thoughts on Breaking objects?

[tommarker]

Why not do both? It's not like I'm going to home depot 3 times a week for new lumber

[krunchyfrogg]

Breaking (or just hitting) hard objects makes your bones harder.

 

There definitely is skill involved, as you must hit the object straight on, or you can seriously hurt yourself.

 

Breaking isn't the end all, be all, but I think it's kind of cool. Remember, not everybody practices their respective styles to know how to fight, or to participate in a sport. We're all practicing a Martial Art.

[Ripper]

Breaking (or just hitting) hard objects makes your bones harder.

Bones cannot get harder. Maybe you can get your skin a little bit tougher, but it is impossible to get your bones harder (well, maybe one bone.... ).

[stencil]

To kill them. That's what karate was created for - to kill people quickly with the empty hand. You may not want to kill someone in a fight these days, but if you want to train in traditional karate, being able to kill someone quickly with your bare hands is a vital skill.

 

That's simply not true.

 

From Seikichi Toguchi:

 

"Karate was born when peace, the heart of the Okinawan people, was incorporated with the spirit of Zen as embodied in Chinese Shorin Temple boxing. Its aim, therefore, is completely different from any other martial art. Whereas the chief aim of all other martial arts is killing and wounding as many opponents as possible, karate's primary concern is simply self-defense. Of course, defense and offense cannot exist without each other. Consequently, training in superior defensive techniques necessitates training in superior offensive techniques."

 

Either way, if you want to talk tradition and the reasons karate was created, it definitely wasn't created to break treated wood from the Home Depot. Use a makiwara if you want to hit wood.

[Tal]

defense and offense cannot exist without each other. Consequently, training in superior defensive techniques necessitates training in superior offensive techniques."

 

Superior offensive techniques...such as killing people with the empty hand, quickly.

 

If a samurai attacks you, you either have to kill him or he kills you. Since the Okinawan farmers weren't allowed real weapons, most of the time they had to rely on their hands to kill attackers. Yes, they killed people in self-defense, but killing people is killing people.

[krunchyfrogg]

Breaking (or just hitting) hard objects makes your bones harder.

Bones cannot get harder. Maybe you can get your skin a little bit tougher, but it is impossible to get your bones harder (well, maybe one bone.... ).

 

Bones can indeed get harder, it's a fact. When a bone breaks and heals, the healed part can be made stronger. When a bone has more stress put on it, it will become harder. It's for this reason that women (especially) are encouraged by doctors to exercise more when they are young.

 

Exercise will strengthen bones, which will offset osteoporosis, an ailment that commonly affects older women.

[aznkarateboi]

Instead of breaking boards/things, I prefer other more difficult things to do for development.

 

Try this:

 

1. Get a piece of thread/string and tie it to a cloths pin.

 

2. Hang this from the ceiling or doorway with a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper clipped in the cloths pin.

 

3. Using good speed and kime, reverse punch style, poke a hole through the paper with your index finger - going straigt in that is.

 

Sound easy? To a good Karate-ka (or equivelent MA) using good speed and Kime - no problem. The rest of you, probably never... You can do this, you can most certainly break any board or bone with no problem...

 

- Killer Miller -

 

Not only is that skill completely useless compared to other training devices(bags etc.), but I find it odd that you imply that only a good karate-ka will be able to do it. I'm sure that anyone can do it given a month or so to practice it.

 

P.S. - Did traditional karateka of old break boards? Just wondering...

[Midnight_kitty]

I'm seeing a lot of shotokan karate students on here saying they break boards as part of your training. My shotokan dojo doesn't break boards. Do most shotokan dojo break boards?

[equaninimus]

I never broke outside of demos.

[Tal]

I'm seeing a lot of shotokan karate students on here saying they break boards as part of your training. My shotokan dojo doesn't break boards. Do most shotokan dojo break boards?

 

At the first shotokan dojo I went to, we only did breaking about once a year. The second one I went to, we'd do it once a month.