From Temple Halls to Open Fields: The Real History of Indoor vs. Outdoor Martial Arts Training

If you train in a modern dojo with mirrors, sprung floors, and air-conditioning, it can feel like martial arts have always been an indoor activity. They haven’t. For thousands of years, fighters trained under the sun, in the rain, on riverbanks, and in palace courtyards. The indoor dojo is a relatively recent invention—and a surprisingly specific one.

When Did Martial Arts First Move Indoors?

Virtually nowhere before the 6th century CE. Ancient wrestling in Egypt (2000 BCE), Greek pankration, Vedic Indian warfare arts, and early Chinese military drills all happened outdoors. There were no climate-controlled gyms in antiquity.

The game-changer came in China at the Shaolin Temple on Mount Song. Around 495–530 CE, the monastery already had large roofed halls built for meditation and scripture study. When the monks began serious physical training—traditionally credited to the Indian monk Bodhidharma (Da Mo) around 520 CE—those same halls became the world’s first dedicated indoor martial arts spaces. By the Tang and Song dynasties (618–1279 CE), Shaolin monks were running full weapon and empty-hand classes inside temple corridors, especially during the brutal Henan winters.

That makes Shaolin the birthplace of the indoor training hall as we know it—1,500 years ago. A millennium later, another forced shift happened in Okinawa. After the 1609 Japanese invasion and weapon ban, native fighting arts (“te”) went underground. Practitioners trained at night inside farmhouses and hidden courtyards. Those cramped indoor conditions shaped what would eventually become karate: low stances, linear movement, close-range strikes.

Martial Arts That Never Left the Outdoors

While most commercial schools today are indoors, many traditional and indigenous systems still consider the open sky essential:

• Kalaripayattu (Kerala, India) – Trained in earthen pits with only a palm roof at best.

• Pencak Silat (Indonesia & Malaysia) – Village styles often practice on grass at night, sometimes barefoot on sand or dirt.

• Capoeira Angola – The roda belongs in the street, park, or beach; many mestres say walls kill the spirit.

• Systema (Russia) – Deliberately trains in forests, snow, and rivers for real-world adaptability.

• Mongolian Bökh – Still practiced on open grassland during the Naadam festival.

• African stick-fighting traditions (Zulu ngangomhlaba, Xhosa, Ethiopian Surma donga) – Exclusively outdoors as rites of passage.

• 52 Blocks / Jailhouse Rock – Born in prison yards; many keepers still train on concrete.

For these arts, nature isn’t just a backdrop—it’s part of the curriculum.

What This Means for Modern Practitioners

There’s no “correct” place to train. Both environments offer unique benefits:

• Indoor: Consistent conditions, mirrors for form correction, safety mats, weather-proof scheduling.

• Outdoor: Uneven ground builds ankle stability and proprioception, weather toughens the mind, natural light regulates hormones, and there’s something primal about training under the same sky our ancestors did.

Many of today’s most respected instructors blend both. Systema and MMA gyms run “hell nights” in the rain. Traditional kung fu schools still do winter forms practice outside at 5 a.m. Even Brazilian jiu-jitsu has its famous beach training sessions in Rio.

Final Thought

The indoor dojo is an incredible innovation that let martial arts survive winters, secrecy, and urbanization. But never forget: for 98% of martial arts history, fighters learned their craft with dirt under their feet and stars overhead.

So next time the weather’s bad and you’re tempted to skip training, remember the Shaolin monks who turned a temple into a dojo—and the millions before them who simply walked outside and got to work. Where do you prefer to train? Drop a comment and let us know: indoors, outdoors, or both. Keep training—rain or shine.— PJJA