Why do so many martial arts styles train barefoot?

Question

Since people wear shoes most of the time, wouldn't it make more sense to train with them? It seems to me that the places you are most likely to need your self defense skills (bar, sporting event, dark ally, etc.), you would be wearing shoes. Or is there an inordinate risk of being attacked at the beach that I was unaware of?

Answer 1

to get tougher

Answer 2

When you practise wushu, or tai chi, or even when you visit the temple of kung fu and tai chi, it is respectful to wear shoes while training, not toss them off and run barefoot like its some king of grateful dead concert or hippy party.

Answer 3

There are two major reasons for this:

1) Many martial arts have roots in cultures where it is customary to remove shoes when entering a room, and removing shoes while practicing is an extension of that custom.

2) Many arts are more dangerous with shoes, since shoes are harder than feet, and the safety issue outweighs the practicality issue.

As for why they are done barefoot as opposed to wearing socks, the simple answer there is because you get better traction in bare feet than you do wearing socks.

Answer 4

I am a Kung Fu guy, and we always wear shoes.

I think that it is mostly due to keeping tradition.  In Japan especially, being bare foot is a daily occurrence.  As well as in many years past, the shoe of choice was more of a slipper, which was easily removed when entering your home, or being attacked.

That being said, I would think that it would be easier to adapt to fighting WITH shoes than without.  Meaning that I think that I would be hindered more by not having shoes on, than someone that trains barefoot and has to fight with shoes on.

Answer 5

When you move in and out of stances you slide the feet and not lift them(except tai chi) it is easier to accomplish this without shoes. also a matter of opinion; feet are cleaner than shoes.

When your not in the dojo and wearing shoes you could do more damage in a fight. I guess that could be why you don;t wear them in class too.

Answer 6

Well I guess if you are training with people they wouldn't want to be kicked in the face with at the worst cleats, especially if the shoes are dirty

Answer 7

Chinese kung fu is one of the few, if only , martial art styles that wear shoes all through the years of their training.  They do take a more realistic approach.

Barefoot is because it toughens the feet; keeps the workout as fundamental as possible; and that particular culture emphasizes barefeet in their everyday lives.

Answer 8

Outside, people generally wear shoes, but in the dojo and other indoor places it is customary to take off the shoes. That may be one of the many reasons why.

Another reason why I work out without shoes and make sure my students do the same is so I can see their form and watch their footing to make sure they're stable and well rooted when necessary. Shoes make it harder analyse.

I trained barefoot on rocks and rough concrete to be able to handle unlevel ground and rough terrain, toughen my feet and tolerance for pain.

I also train with all types of shoes except flip flops to get used to moving and reacting with them on as well as other clothes. Some shoes will actually cushion the kick and others make it easy to fall because of their slick soles, and some clothes are restricting in movements or easy to tangle.

edit-

Nice point pugpaws2. I've done training for my toes and my fingers. I have not trained them excessively as I still want them to be fully functional, but they can definitely handle the jobs I give them. IE hitting under the ribcage and grabbing the ribs... SUPER Painful and dangerous. My toes are great and Shihan really emphasizes training all this as we train anything else. I one was staying at the house of a fellow karate ka and he was sitting down while I was doing the toe kick in the air. He said that won't do anything but break my toes and so I kicked him in ST39, lightly. The result proved the point of its effectiveness. LOL

Answer 9

I teach my students to train both with shoes on and with them off.

One reason that many train without shoes is because in many of the old martial arts styles the practitioners may not have even had shoes. Many were poor peasants.  

Something that is rarely ever seen in western countries, i are toe kicks. In many of the Okinawan styles toe kicks were and sometimes still are often used.  I train to kick with my toes and find it very effective. A good toe kick does not have to be as powerful as other kicks. This is because the tips of the big toe and the toe next to it are used to kick the inside of the opponents thigh. When kicking the right place it usually will put the attacker on the ground. Even if it does not it is extremely painful and the attacker has trouble standing. Either way it makes it much easier to control the situation.

Learning to kick well with your toes is much easier than you might think. To start learning you only have to start by standing on one leg as if you are doing a Neko-ashi-Dachi (cat stance) and then lift the front leg. While pressing the big toe and the one next to it together, you simply press your toes against a wall or other solid object.  The trick is to lower your body while pressing to root yourself and not allow the press to push you out of your stance.  The exercise is done only a few seconds at a time and requires that you do it only a few times, every day or so. In a few weeks you will be able to kick lightly with no problem. Continued practice will result in your being able to kick a hole in a corrugated box using only a quick snap kick. At that point you can experiment by lightly kicking an opponents inner thigh.   NOT: use caution you can do serious damage with this kick, to yourself or to others.   Play nice.

BTW .... if you can do toe kicks well you can easily use the toe of your shoe to attack the same targets on the opponents leg.

Answer 10

Cause if you can do it without pads do you can do it with them