7 Tips on How to Break Boards, Blocks or Anything for Martial Arts

[@AndoMierzwa]

Amazing video! Your hard work is appreciated, sir! 🙏🏻

[@MARTiALYOU]

Thank you, hopefully your journey in martial arts is going well!

[@efrenm4341]

I just attempted (and failed) breaking two stacked board during my Blue Belt test. Granted part of it was heat exhaustion (we tested outside in Texas), but it was the first time I was unable to complete the break. I loved the scientific breakdown on striking and will put this into practice on my next attempt. Thank you sir!

[@MARTiALYOU]

You are welcome!

[@Donation3million]

​@@MARTiALYOU so it's just a trick 🤔 you are not actually braking it 🤔?

[@MARTiALYOU]

@@Donation3million ha! Yes, this video's thumbnail is from one of my other videos about martial arts photography. Its actually difficult to capture a board break from that angle due to the speed of motion.

[@Donation3million]

@@MARTiALYOU ok I have a question if you get hang of it.. can you break bone as well with this kind of skill 🤔

[@MARTiALYOU]

@@Donation3million I asked that same question while learning to break. The answer I got was most likely you could break a clavicle (collar bone) if you got skilled at breaking the thicker boards. Other bones would be more difficult since the body is typically in motion or will be if you attempted to strike it. Collar bones are pretty easily busted as I can attest since one of mine broke when I flew of a motorcycle and landed on my left side. SNAP! That question is always in the air since one would think, based on all those old kung fu movies, that a single strike from a master could devastate the opponent.

[@kathyv5447]

3 spaced unbaked bricks with a palm strike/1 brick with a back side kick. Fun stuff! Thanks for science behind the break!

[@MARTiALYOU]

Yes! Thats awesome! Keep it up.

[@garthliston7641]

Two comment I'd like to offer everyone: 1. The "open palm strike" is really a modern invention, that was rarely seen or used or taught in original martial arts dating back possibly a thousand years, because ancient masters knew it was a weak strike to begin with, and also it involved a weak joint of the body that was more susceptible to injury. Breaking even weaker materials like pine boars with an open palm strike will surely result in early wrist arthritis. 2. An excellent, possibly the best breaking demonstration can be seen in the KZbin clip entitled "Temple Kungfu", featuring Grand Master Olaf Simon, breaking 1270 lbs. of ice, unspaced, with a single downward clenched hand blow. Some KZbin sources claim this was and still is a world record for breaking that much ice with a single handed blow. Master Simon is wearing a White Sash, indicating he has an 11th degree black belt. It's purported that Chuck Norris once said on the Johnny Carson show, he "Would never want to be kicked by Master Olaf Simon".

[@williamclark9743]

Thank you for breaking this down so someone like me can understand.

[@BrianMcGee]

Thank you for taking the time to create this great resource. It really helps explain some complex nuances in a very clear and simple format. I've been posting some of my recent attempts over on my channel and would love your feedback, as I am still developing my technique and am relatively new to this (2.5 years). Thanks!

[@elviagonzalez]

Excellent video! Thank you. I am getting prepared to break a board for the first time while attending the virtual event Unleash the Power Within by Tony Robbins.

[@MARTiALYOU]

Thats Awesome, let me know how your break goes!

[@shakilborhanprince2311]

Great vid! Thorough discussion, all the required information in one place, loved it!

[@TheMindofRobert]

Great information. I just started breaking. Already up to easily doing 4 boards. What about harder wood boards? Anyone break hard wood like oak?

[@dannyflores6396]

Your teaching is simply awesome!

[@joseguzmansilva9664]

Awesome video thank you very much!

[@soubanhphanthay3746]

Looks like I'll be doing some training to work up to breaking.

[@MARTiALYOU]

You can do it!

[@muhammadhamzaart5251]

Very very thank you sir.... The way you taught me, you stopped me to break my hand and arm.... 😂😂😂😂 Thanks alot for best scientific way of teaching....

[@kenthomson2420]

awesome video thanks

[@poppy321000]

Wow you made me break a solid brick

[@MARTiALYOU]

Success without injury?! That would be an awesome achievement!

[@max-gg9qk]

breaking is my least favourite part of tkd tbh

[@φανηςλευκαδιτης]

Hi i love your videos!! I do taekwondo but i am in a cast for broken metatarsal for a month!!! When i remove the cast can follow training?

[@mymartialartacademy2343]

Amazing sir you are doing awesome Oss!! Respect from Pakistan

[@NoraTKD]

Awesome video! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@Jasonpeters641]

Thank you so much worked a lot

[@jungleghostsurvival]

In my style in Karate Kenju Kenpo Karate and Kodokan Judo we stress in training with are Mid Chi or inner Chi and exert Breathing out are flow are Chi for more power rather in just muscle and bone strength. Focus with.are mind and spirit come together as a whole for full body strength. We are a Traditional Martial Art style!

