street clothes

[Dark Shogun]

What abot training with a bag or a backpack?

I carry a bag to most places I go. I used to carry a sholder bag but I thought it would get in the way fighting, so I switched to a backpack. The backpack stows nicely out of the way so you don't have to worry about losing all your stuff whether you fight or flee. I could always have just dropped the sholder bag but it would be inconvenient for me to lose all my stuff.

[Treebranch]

We have lots of ways of moving that came from fight in armor so we can fight in just about any kind of clothes with backpack. You can even use the backpack to defend yourself.

[danege]

Our uniform is considered street clothes.

Long plack pants, white polo shirt....shoes optional.

We train outside also.

Edited May 6, 2005 by danege

[mindsedgeblade]

The bag would make a decent weapon with a few books in it. Get a little speed behind it, and whoever gets hit is going to know it. Broke out the sandals again today! Nice, sunny weather coming! Haha- might be able to kick them off in a fight and go barefoot. Hmm maybe even use them as a weapon...

[aefibird]

We regularly train in 'street clothes' in my karate dojo, although it gets as hot as you-know-where in the summer, seen as we have no air conditioning.

It can feel a little wierd to train in street clothes at first, but it really makes you realise how some techniques that work great with a gi aren't so good after all with ordinary clothes on. Similarly, wearing heavy boots adds an extra dimention to those knee kicks.

At my Wing Chun kwoon we just wear regular trousers(pants) or shorts and a t-shirt, so it's like we're in street clothes anyway. We train in either socks or shoes anyway, as the floor is too rough and too cold to train in bare feet.

[Treebranch]

Just wear slightly baggy pants and shirts that allow you to move. I dress pretty loose as it is, so it's really not a problem. I'm not doing any aerial kicks since not many horseman to kick off thier horse.

[InsaneTigerCrane]

not a bad idea

[Mr. Mike]

we reccomend that students train in their shoes, and various types of footwear. We also have street clothes day(man, the day I wore my suit and tie just plain sucked), and train in the park that is two blocks away from the school, when weather permits.

yeah, it's amazing how the dynamic changes from something as simple as moist grass.

[AngryMatt]

We usually train in our black canvas-style gis and tabi shoes... but that comes with the territory in Budo Taijutsu.

When the plan is for more ground work, we switch to white judo style gis that you'd see being worn in BJJ dojos. Every once in awhile it's good to use street clothes so you can get a feel. But when you are doing throws over and over again or other grabs, you have a tendency to tear things. Who wants to buy a billion shirts because they keep getting torn up from training?

The gi is not just about tradition; it's good because it doesn't tear easily. In a real fighting situation the guy is probably going to have a jacket (if you live in a northern city) or a shirt. And most of the time that shirt is not going to tear if you execute technique on him ONCE. But in the dojo, that shirt is going down after one or two sessions. I know from experience.

But moreso than training with street clothes is training in a REAL ENVIRONMENT. Sand and grass is a good start. Eventually I'm sure we'll train on gravel and such, but I'm certainly not prepared enough for that.

[shotokanwarrior]

I just go around my daily business in my GI just in case.