Monk Carlos Dunick, Otterberg, DE

Blog Paleos at Martial Arts ENMy name is Carlos Dunick. I was born in New Zealand and purchased my first pair of Paleos nearly 2 years ago. As for now, they are the perfect travel companion for the back pocket as I travel from destination to destination. They served me throughout my whole journey from Denmark to NZ, Australia and eventually to Germany, where I know live and daily train together with the community of the Shaolin Temple Europe.

Carlos Dunick and his master of Shaolin Temple Europe

At the Shaolin monastery we train 3x a day with up to 3 hours at the mid-day / afternoon training. We mostly train outside on all types of terrain, when it is light enough to see. The Monastery is located in southern Germany surrounded by forests on all sides. At the Monastery they have a stone driveway, this driveway is not just your average small pebble path, but rather serious sharp stones.

Carlos Dunick and his master of Shaolin Temple Europe

While training on these stones you most definitely draw blood every time if you are not conditioned to it. To give more perspective I have never seen any guest been able to walk normally on this way. Luckily the Paleos makes it possible to bear the sharp load of the stones on your feet, not getting damaged or hurt in anyway and to my great pleasure even making the training feel like a strong massage to my feet, instead of sharp pain.

At the monastery of the Shaolin Temple Europe I have been truly honoured to have met Shi Heng Yi, the headmaster here at the Monastery. He started training at the age of 4 and is my master and teaches me the disciples here at the Monastery daily. I introduced the Paleos to him and offered him to use them for a while to get his opinion and review about such “modern” inventions. So he proceeded to use my Paleos and train in them for the last winter and I recently had the chance to ask a couple of questions to him:

What do you think about the Paleos, after training with them for the last weeks?

Shi Heng Yi: “The purpose of our daily training in the monastery is to strengthen and improve our physical as well as our mental health. I’m therefore very open to any suggestions and also to try out new inventions that can support this purpose and aim. I’m actually quite surprised about the durability and also quality of the chainmesh. Even though that I was wearing them daily, sometimes up to 5 hours a day and doing training with them, including kicking, jumping, running, they hold up pretty good. Very astonishing to be honest. Seems to me like a small piece of art that has been created here”.

What do you consider to be the most value in wearing the Paleos for training?

Shi Heng Yi: “They offer good grip on almost all conditions. At the same time various areas of the foot are being trained and stimulated, that you normally would not feel while wearing normal training shoes. Since we are training to improve our health it is also useful to mention that they offer good protection against sharp or harsh edges or spikes that you might find in different areas of the forest. The greatest value of wearing the Paleos is the connection that you get with your environment. You can feel the ground. You can feel the amount of stability and the simple fact if your stances (Kung Fu Stances) are stable and well rooted. There is simply nothing anymore between you as a human and the ground and earth that you are living on. Therefore I’m really impressed and happy to having the chance of trying them out. It supports the aim of bringing back awareness to the people and to care about each step that you make or take”.

Carlos Dunick and his master of Shaolin Temple Europe

Do you see any field of improvement for the Paleos?

Shi Heng Yi: “As I mentioned earlier, I am impressed by the durability. Also I’m positive that they will last a long time, but a pair of Paleos made out of titanium might be an option for real enthusiasts that are willed to invest in them. Besides the price (or the fact that you can’t afford to get a pair of the Paleos (à like their monastery...) I don’t see any point why you should not try them out. Instead of wasting your money on alcohol, drugs or any other things that are harming your health, it would be better to get a pair of the Paleos, put them on and just go for a walk, run or training. Oh yeah, and maybe it is a bit more painful for your sparring partner to get hit with the Paleos on your feet ;)”.