Training in martial arts shoes.

[crazydiamond]

What are your thoughts?

The school owner said he is okay with training shoes as long as they are for martial arts and only used inside the studio (keep clean).

I have had some feet and ankle/shin issues. Also I have had some difficulty (I think due to physical constraints) on pivoting properly during kickboxing. I am hoping MMA shoes would help. Lastly my mixed martial art is aimed at the street - so it seems to make sense to train in what I would be in - shoes.

 

[Tames D]

I've always trained in shoes. I'm currently wearing Puma. Light weight and comfortable. Odds of me being barefoot in a fight are slim. Our JKD training is done on a concrete surface, so no worries about damaging the floor.

 

[crazydiamond]

Thanks. concrete ? We train on matts as we do take downs and grappling with our JKD. The shoes I got (ringstar fightpro) are made for mat sparing. I like the pivot point feature as well. Should get them in a couple of days. Really that's what I need most, ease of pivoting, secondarily some padding for kicking.

 

[Tames D]

Thanks. concrete ? We train on matts as we do take downs and grappling with our JKD. The shoes I got (ringstar fightpro) are made for mat sparing. I like the pivot point feature as well. Should get them in a couple of days. Really that's what I need most, ease of pivoting, secondarily some padding for kicking.

I'm getting close to needing new shoes, I think I'll checkout the Ringstar Fightpro. We do ground work and concrete isn't as bad as it seems, NOT

 

[JohnnyEnglish]

What are your thoughts?

The school owner said he is okay with training shoes as long as they are for martial arts and only used inside the studio (keep clean).

I have had some feet and ankle/shin issues. Also I have had some difficulty (I think due to physical constraints) on pivoting properly during kickboxing. I am hoping MMA shoes would help. Lastly my mixed martial art is aimed at the street - so it seems to make sense to train in what I would be in - shoes.

Depends, in Kickboxing it might be ok, but on the other hand, wearin shoes and kicking ? Dunno, doesn't sound right.

In taekwondo I could not imagine to wear shoes, I would not have a good stance, so balance would be a problem, and the kicks would feel uncomfortable too + the risk to injure someone would be much higher.

But if you as you say do Kickboxing and train for on the streets, there should be no issue at all. Even if I don't understand the connection between Kickboxing and on the streets. I mean, Kickboxing is still kickboxing.

 

[tshadowchaser]

If you are in a school with wood floors or mats I would say that soft shoes made for martial arts would be ok. I practice on a hard concrete floor, outside in the woods and on the street so we wear any shoe we want and learn to hopefully control our kicks

 

[JohnnyEnglish]

If you are in a school with wood floors or mats I would say that soft shoes made for martial arts would be ok. I practice on a hard concrete floor, outside in the woods and on the street so we wear any shoe we want and learn to hopefully control our kicks

I think it also depends a bit from the individual, I could not train with shoes, without feeling comfortable. I also think my opponent would not appreciate if I would kick him in the face wearing shoes I mean, did you ever get a kick in to your ribs by someone wearing shoes ? I did, and this is not a nice experience!

 

[crazydiamond]

But if you as you say do Kickboxing and train for on the streets, there should be no issue at all. Even if I don't understand the connection between Kickboxing and on the streets. I mean, Kickboxing is still kickboxing.

Well - if I was training for a UFC match or Thai kickboxing match - no shoes. Boxing is the martial art that I know where shoes are worn in the ring? ( and some karate or Savate?). But street is street and your going to be wearing shoes to kick.

Funny thing when I goggled martial arts shoes - TKD came up a lot as a shoe.

 

[crazydiamond]

If you are in a school with wood floors or mats I would say that soft shoes made for martial arts would be ok. I practice on a hard concrete floor, outside in the woods and on the street so we wear any shoe we want and learn to hopefully control our kicks

Wow all these concrete guys - and outside. tough stuff.

 

[JohnnyEnglish]

Well - if I was training for a UFC match or Thai kickboxing match - no shoes. Boxing is the martial art that I know where shoes are worn in the ring? ( and some karate or Savate?). But street is street and your going to be wearing shoes to kick.

Funny thing when I goggled martial arts shoes - TKD came up a lot as a shoe.

No, I would take off my shoes before I would defend myself.

