Board Breaking

[RW]

Does anyone do it? Are there any benefits to it?

I've noticed those boards are very easy to break... so I don't think the purpose is to develop strength.

[Dobie1979]

In my school we do not break boards. I see nothing wrong with it., though some people go crazy with it. YouTube is full of examples.

[Spodo Komodo]

It is pure showmanship, boards don't hit back (is often quoted but I have no idea who originated it). I encountered board breaking at a TKD school where they also kicked apples off swords but it was more a test of courage and something fancy to put on for the parents or demo days than anything. I haven't seen much board breaking at Karate, which is a shame as I have a wood-burning stove...

[Dobbersky]

I've broken boards in the past, I like to break Snooker/Pool Ques at the moment, only because I can't justify spending £X on a baseball bat just to break it. i tend to get my Ques free as they've lost their tips etc>

[DWx]

Boards do hit back. If you don't break it, all that force goes straight up your arm (or leg). Board breaking is the test for "one hit, one kill", because if you don't nail it with accuracy and speed and perfect technique first time, it wont break and you'll be the one who suffers. Anyone can break one 3/4 " board but start adding more (no spacers) and move on to other materials like bricks, and you'll struggle to do them unless you've got good technique.

In TKD, board breaking is a testing requirement from about green belt onwards (but white belt adults can choose to if they want).

[Wastelander]

Board breaking has always been optional in both of the dojos I have called home. It's a decent way to measure how hard you can hit something (takes about 115lbs of force to break one board and get's exponentially more difficult when you stack them without spacers) but it's mostly for novelty/fun or for demonstrations. I haven't broken boards in about a year, but I can assure you that if you don't drive through and align everything properly the boards will injure you, as DWx says.

[bassaiguy]

I have my students break boards on their first few belt tests. It builds some confidence and demonstrates that the strikes do work. Every once in a while I'll demo a new technique by breaking a few boards or a patio block. That said, I really don't see the point of the NASKA breaking events I sometimes catch late at night on ESPN2. It seems like you could train for a lot more useful things, but who am I to judge? I certainly can't break 10 concrete blocks with my head...

[sensei8]

Tameshiwara [Art of Breaking], imho, is essential training to Shindokan, in that, we believe in its training across the board. Try doing a speed break; it's not that easy, but becomes easier when one's trained to do it correctly and effectively.

Wood, stone, brick, ice, and/or tiles are the materials that we train on and our fist, foot, elbow, palm, shin, back-fist, hammer-fist, ridge-hand, bent-wrist, knee, fingers, and forearm are the weapons that we utilize in a wide array of combinations.

And Danielle's quite right when she said..."Boards do hit back!" Execute poorly and the body suffers. Every practitioner of tameshiwara has injured themselves one way or another. But, it is he/she that gets back onto the horse, so to speak, after a mishap, it's that practitioner whose mettle is improved across the board.

DON'T TRAIN IN TAMESHIWARA WITHOUT A QUALIFIED INSTRUCTOR!! That would be my only warning for anyone wanting to try tameshiwara.

Edited November 26, 2011 by sensei8

[sensei8]

It is pure showmanship, boards don't hit back (is often quoted but I have no idea who originated it). I encountered board breaking at a TKD school where they also kicked apples off swords but it was more a test of courage and something fancy to put on for the parents or demo days than anything. I haven't seen much board breaking at Karate, which is a shame as I have a wood-burning stove...

Board breaking CAN be pure showmanship, because non-martial artists are toppling mountains of ice and brick. What's not pure showmanship is those who practice tameshiwara not for show, but to only test their mettle because tameshiwara materials are more denser than the human body, and while I might not break bone, I'll surely put a hurt on the human body effortlessly.

[sensei8]

Board breaking has always been optional in both of the dojos I have called home. It's a decent way to measure how hard you can hit something (takes about 115lbs of force to break one board and get's exponentially more difficult when you stack them without spacers) but it's mostly for novelty/fun or for demonstrations. I haven't broken boards in about a year, but I can assure you that if you don't drive through and align everything properly the boards will injure you, as DWx says.

Absolutely!!

Also, Spacers ease the break, while no spacer breaks require near perfection across the board [pun intended]. My only way I'll break anything is without spacers. I've used spacers before, but only when I was learning tameshiwara.