Hi friends,
I’ve recently added a once a week Muay Thai session to my training. I train mostly BJJ, but I like to do some striking occasionally to compliment my grappling skills.
We train Muay Thai on a hard wooden floor, with absolute no give. At the end of the 1 hour session my feet and killing me. I have developed a few blisters and my feet are starting to harden up, but Im starting to not enjoy the sessions due to it been uncomfortable on my feet.
What shoes can I use for Muay Thai? Are shoes “looked down on” in the Muay Thai community?
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I had the same issue years ago when I did a fly-in camp at Fairtex in San Fran (awesome time, BTW). I went from doing stand up training 1-2x per week (at most) to 2-a-days with no lead in, and developed some pretty gnarly blisters within a couple days. I tried wearing kung fu slippers (only thing I could find at the time), which kind of helped.
Here’s the main issue with shoes in MT: you need to be able to pivot on that support leg when kicking, and most shoes have at least enough traction to slow that pivot down. The torque from your twisting hips and kicking leg is then absorbed in the supporting knee, which can result in stretching of the tendons in the knee and possibly tears eventually. Try moleskin to cover the blisters till they heal, taping them in place if necessary and wear socks over that. You’ll most likely have to wipe your feet down with alcohol to dry them completely before applying the tape, in order for it to stick. Other than that, take a week off here and there if you continue having issues with blisters. Eventually your feet should callus up, and then you won’t feel a thing.
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Hi I’ve been doing many Thai for some time now you should develop calluses in your feet and it won’t bother you as much. Here are some socks by Rdx made especially for martial arts. They might still irritate your feet when you pivot. https://www.amazon.com/RDX-Neoprene-Achilles-Tendon-Support/dp/B00LB0CSEY
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