Just a joke

Well, sure you are right, but maybe it is not the best to kick in a self-defense situation.

However, I am from a country where you have to follow strict rules in every martial art, and as far as I know, Boxing is the only martial art you are allowed to wear shoes in. I don't know how they deal with it here in the UK though, I guess it is always a bit different too.


Conclusion: IF you are able to train with shoes and you WANT to train with shoes, just do it. But, if you are so sure about wearing shoes, why are you asking then ?

 

[Dinkydoo]

In Kickboxing I sometimes wear trainers for the fitness part of the class, but if i'm kicking pads, bags or people I go barefoot - I find this helps to ensure I am kicking with proper technique and as already stated, being kicked properly with shoes on sucks. In Mantis I wear Feiyue shoes and due to the foot stamping and trapping involved it is generally a good idea. I like the rubber soles of the Feiyue shoes as they tend to slip a lot less on gym floors than the plastic soled martial arts shoes. Training outside, I wear whichever shoes I feel like (sometimes none) - although I tend to have a seperate pair for outside stuff, since I can't usually help but kick something (tree, chair, bin...etc) at some point during the session and therefore, they get quite roughed up after frequent use.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I train in Jow Ga kung fu and I wear wrestling shoes. The shoes are made for mat like surfaces. They are good for kung fu style fighting arts but not so much for kickboxing, karate, and kickboxing. For most kung fu schools, wearing shoes is expected.

 

[Dirty Dog]

In taekwondo I could not imagine to wear shoes, I would not have a good stance, so balance would be a problem, and the kicks would feel uncomfortable too + the risk to injure someone would be much higher.
.

And yet, people all over the world manage just fine.
We normally train barefoot in our dojang. But we have a couple students who wear shoes frequently. And one instructor that wears them occasionally.
Anyone training for self defense needs to train in shoes, at least part of the time.
If you cannot perform in shoes, then your training isn't worth much outside the school.


Sent from an old fashioned 300 baud acoustic modem by whistling into the handset. Not TapaTalk. Really.

 

[JohnnyEnglish]

And yet, people all over the world manage just fine.
We normally train barefoot in our dojang. But we have a couple students who wear shoes frequently. And one instructor that wears them occasionally.
Anyone training for self defense needs to train in shoes, at least part of the time.
If you cannot perform in shoes, then your training isn't worth much outside the school.


Sent from an old fashioned 300 baud acoustic modem by whistling into the handset. Not TapaTalk. Really.

Can't agree with it. I've been praceising certain martial arts my whole life, and I've never been wearing shoes, and I never had any problems doing kicks and moving in certain stances outside in my shoes, I just don't like it. It is very uncomfortable. To call an instructor a bad instructor just because he does not ask you to wear some shoes, is not an objective and good way to judge an instructor!

Especially in taekwondo, where kicks are practised a lot, it is not even possible to wear shoes all the time, it would end up in everyone getting injured with head injuries and broken rips.

In a self-defense situation, you are not walking in a highly complicated stance and you are also not using complicated kicks towards an attacker, which means it wouldn't matter you are wearing shoes or not.

I don't know how your feet are built, but an average martial artist, will be able to perform all of his techniques even with shoes, WITHOUT having them on while training.
I also want to remind you, that it is respectless and rude to NOT take the shoes off when entering the dojo, especially in Japan,Korea and China. You will find plenty of martial art schools in for example tokyo, which are able to teach you PROPER self-defense while wearing no shoes.

This discussion is totally platitudinous.

 

[JowGaWolf]

And yet, people all over the world manage just fine.
We normally train barefoot in our dojang. But we have a couple students who wear shoes frequently. And one instructor that wears them occasionally.
Anyone training for self defense needs to train in shoes, at least part of the time.
If you cannot perform in shoes, then your training isn't worth much outside the school.


Sent from an old fashioned 300 baud acoustic modem by whistling into the handset. Not TapaTalk. Really.

