open again and have other people standing in my bloody footprints.

Dyr

the only valid reason to not wear shoes is mats. You're all MAD

memphis

The only thing I'll say about runners is I can only wear em when I'm training, we are not allowed to wear em when sparring, or during gradings.

Cake Fiend

Cabelo wrote:

Why must it necessarily be of use in a fight?

Cabelo wrote:

I always thought MAs should condition any part of their body that needs it

That's why I posted from that particular point of view.

Celticfire

Mabe you need a pair of these bad boys.......Ninja Boots

pma-ire

Sico wrote:

I'm not sure what actual benefits some callouses and slightly thicker skin on the soles of one's feet would be in a real fight (especially bearing in mind the likelihood of shoes being worn in a real fight). Ankles and knees, sure, they would benefit from toughening up, but I doubt tougher soles are going to be much more useful.

It's not something I set out to do!

It's just that I don't really wear shoes that much! My feet are wide and thick. So shoes can get very cramped on me, which leads to them getting chucked across the room when I'm home.

I wear shorts and sandles most of the time in the summer (I'd wear them all year around if I could ). I hate training in footwear as my feet would sweat out to much . Unless I'm taking part in a Street Clothes Session?

Impact resistance is better than calous anyway!!

tonyrogdor

Hello,

What does people think of the kungfu shoes? They are the slippers of the light white underneath and the shoe that is black.

Thank yous,

Tony

Cabelo

Trolly Trolly?

Kung Fu shoes are pretty cool if you're playing outside. Definitely better than regular shoes. I don't think you'll sway me from barefoot easily though.

RedRaven

Baz_ wrote:

Hi,

I was training tonight when the soul of my foot split open in four places, and the splits were so deep, I was actually bleeding, making me miss a new movement into the bargain. Great!

So now I need to get some footwear, but obviously footwear for martial arts can't be big docker boots, cant be too heavy (unless you actually intend to wear weights for practicing kicking, I don't), and need to be grippy enough to not have you falling over like a dick all the time, and also not too grippy so that you don't have full mobility. How's that for a list of demands?

Anyway, surely some people here use some footwear, or know of others that do, so does anyone have any recommendations?

Baz_

Take the pain and get on with it, as the lads said if it is to sore to train take it easy but dont stop you feet need to be conditioned. Its all good my man its all good!!!

Damo W

Check out...

www.WePlay.com

for wrestling footwear!!

myemptyhands

i'm curious, what kinds of surfaces are you guys training on? you all seem to be damaging your feet badly. the original post was about a concrete floor i think, i presume it's not painted then? cos that'd reduce friction a fair bit, maybe make it easier to train on. please avoid the pointless suffering, you're not matt talbot!

Cake Fiend

RedRaven wrote:

you feet need to be conditioned

Why?

Ankles are the only part of the foot that I see a need to condition - you need to be used to aligning them properly during impact to avoid injuring them. But noone can tell me why the soles of feet have to be conditioned.

pma-ire

myemptyhands wrote:

i'm curious, what kinds of surfaces are you guys training on? you all seem to be damaging your feet badly. the original post was about a concrete floor i think, i presume it's not painted then? cos that'd reduce friction a fair bit, maybe make it easier to train on. please avoid the pointless suffering, you're not matt talbot!

I've only trained on wooden floors barefoot. I've found, the more varnished the surface the more your soft bare feet will stick to it (anyone that has trained in the OKC in Cork City will know what I'm talking about ). A lot of people find that they get blinters and skin lifting from the foot at the start. But it sorts itself out over time

myemptyhands

pma-ire wrote:

I've only trained on wooden floors barefoot. I've found, the more varnished the surface the more your soft bare feet will stick to it (anyone that has trained in the OKC in Cork City will know what I'm talking about ). A lot of people find that they get blinters and skin lifting from the foot at the start. But it sorts itself out over time

yeah, i train on a wooden floor too, and i always train barefoot. i've never found serious problems like these guys are talking about though, just thick skin on the soles of my feet. ok, the occasional blister does occur, but it's never as bad as splitting the skin in 4 places. i'm surprised to hear about injuries like that. take care of yourselves, for god's sake!

on a similar note, bowing2buddha says training in runners is best cos it's closest to real life. what do y'all think? personally i prefer training barefoot, but i can see the other point of view. what are the merits of one or the other? i know that over the last three or four years it's become rarer and rarer to see a barefoot student. remember in dragon when bruce takes off his shoes and socks to fight his future missus's ex? that scene always embarrasses me as a barefoot student. i'd really like some advice on this. cheers dudes

Musashi

I know ten months of the year I'm usually wearing hiking or military style boots or sometimes Dr. Martins shoes (if we're going someplace classy)

The other couple months if the rain isn't too cold I wear sandals,so actually conditioning the soles of my feet is only a byproduct of training barefoot rather than a strategy.

And I have tried kicking with boots and one time wellies on! Flying welly gives you extra range on a kick.Runners are for running,I find them too grippy for kicking in,nearly wrenched my knee when I tried it.Kick shoes like the Delta-x have a turning disk on the ball of the foot so you can spin on it.For a cheap option I used to wear squash shoes which were nearly as thin and also have a turning disc to allow speedy direction changes on a squash court,and the soles don't mark training surfaces or dance floors :rolleyes:

Cabelo

That's actually a dead handy reply as our club managed to score a spot training on a dance floor

I'll tell some of the lads who don't like playing barefoot. Thanks.

pma-ire

myemptyhands wrote:

yeah, i train on a wooden floor too, and i always train barefoot. i've never found serious problems like these guys are talking about though, just thick skin on the soles of my feet. ok, the occasional blister does occur, but it's never as bad as splitting the skin in 4 places. i'm surprised to hear about injuries like that. take care of yourselves, for god's sake!

A girl that used to train with me had baby wipes along with her to wipe her feet after the class!! She said that it seemed to keep the hard skin that had started to develop from ketting worse?

myemptyhands wrote:

on a similar note, bowing2buddha says training in runners is best cos it's closest to real life. what do y'all think? personally i prefer training barefoot, but i can see the other point of view. what are the merits of one or the other? i know that over the last three or four years it's become rarer and rarer to see a barefoot student. remember in dragon when bruce takes off his shoes and socks to fight his future missus's ex? that scene always embarrasses me as a barefoot student. i'd really like some advice on this. cheers dudes

Whatever suits the person and the enviroment really!

And I don't think that Lee would have taken off his shoes to fight!

Barefoot is a throw back from old training methods where training was done on straw matts and soft floors! Also it's a tradition in Japan to take the shoes off entering a house. So how practical would it be to train on a wooden floor with just your socks on???

If guys want to train with runners or Doc Martains :rolleyes: it's more a reflection of there lifestyle and there should be a place for them to do so.