boots or shoes?

[Kajukenbopr]

well should it matter you should be ready to defend yourself wearing anything even naked but seriously take that into consideration

HAHA. I would feel so friggin' weird fighitng naked

-Ray

i second that

[bat in a birdless village]

You can buy steel toe sneakers at boot stores and even WalMart. They sell at walmart for about $30 and look like simple white sneakers. I have worn them for several years at my job. If you wear them in public, as I do, they look like normal shoes. Work boots weigh about 5-6 pounds each, so they are far too heavy to consider.

In fact, that came up in a karate class that I was teaching last week. The lighter your foot wear, the better. When I was in high school, I wore canvas low cut shoes and deck shoes. The lighter you feet are, the faster you kick and the more kicks you can throw.

On the other side, anything with steel toes will slow your kicks down a good bit. Also, street kicks should never go above belt level--that is the cardical rule of street kicking.

If you are having problems with this guy, notify someone before you scrap with him. That will cover your butt more than you think. Also, don't fight him if possible. Most of us train in the martial arts, but you can't train for a hidden knife, his buddies attacking with him, or him picking up a trash can lid or stick. There are far too many unknowns in a fight.

bat

[mya]

Get some tennis shoes.

Boots and shoes are not pratical fighting equipment.

It will wear you down unless you are "rooted".

I personaly hate when i have to use shoes, because of the diference of weight to a common tennis and the lack of grip.

Sure heavy boots are cool to stomp but when you are trying to dodge and avoid sweeps that boots will be a pain.

If you realy want something to defend yourself buy a mace spray. When he assaults you, be sure that its him to assault you, spray his eyes and lay waste.

This is not sparing, when you fight , expecialy a in a fight you are expecting you should always prepare better than the other.

Also i dont think you should fight him, he probably has a knife with him as most "thugs" have.

[mooseman]

ok,here's the thing,the more offten you were boots the more natural they are,at first they'll slow yoiu down,but after a while,you'll spped back up,so i'de opt for boot and just wear 'em alot.

[battousai16]

the added weight of the steel toe is going to effect the pivot of your base leg, not to mention the leg you're throwing out there. it sounds like knee strain waiting to happen. if i even had a sneaking suspiscion i was going to wind up in a fight, i would make sure my shoes were as close to what i train in as possible.

that said, if you've been able to avoid confrontation with this fellow for so long, why start one now?

[pocketcoffee]

Don't know about you but I don't kick with the toes of my feet so steel toe caps don't mean much to me. In fact, seeing as my shins and my heels are my kicking tools, the type of footware I am wearing only serves to match my outfit.

[Yasutsune Makoto]

I'm a big proponent of not fighting, so there is my advice.

but the only thing that will help your kicks is training, and more importantly, training hitting something, not just kicking air. Shoes are an afterthought to good practice.

[TigerDude]

I'm a big proponent of not fighting, so there is my advice...Shoes are an afterthought to good practice.

That's good advice.