My Sifu told us to every now and then practice doing Kung Fu kicks in the shoes that we normally wear. The reason for this is that the sole of a shoe will vary. Dress shoes do not provide the same grip or support that sneakers provide. Cowboy boots do not provide the same flexibility that being barefoot does. Because of this certain moves may be less effective depending on the shoe. While I have not taken my Sifu's advice directly. I have made sure that all of my dress shoes have rubber soles and I'm always taking notice of how my shoes grip on different surfaces so that I understand my limitations in the event that I have to do Kung Fu as a self defense. My biggest weakness would be trying to do kung fu on concrete or sand without shoes. Being that I have shoes on 95% of the time the chances of me fighting on those surfaces without shoes are really slim.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Can't agree with it. I've been praceising certain martial arts my whole life, and I've never been wearing shoes, and I never had any problems doing kicks and moving in certain stances outside in my shoes, I just don't like it. It is very uncomfortable.

Then why did you say you wouldn't 'have a good stance, so balance would be a problem' in your earlier post? This looks like you're simply contradicting yourself.

To call an instructor a bad instructor just because he does not ask you to wear some shoes, is not an objective and good way to judge an instructor!

Where did I say that?

Especially in taekwondo, where kicks are practised a lot, it is not even possible to wear shoes all the time, it would end up in everyone getting injured with head injuries and broken rips.

I've been training in TKD since 1968 or 1969. I have Dan rankings from the ITF, the Kukkiwon, and the Moo Duk Kwan. I've trained and trained with a number of people who wear or wore. I wear shoes, sometimes, both while training and instructing.
You're just plain wrong.

In a self-defense situation, you are not walking in a highly complicated stance and you are also not using complicated kicks towards an attacker, which means it wouldn't matter you are wearing shoes or not.

TKD (at least, none of the variants I am familiar with) teach any "highly complicated stance". As for kicks, I'll use whatever kick seems most likely to prove effective at the time, whether I am sparring or fighting.
Since I've trained wearing shoes, none of this will be a problem.

I don't know how your feet are built, but an average martial artist, will be able to perform all of his techniques even with shoes, WITHOUT having them on while training.

Well, no, they won't. Wearing shoes absolutely does change things. Which is why it's important to train wearing shoes, at least occasionally, if you're training for self defense.

I also want to remind you, that it is respectless and rude to NOT take the shoes off when entering the dojo, especially in Japan,Korea and China. You will find plenty of martial art schools in for example tokyo, which are able to teach you PROPER self-defense while wearing no shoes.

I suspect I've been training longer than you've been alive. I'm pretty sure I know what is considered appropriate behavior in the dojang, kid.

 

[JohnnyEnglish]

Then why did you say you wouldn't 'have a good stance, so balance would be a problem' in your earlier post? This looks like you're simply contradicting yourself.



Where did I say that?



I've been training in TKD since 1968 or 1969. I have Dan rankings from the ITF, the Kukkiwon, and the Moo Duk Kwan. I've trained and trained with a number of people who wear or wore. I wear shoes, sometimes, both while training and instructing.
You're just plain wrong.



TKD (at least, none of the variants I am familiar with) teach any "highly complicated stance". As for kicks, I'll use whatever kick seems most likely to prove effective at the time, whether I am sparring or fighting.
Since I've trained wearing shoes, none of this will be a problem.



Well, no, they won't. Wearing shoes absolutely does change things. Which is why it's important to train wearing shoes, at least occasionally, if you're training for self defense.



I suspect I've been training longer than you've been alive. I'm pretty sure I know what is considered appropriate behavior in the dojang, kid.

We are not getting any further when you start changing your posts.


Good night to you sir !

 

[TwentyThree]

Arnis player here. I've seen a toe broken from a disarm once.

I wear shoes when I possibly can around weapons.

BUT, mine are solid athletic shoes that I do not wear outside of the training area. There are many physical and medical reasons to wear shoes when training, no matter the art.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I train in Jow Ga kung fu and I wear wrestling shoes. The shoes are made for mat like surfaces. They are good for kung fu style fighting arts but not so much for kickboxing, karate, and kickboxing. For most kung fu schools, wearing shoes is expected.

I like wrestling shoes too. It's has some grip but not too much grip that you can't twist your foot. It also protect your ankle well.

One good reason that you want to wear shoes in fighting.

 

[Danny T]

On the mats, bear feet or mat shoes only.
On the wooden floor - whatever.
Sometimes we have 'normal wear' training and we are attired with what one usually wears during the day and train with that. Shoes, boots, sandals,... or whatever.