Material to put on concrete to practice kata outside?

[chrisw08]

I dont have an area where I can practice my kata. I dont have room in my house and outside I have to perfect size concrete slab to practice on but one problem is it is concrete. I am part of a traditional style and practice barfooted. I am looking for advice on what kind of material I could buy to put over the concrete. It cant absorb water and mold outside I just dont know what to buy. Trying to keep it under $40 or $50. Any help would be awsome link or pictures of what you have. Thank you and good luck on your martial art adventure.

[JusticeZero]

...Maybe it's because where i'm from, it's the traditionalists who wear shoes.. but I honestly think that the best thing you can put on concrete to protect your feet are a pair of crosstrainers. If you're wanting self defense applicability, you need to learn how to wear shoes anyways.

[chrisw08]

we train barefooted and perform barefooted though and that is how I want to train. My school does it for traditional self defence not for new sport type karate.

[JusticeZero]

...Right, and "new sport type" = barefoot, "Self Defense" = shoes. Unless you normally go about your daily business barefoot?

[evergrey]

I use the callouses on my feet when I practice kata on concrete.

Of course, one has to develop said callouses, hehe!

But I also train in my normal footwear when outside of the dojo. If I am going to fight to defend myself, I should be used to fighting when wearing normal street clothes. No one will wait for me to put on a dogi, after all...

Though in the warm months I mostly wear sandals that I can easily kick off anyway. I spent many years running around barefoot... and I often still do!

OSU

[tallgeese]

Staying under that price range for exterior surface is gonna be tough regardless. Most mat-type material out there isn't going to fare well with constant exposure.

I get what you're saying about shoes and how you train; however, they will be the cheapest option. As Justice pointed out, it will also be invaluable to train in them for sd purposes.

[chrisw08]

I mean even if I bought something around $30 and had to replace it once every six months itd be fine. Just dont known what to buy

[evergrey]

If you are totally committed to always training barefoot, why not toughen your feet on the concrete?

I wish I could advise you about what to buy... I'm not sure what you could put down on concrete that would work, although... if you OWN the property, I suppose you could use some sort of tough outdoor paint. That would make it smoother... but it would also be quite slick, especially when wet.

[Wastelander]

If you are committed to training barefoot, then just do as Evergrey says and train barefoot on the concrete. I used to do that and it just helps build up callouses over time.

That said, if you are practicing self defense of any type, then why wouldn't you want to wear shoes? The past few times I have worked out on concrete I have worn shoes--it doesn't mean you aren't doing karate anymore just because you put shoes on. I would also like to point out to you that many karateka of old seem to have worn their footwear while training outside:

http://webs.ono.com/shotokankaratedo/albums/Funakoshi%20Yoshitaka/album/slides/FUNAKOSHI%20Yoshitaka%20-%20makiwara%20001.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Funakoshi_Makiwara.jpg

http://shotokankaratedo.es/images/MOTOBU_Choki_makiwara_01.jpg

[DWx]

What's the problem with the concrete? Is it that it's too hard? too slippy? too rough? Can't fix the problem till you know what it is

Shoes are probably the cheapest option. Or if you're desperate to train barefoot, maybe get some thin puzzle mats (but you'll have to take them up each time). Or you can invest and put down some proper flooring: astroturf or playground flooring? Wetpour is like a rubber surfacing (don't know what the generic name is): http://www.wetpourrubber.co.uk/