[Harutomo]

Wow, fingers, my hobby. Some people with ingrown nails have problem with this principle. Do they need plastic surgery before start practicing seriously?
Without shoes and or on the mat you should be careful. I rolled my thumb under feet because I catched mat in same moment when I got low kick. Now I have it crippled for third week. So shoes always on, in sparring especially, fingers are very woundable.

EDIT: Excuse me, I must say that I mostly train in forest, so it is different matter.

[ironpalm]

Gripping with toes is part of HG as I was trained. It's part of rooting.

Also was told not to train barefoot on a cold floor as the cold can enter the bottom of the feet and create sickness or problems later in life with your feet. I don't wear shoes in training because it's a nice hardwood floor, so I wear socks which keep my feet warm in the winter and allow me to grip the floor with my toes. I go barefoot in the summer.

[Daifong]

Right,

If I am on a concrete or tile floor I'm wearing shoes, period!

Hardwood or carpet, definitely barefoot, Linoleum, depends on if it's over wood or over concrete...

Mats, it's difficult to find a mat that's kind to a trainee's feet, at all. Toes might even need to be taped, especially for any kind of sparring situation...

I have a friend who has trained in a building near the San francisco Bay for many years, he always brings two pairs of training shoes, in case it's sunny, meaning the floor is dry and smooth, or foggy, meaning the floor is damp, and so will be comparatively tacky...

For sunny days, he wears his low-topped raquetball shoes, then on foggy, humid days, he wears the Jing Mo boots (with recycled tire-tread soles)!

Ok, whatever we wear on our feet, or not, whenever we want to "root", it certainly helps to grip the ground with our toes!



Best,

Michael