If you do any kind of martial arts sparring, you know that protective gear is of the utmost importance. Any man who has the stones to go into a sparring match without a cup on, wont have them for very long. Theres protective gear like the heavily padded foot gloves that I wear when Im teaching, so I dont accidentally do a spin kick and take someones head off when they miss a block. But the protective gear I want to sing the praises of today are the martial arts sparring shoes.
Now, I use the martial arts shoe for two very simple reasons. The first is that after I did a series of practice bits against a wooden sparring dummy, I walked out of the dojo on several bone-deep bruises in my feet. Now, bruises are the price you pay for any contact sport, including martial arts. Even a little bit of padding wouldve kept me from walking funny for two days. My friends and co-workers were making fun of my little mincing steps to avoid putting weight on the tops of my feet from a particularly nasty bruise almost a break in the bone.
The foot has so many small bones. And almost no meat. No fat. No protection. Poor bloodflow. At least mine do. Pain sticks attached to my...