Running without shoes on

[Jussi Häkkinen]

"Back in Okinawa" karate was developed (and trained) by nobles and officials, who did not have shoe shortages or other shortages (yes - the common story about peasants fighting samurai is - like many stories - false).

 

Barefoot training was perhaps made because it was most handy and the sturface suited for it (grassy land, wooden floor etc.).

 

Feet can take the training easily - IF you're used to walking and being barefoot. Drop the shoes off at home, at least. Many people have their feet supported by shoes all the time. That will cause problems and make the foot muscles lazier and lose the elasticity of heel. It takes time to recover from years of extended shoe use - especially if you use them at home as well.

[Heian]

As an Israeli, due to the fact that about 80% of the population ARE soldiers , WILL BE soldiers or WERE soldiers and are now reserve soldiers in Israel, I recieved a lot of explanation about the right methods to conduct physical exercise , and one of the things that were very much emphasized (and this is backed by 100% foolproof scientific research) is that running on tarmac or asphalt or, as it were, any tough surface is very damaging to the knees, and many a frenzied young Israelies who wanted to get accepted to high ranking Military units got their knees totally jammed and were released of the military alltogether for screwing their knees due to overpractice on tarmac (some of the crazier ones did it while carrying huge weights on their backs).

 

In Israel Shotokan (The martial arts school I belong to) we used to have the special trainings morning runs on tarmac, which was very acute to Israeli black belts who were all in combat IDF units themselves when they served in the army.. But very quickly it changed and now it is strictly forbidden to run on anything like tarmac, now we do our glorious morning (and, as it is, endless ) runs on the cold , wet, yet soft, grass

 

In other words, NEVER EVER run on Tarmac unless you're being chased by a nuclear bulldog or something.