I have a belt test in about 2 weeks.

[FangPwnsAll7]

I have my belt test on September 7th. I am testing for an orange belt. I hope I make it. A few days ago, we had this kicking marathon thing and I broke a board, but it was by kicking. I have to break in the test with a hammer fist. I'm sort of nervous because I'm not sure if I'll break it or not. My instructor says I'm capable, so I might.

[JusticeZero]

Good luck!

Practice the hammer strike in super-slomo on a target, focusing on the body mechanics. Every time, 'see' the board where the target is, and keep moving through it. Practice that until the body dynamics are second nature. Focus on the parts where you sink or fall or move your spine, since those tend to be the important bits.

[blacknebula]

My style doesn't do the board break thing so I can't offer any technical advice, but my Sensei is always saying MAs are 10% skill and 90% attitude, so just believe that you can and you will!

[Wastelander]

I've never broken a board for testing, but we do break them for fun every now and then. I can tell you that you DEFINITELY can break your board with a hammerfist. Make sure that you try to hit all the way through the board, drop all of your body weight and squeeze your fist tight and you'll be just fine

[DWx]

Good luck.

Practice striking lightly on a solid surface like a table or something to make sure you're hitting with the correct part of the fist and not your pinky finger.

[DoctorQui]

You're enthusiastic and dedicated enough Fang, I'm sure you'll be fine.

On the breaking boards thing, I've never done it in the Dojo.

[tallgeese]

Good luck, and keep us posted!

[sensei8]

Relax, practice hard and a lot, and I believe in you...you'll do fine. Let us know how things go..OK?

Hang in there!!

[darksoul]

We don't do board breaking per-se in Shaolin Kempo, but I have done it to prove to people I could. Not very humble, I know... but I kinda wanted to see if I could do it

I've done 3 boards (2 inch separation between each) with a downward 2 knuckle punch, but I think I could have done 4.

Here's what you do... strike PAST the board, DO NOT strike the board. If you let your mind think you're hitting the board, you'll subconsciously stop the strike and run a chance of not breaking it. So just keep thinking you're hitting a target behind the board and you need to get through the board.

Hope that helps!

[jaypo]

I watched a "sports science" segment yesterday where they were testing the "ninja dim mak". They used a crash test dummy. The range of damage was between 0 and 1.0 with 1.0 being 100% fatal. The guy was relatively small (I'm 6'0, 190, he was about 5'6, 155".) He did a hammer strike to the breast bone. His hit recorded .8 which was .2 away from 100% fatal.

So a hammer strike is a powerful strike to begin with. That's the reason you see so many MMA guys using them to a downed opponent.