[@muhammadhamzaart5251]

When i have hit the like button, it brok.... 😂And when i hit the subcribe button, button smashed... 😂 Love you teaching method sir... ❤❤❤

[@michaelbrickhill4257]

Excellent video! Keep up the great work.

[@fortitudinemethonorem4088]

Excellent information.

[@katiethompson5318]

Is it yellow pine?

[@angeliquedegroot1520]

Hi, I know I can do it, but still I block breaking the board because of doubt. And often stop at the board instead of going through. This leads to pain with feeds the doubt. Etc How do I break my doubt. How do I find back my self confidence and power. Please advise 🙏

[@MARTiALYOU]

Great question! One way I was able to overcome the fear of breaking a board or block with my body was to experiment with breaking them some other way just to see how easy they can be broken. That allowed my mind to understand the board or block wasn't unbreakable. For example, taking a board and setting it up as if I was going to break it with a hand technique like a knife strike or palm strike. Then simply pressing into the board slowly with my palm to feel how it bends. I could shift my weight onto it until hearing it crack. Small boards will break under this pressure but 12x12x1 pine boards will mostly bend. If the board didn't break I could stomp it with my foot and cause it to split in half. The idea is to feel, sense and know it will break just like you know you can dive into water without a problem but if you belly flop it hurts.

[@adaptiveboxingtrainingclub4083]

Good Training!

[@murphyandmiley]

I have a student who wants to break two boards at the same time. Do I use spacers for her ax kick???

[@gi7021]

I have a photo of my teacher breaking 10 boards 1 inch thick 12 by 14 with no spacers,it was a downward punch break.I have yet seen anyone else do this.Tang Soo

[@MARTiALYOU]

I rarely saw anyone in the Taekwondo circuit break more then 4-6 un-spaced. Splitting ten #2 Pine boards 12x14 in size stacked without spacers would be an impressive achievement.

[@ldgarius]

#doubt. Also, would be more useful to do the techniques sideways in a realistic manner, not downwards which is sort of cheating since you're using gravity and your weight in such an extreme way.

[@gi7021]

I will remember that statement if and when I should see anyone else attempting to do that type of break,for his size and weight it was pure focus and internal energy no spacers no baking no warped boards no tricks.Your comment does have merit

[@BOND007_MI5]

Hello Sir. WT Forms, your opinions on them as compared to the ITF Forms?

[@AK_UK_]

Which knuckles do you use for striking?

[@MARTiALYOU]

1st two knuckles aligned with your wrist and forearm as demonstrated in this video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWO7g3R_nq5siMU

[@AK_UK_]

@@MARTiALYOU brilliant thank you! I always find the first 2 knuckles are great when throwing a horizontal punch. Although when I throw a vertical punch, I find it really difficult hitting with the top 2 knuckles because the index knuckle is indented and doesn't stock out in parallel with the middle knuckle unless I twerk my wrist a little. Do you have the same issue?

[@MARTiALYOU]

@@AK_UK_ Yes, on downward punches, especially hitting boards you can slightly angle your wrist s that those two knuckles are even at impact. I tend to do it to prevent the middle knuckle from taking all the hit. Not a big deal on easy breaks but some thought has to go into larger boards and stacks to not put all the force onto that one knuckle. Good observation! That tells me your thinking about how to hit rather than just doing it. Keep it up.

[@Cyber_spear]

I just did my white belt grading for orange belt and I failed to break a yellow rebreakable board with a front kick. So embarrassing

[@jessegriffen946]

Do you personally bake your bricks? I've done both. Broke 6 baked with ease. Tried 8 non baked made it through 5.

[@MARTiALYOU]

I have indeed worked with baked blocks during the winter months in Maine. I found it much easier to go through them completely dried out. It seemed almost easier than going through boards other than the initial sting at impact. I prefer not baking them though as a kind of mental pat on my back but occasions do come up where dried out blocks are cool to smash. They produce a lot more dust which looks cool for photos and demos and it helps during the winter months if your storing them outside or just grabbed a bunch from Home Depot. Frozen concrete present some challenge. My max was 8 blocks whether baked or unbaked. I could not get through the 9th one! I think I would have had to space them farther apart. I tried twice one evening and ended up cracking my ulna bone on the second attempt: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZeVkH6HaMSErrc

[@jessegriffen946]

@@MARTiALYOU ok. Thanks

[@brycekeeney4995]

I like to use metal files. It looks cool but it is more of a parlor trick. The metal is quite brittle but people who don't know think its cool lol

[@RupanjanaPal]

SENSEI OSS 🙇‍♀

[@latiostheinkling8250]

I only want to break through a wooden panel thingy that my friends cant

[@Sannypowa]

I used to break wood planks at the age of 10 for fun.

