KickChick Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 OK let's be "real" .... punch a face! Everyone is looking for "reality" lately! I think enough threads on board breaking are active .... and their are many views on the pros and cons as with kata. It's been said that board breaking is like a jealous woman .... it can become all consuming .... "Don't knock it until you try it.... that is if you can!!!"
ramymensa Posted February 18, 2003 Posted February 18, 2003 In a good Martial Art, well organised and put together, nothing is useless. Shiwari techniques (guess this is how they are called in some MA) are important because they offer somehing, even if it's just the pleasure of seeing something break from your punch and kick When a martial artist has got to break a board he/she has some things to respect: you don't tap a board ... in order for it to brek one must aim some inches after it (it's a prinicple taught in karate and not just here), one must focus and deliver a proper technique ... so it helpes. Makiwara work, punch bags and so on ... everything has got a place in the training of a martial artist and boards are meant to help in some matters. And let's face it ... it feels so good to see them break World Shotokan Karate
capn_midnight Posted February 24, 2003 Posted February 24, 2003 I've broken before, and must say that while it was sastisfying, I don't see it as being very useful. For anyone other than a master, it is pretty much useless, you aren't going to use this technique on any real person, you won't ever have the chance. Like someone is just going to stand w/ their arm hanging out, waiting for you to break it? Sure, I've seen the guys on TV that take no warm up time, just go as fast as they can through their set, but these guys are the grand masters of their field, we could never hope to be like them. Give me sparring any day, and not this Olympic Point sparring either. Arguing with an engineer is like mud wrestling a pig. After a few hours, you realize they both like it.
Stold Posted February 25, 2003 Posted February 25, 2003 Wow Kick Chick. I admit, breaking is damn cool. But you think they learned to break those boards by breaking other boards? No way. Board breaking is good for looking cool and boosting ego. But like I've said before, I'd rather have my student's ego's boosted from kicking the shit out of their sparring partner.
Maestro Posted February 25, 2003 Posted February 25, 2003 Sure it's generally more productive to fight with a sparring partner, but let's face it: If you do some techniques full strength at a sparring partner, you might put them in the hospital or kill them. (Man, would that be bad for morale! ) While I would agree with you guys that breaking really isn't going to directly help you on the streets, it does help perfect techniques--no way anyone's gonna convince me otherwise on that--and martial arts are not only about what will work in a real fight, they're about technique too. (very cool video Kickchick! ) Might as well take my advice--I don't use it anymore.
Stold Posted February 25, 2003 Posted February 25, 2003 Perfecting a technique? I'd have to disagree. Unless you break a couple hundred boards a week. I'd say it's more of a demonstration of how effective your technique has become(if you consider bashing your limbs against hard objects an effective to way display your level of technique.)
Maestro Posted February 25, 2003 Posted February 25, 2003 I'm not saying it's the only way to perfect a technique, 'cause yes, it would be very impractical to do a ridiculous amount of breaking, but IMO, it does help in fine tuning once your technique is fairly good. It is indeed a way to demonstrate how effective your technique has become, but the very fact that it is a very hard object will help you to perfect it further. Let's say you broke a board with what you believed to be excellent technique, but you somehow injured yourself in the process--as you may very well do without near-perfect technique. The nature of the injury should tell you something about your technique that you may not otherwise have noticed on a softer target. I.E, you do a break with a instep-roundhouse kick. Especially with this particular kick, you may very well bruise your foot if you don't have it alligned properly, but you would probably not notice the problem against a punching bag. I remember back at my whitebelt test I had to do a break with a knifehand. I thought my knifehand technique was fine from other target work I did, but I found during the breaking that I was really alligning my target about an inch further from my fingers than I really should, as a result, I bruised my wrist. But now I know, and have not had that problem since. Might as well take my advice--I don't use it anymore.
Stold Posted February 25, 2003 Posted February 25, 2003 Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't you have been spared the trouble of a bruised wrist if an instructor had just pointed out the problem? I see what you're saying, but still, I don't see the why you have to learn by bashing your limbs against hard objects to see if it hurts or not.
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