What floor material does your karate school have?

[shadowspawn]

We use an old hard wood floor that has been eaten away by termites to a certain extent. Held together with nails and duct tape, it works for the most part. You just need to be careful how you step in certain areas. But I guess it does help train you to be more aware of your environment as opposed to a completely flat and solid ground with no obstacles or impediments whatsoever.

[JohnnyB]

Puzzle mats in my dojo as well. 15 years ago they had hard wooden floor.

I like the puzzle mat rating it 8.5/10 cuz it provides smooth ground coefficient for techniques while providing good cushion for grappling and throws.

However it needs regular cleaning and good ventilation in the classroom.

[JohnnyB]

Update:

My Dojo is closed for 2+ weeks now due to licencing issues caused by the mess of the Greek goverment idiotic laws regarding gyms so our Sensei moved our training sessions to a basketball court.

I'm so close to getting blisters on my feet I really hate it. The wood is not smooth nor clean and in addition there are dirty plastic stickers that add to the pain. When trying to do mawashi geri my feet is getting stuck in place. Very bad for the joints. Still I'm happy we are back on track for Mid June gradings.

[MasterPain]

Update:

My Dojo is closed for 2+ weeks now due to licencing issues caused by the mess of the Greek goverment idiotic laws regarding gyms so our Sensei moved our training sessions to a basketball court.

I'm so close to getting blisters on my feet I really hate it. The wood is not smooth nor clean and in addition there are dirty plastic stickers that add to the pain. When trying to do mawashi geri my feet is getting stuck in place. Very bad for the joints. Still I'm happy we are back on track for Mid June gradings.

http://www.karateforums.com/shindokan-and-tkd-get-together-vt41438.html

Read through this thread, paying attention to the parts about pre-pivoting. May help you on the different surface.

[evergrey]

Found out more about our mat- it's three layers of inch deep foam, with plastic between each layer, and then kind of slick mat material on top of that. Got the foam from a gymnastics flooring place. We can sweep and throw people plenty, but the mat is hard to balance on, heh! It's so soft. It's hard on my knees. I love it when I get thrown though!

[ps1]

All the karate dojo I visited and trained in had matted floors. Most had 3/4" puzzle mats. The larger schools had Tatami Style zebra mats or swain mats.

When studying chuan fa we only had a sand as a floor. Every year we'd bring more in. It was about 2 feet of sand. Made balance very difficult. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

At my jiu-jitsu school we have 2 5/8" of mats. I wanted it to be as safe for throws as possible.

[sensei8]

Update:

My Dojo is closed for 2+ weeks now due to licencing issues caused by the mess of the Greek goverment idiotic laws regarding gyms so our Sensei moved our training sessions to a basketball court.

I'm so close to getting blisters on my feet I really hate it. The wood is not smooth nor clean and in addition there are dirty plastic stickers that add to the pain. When trying to do mawashi geri my feet is getting stuck in place. Very bad for the joints. Still I'm happy we are back on track for Mid June gradings.

Shugyo!!

[ninjanurse]

Update: We added 1 inch puzzle mats over the top of our gymnastics floor. Great surface to train on-wonderful to land on!!!

[JohnnyB]

Update:

My Dojo is closed for 2+ weeks now due to licencing issues caused by the mess of the Greek goverment idiotic laws regarding gyms so our Sensei moved our training sessions to a basketball court.

I'm so close to getting blisters on my feet I really hate it. The wood is not smooth nor clean and in addition there are dirty plastic stickers that add to the pain. When trying to do mawashi geri my feet is getting stuck in place. Very bad for the joints. Still I'm happy we are back on track for Mid June gradings.

http://www.karateforums.com/shindokan-and-tkd-get-together-vt41438.html

Read through this thread, paying attention to the parts about pre-pivoting. May help you on the different surface.

Great advice thank you.

Thinking back on this i remember our Sempai instructing my 7th Kyu class to pre-pivot when doing Fumikomi (Stomp Kick) from Kiba Dachi stance in the Heian Sandan kata but I never thought about applying it for Mawashi geri. Can't wait to try it in our next session..!

[GeterDone]

We use jigsaw mats. The floor is blue while two large red areas mark out sparring sections. There is also a large pillar in the dojo that is wrapped in jigsaw mats that can be used for punching. Attached to this same pillar is a make-shift makiwara board (probably spelled incorrectly) as well as 2 hanging heavy bags, one of which has a canvas cover.

I heard at the end of class today that our Sensei may have found a newer larger location. He said that he'll stick to the jigsaw mats but is unsure if he'll keep one part as hardwood depending on the condition of the floor.