shoes/bare feet? Gloves/fists?

[awakened nature]

When in kung fu classes is it required in your school to wear shoes or can you choose? ALso are we talking trainers or martial arts shoes?

When doing punch bag work do you wear gloves or go for a little conditioning and use bare fists?

[Jiraiya]

When I studied Wing Chun our instructor required us to wear shoes. He preferred that we wear wrestling shoes or something similar to Chuck Taylors, but sneakers/tennis shoes were acceptable.

We also had a wooden floor, so I think not having shoes might have been a bit dangerous, especially after people began to sweat.

Now I'm remembering the knuckle pushups we had to do on that wood floor. Heh.

[Mushroom]

Each school is different, but usually you can wear whichever foot wear you want, as long as you feel comfortable with it.
I sometimes go barefeet for balance, bagwork I personally use gloves for protection.

[fizz-lau]

martial arts shoes or bare feet & bag gloves for insurance as we do not know if some one has a illness that could be passed on, if you cut ur hand & had not put a plaster on then hit a pad that had been used by someone with some kind of illness that can be passed via blood & they had scrapped a knuckle & left blood,u go & hit it what happens? do you want 2 take the risk?

[awakened nature]

good point fizz lau. Better continue leaving my gloveless bagwork for home.

at my club were bout 50/50, some with shoes some without.

[Scarlet Mist]

We all train in shoes. When I do my personal bagwork I use bandages around my fists just to have a surface between them and the bag to prevent cuts.

[Desipio]

no bagwork here.. but we use shoes... not allowed to go barefoot, cause a) its wooden, b) the thought is that if we ever use this at all, we're probably not in the nude... better to train with shoes... but we can buy those special shoes insted if necessary

[Tika]

feeeeeeeeeeeet....

[doors]

i do kuk sool won and we are required to take our shoes and socks off before entering

[jroe52]

gloves are good if your going to do half or full speed sparring/grappling or fighting. they also help train against bags ect if you don't plan on iron palm bag training or toughening your skin without gloves. however in wing chun and many ma's alot of the time your doing stuff at slower speeds and in safety of your helper so you do not need gloves. you can get the skill without beating the crud out of your helper. i am saving up for my first pair from www.agatsu.com they look like a good set under 40$.

shoes or barefeet really is up to you, your instructor, and maybe even your ma. i have gone barefoot a few times after i wore sandles to class. we didn't do anything dangerous so i had no worries about my feet. now if i was going to do some sparring i wouldn't want to be barefoot or i could injure myself. the shoe not only prevents slippage and twisting but it also keeps your feet dry and clean. more importantly having shoes on also protects your foot from damage with kicks etc.

lastly clothing... most schools will have you dress comfortable. i do not think any school would mind you dressing traditional and i'm sure some schools do that more often then others (like karatee in uniforms). in our wing chun classes we wear athletic sneakers, shorts/sweats, and a comfortable shirt. you could wear what you wear to excersize in or something that will make training easier and comfortable.

[xeviphract]

We go barefoot. We don't train with bags, we train with people, so gloves are pretty redundant. TBH, I'm not sure how any kung fu style can be fully effective with gloves, (thinking on competitions).