[@josheternal]

What I dont understand is that, if black belts can break boards and cinder blocks with their hands, how is it that they can't break bones when they punch? Technically speaking, If you can punch trough a cinder block, then one punch from you should be able to break all my ribs. And every punch to my face should be able to go right through my bone structure. But I've never seen a martial artist do that

[@MARTiALYOU]

You would think so right! Breaking boards has been compared with breaking bones. Example: One 10-12 inch by 3/4 inch thick board might take the same force to break as cracking a single rib bone. Or stacking two 3/4 inch thick boards together supposedly takes the same force as breaking a small arm bone. That may be the case, IF someone allowed you to brace their forearm on a couple cinder bocks so you could easily direct all your energy in one spot with the most mechanical advantage against those poor bones. However, fortunately for us humans, we don't stay still, are always moving about, and have bone structures completely covered with lots of soft squishy layers that slow and dissipate impact energy. Also, in the case of your face, as shown with bare knuckle brawls and MMA competitions, when hit, the head gets moved back and human skulls are quite resistant to outside forces because of their shape and density. It would take roughly 1,100 pounds or 500kg of force to crack a person skull at the weakest point which is in the temple area. And, that's if the person decided to brace their head on something to prevent it from moving. In the end, I view the modern practice of breaking inanimate objects as a means to refine skills for more precise striking. You learn how to direct force and how to hit without damaging yourself. It's also kind of a fun stress reliever! Thanks for the question

[@ldgarius]

1) Your bones are not in the open and are surrounded, pretty obviously, with a load of fat, muscle and skin, which are very elastic and good at dissipating impact energy, thank you evolution. 2) your bones have shapes and structures exactly designed to minimize where possible rupture points. At best you could break a leg bone right in the middle. 3) Martial arts punches CAN break bones. Never seen a broken rib / jaw / nose in boxing and stuff?

[@clarkwayne7325]

He won me over when we said lay the SmackDown....on the broad candy ass.

[@jorowi]

My best break was a spaced stack of 6 10" boards.

[@MARTiALYOU]

What technique did you use John?

[@jorowi]

@@MARTiALYOU downward elbow

[@MARTiALYOU]

Nice!

[@claytonwhitacre1752]

So how do you toughen up your limbs to achieve this?

[@MARTiALYOU]

Gradual conditioning. Starting out with regular training where you are hitting soft targets for a while begins the process. Over time you can hit denser objects like hanging heavy bags, etc. After a while hitting pine board should not be much of an issue.

[@claytonwhitacre1752]

Cool. So getting my heavy bag hung back up this weekend is going to be top priority. I was already using it to toughen up the skin on my knuckles by hitting it for three minute rounds with a one minute cooldown in ice water. Great to know that keeping it going will help achieve two different goals at once. Thanks.

[@javierameh8848]

Aren't the objects softened?

[@MARTiALYOU]

Softened?

[@javierameh8848]

@@MARTiALYOU yes. Made less tougher. Its clearly obvious. There's no technique that makes a normal person break layers of bricks and woods. It has to be made softer. There's fake glass and so thre can be fake bricks and wood

[@MARTiALYOU]

Sure, I understand what your saying. I have zero doubt there are many who choose to use easily broken materials to make failure less likely during demonstration. I see it all the time. One example thats common as far as bricks go, are peeps who break those long Scallopped Edging stones. Or some who precut or grind down a break line on the bottom of stones before breaking them at demos. Baking bricks makes it easier to break them. People use thin fragile wood boards for demos to show techniques without the embarrasment of a failure to break one. Thats why I encourage all to challenge themselves and not attempt to show off to others. If you do that then you will be breaking tough materials using your knowledge of physics and precision skill from practice. That's super fun!!!

[@javierameh8848]

@@MARTiALYOU well said

[@isleofdeath]

The important part in F=ma is the acceleration. Not speed. And Acceleration has quadratic impact. Literally... :-)

[@angeliquedegroot1520]

Can you explain that, please?

[@edabreu7871]

A moving target is tough to break. Tell the attacker to please stand still, and not do anything until after the break.

[@OOTurok]

The only tip you need to know. Force = mass × acceleration.

[@Dinopink101]

I was getting my yellow belt but there's a problem my coach said thaat I will break a wood so I tried attempt to kick it attempts:8 Also it hurt so bad but I finally get YELLO BELT AYAYAY

[@jaydenwalker1717]

I smashed 4 pine boards in a power break (elbow strike)

[@MARTiALYOU]

Awesome!

[@mikiex]

Dudes going to be upset when he hears they invented the saw

[@petechua966]

You did not indicate specifically the point of contact on the board or concrete.

[@MARTiALYOU]

Ahhh, I tried to imply this at 9 minutes and 40 seconds. Most of the time to goal is to hit where you get the most mechanical advantage over the material. For boards and concrete it's typically the center with the longest edge perpendicular to you body. However, breaks can be done at any point depending on your goal.

[@petechua966]

@@MARTiALYOU Thank you

[@NazKuwat]

i saw a woman breaking bricks can she shatter a big man skull

[@FullmoonEffects89]

Tip number 1. Buy a board thats easy to break.

[@skully7159]

I just wanna say, breaks using spacers don't count

[@madinamafton4015]

,

[@scarletholmes7286]

love how nerdy this master is 😭😭😭🤍

[@Julia-og1or]

Amazing video! Thank you for sharing your knowledge