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Depending on where you train, the floors of gyms can range anywhere from really nice mats everywhere to absolutely no mats anywhere. The canvas of the ring can tear up your feet due to the heat and humidity (you'll see trainers watering the ring for this reason), the concrete floors can give you some intense blisters, and sometimes the only way to not slip from your own dripping sweat is to have a strip of carpet pulled up near the bag... which also tears up your feet. For the first two years of training in Thailand I was always dealing with the bottoms of my feet getting blisters and then tearing open. Now I still get these slices occasionally, but it's more rare and it heals quickly. Solutions: 1) toughen up your feet before you get here; walk around barefoot and build callouses. We wear shoes ALL THE TIME in the west and our feet are sissies for it. 2) when you get these blisters, keep your feet clean and put Vaseline or coconut oil on them before you go to sleep at night (wear socks if you can handle the heat while you sleep) to keep the skin softer. Tough skin that's already torn will tear more. 3) use bandaids and tape to fabricate some kind of buffer 4) eventually you'll have some blisters bad enough you have to wear shoes in training and look like a total goober 5) as you're getting used to the floors of your gym you can use some kind of slipper in an on-again-off-again rotation to build up the tolerance of your feet. I used ballet slippers during my first year, which helped when I already had blisters but I was too embarrassed to wear frequently enough to avoid the blisters all together. These "half toe ankle yoga grip" socks are a better option than the ballet slippers and probably better than socks due to the grips on the bottoms. If those barefoot running shoes are still a thing you can try those as well. Different price tag.

Before I started muay thai, I fight in sanda rules ("chinese kick-box", also with throws and leg grabs). I was always afraid to kick the body, because in sanda we rather use our feet, not shins, when we kick, and it was so painful when I accidentaly kicked my opponent's elbow. And my friend's foot broke actually by this: she kicked, and her opponent used elbow as a guard. I started muay thai, I've learnt to kick with my shins, and slowly I started to be "brave" enough to kick to the body. It's still painful when I kick an elbow, but my shins became harder And now... We had sparring at training (2 weeks ago), my training partner was a beginner man. He didn't know how to defense, or catch leg, he just moved instinctively. I teeped him - he pushed forward his elbows ---> extreme pain in my foot. Next day I couldn't stand on my injured foot, so I went to a hospital. X-Ray, diagnosis: IV. metatarsal bone is broken. I can't walk, just with crutches, it means a month "rest". I hate it, I'm worried if it will be normal again, etc... So, okay, I never experienced this, when I spar or fight with a non-starter opponent. I never used my elbow to defend a teep. But really... You can't strenghten up your feet. And I don't want to be afraid to use teeps. How can you avoid this?

Hi everyone, Have you had any serious foot cramps before? The kind that feels like your feet are getting all crunched up and you try to move the muscles in your feet but that only makes the pain worse and actually nothing moves on your feet anyway. It's debilitating although temporary. The annoying part is that it comes and goes consistently at random times. Massaging with rubber balls seems to help, but only temporarily. I've been give the advice that it's due to excessive sweating during training and thus depletion of essential minerals, and was encouraged to take some magnesium and vitamin B12? Someone also recommended to eat shit loads of bananas, which I did but that doesn't help either. Would love any constructive feedback! Thanks guys