Break it!

Release the brick, and strike (or punch, or chop) it simultaneously. Make sure you hit in the middle of the brick, and try to carry the strike through the brick (aim your strike at a point below the brick).

This will feel so easy that the main difficulty of the trick will in fact be to make it look as if it were more difficult than it really is!

Comments

[dagmar31]

I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous... yes the method shown in this video is a "trick" but being a martial artist for 8 years, I find it hard to stomach.

Board/brick/ice breaking is NOT just a trick... there are people who do it the right way. Here is my sensei a few years ago breaking 24 blocks of ice. And for those of you who say "they drilled holes in the ice", I was there while they were chainsawing them out of even bigger blocks of ice, and no drilling was done. Also, breaking solid ice is harder than breaking bricks.
http://www.tsk.com/pr/media/television/wb/02-18-04/index1.html

[egriff]

I have a friend who rips phonebooks in half, he's pretty strong for a guy who's 6'4" and 160lbs (I kid you not) but he uses a trick to do it.

[Rimwulf]

thats because he had a population of fifty.

[DJ Radio]

It's not hard, if you try it like the mythbusters did.

[dakkenly]

Wow only 160? But yeah I wow people with the phonebook thing... Lol

[bowmaster]

Dang, he's small. I'm 6' 2" and I weight 205 pds.

[egriff]

yeah, he's a freak

[milamber]

amen i do iakedo so breakin stuff aint our thing but i can still see how this would offend martial arts teachers and students alike

[damasta]

true I practiced taek won do and I learned to break boards and stones (no ice) and I didn't use any "tricks" but this is useful for people who don't know the right techniques or don't have the strenght I practiced 2 years, I can break bricks with the flat hand and boards with the side of my hand, the "karate shop" way but knowing how to do it with a trick is funny and cool when trying to impress your friends

[lobo_pal]

This is simply a fun trick to amaze friends with, I respect those that do it the hard way, but I am just a simple guy who wants to seem cool. My friends know that I'm not a strong man or a martial artist, but they are still somewhat awed by these tricks.

[nm156]

I have trained in several martial art techniques and a Muay thai fight trainer, and I have unfortunatly seen many people come to a school I teach with 1,2, or 3, degree black belts and cant last 1 round with a student who has trained for 3 months. They didnt earn a black belt they paid for one. This brick, board, ice breaking is silly and you have to blame the school that uses this as a confidence builder. Its a good money maker for the schools. The amount a student will pay for the classes , the bricks, the boards and entrance fees to be in a "breaking tournament" is too irrestable for these schools not to do this.

[lobo_pal]

Well, what's wrong with that. In life there will always be those who work, and those who buy. I say that if someone works hard and beats people that should be better than them, then it just shows everyone that money doesn't make you better than if you work hard.

[mwwdesign]

Lets all meet for a fight and see who wins... the tricksters or the martial artists, LOL!

[mwwdesign]

Agreed. I'm also a martial artist and there is real technique in the proper breaking that martial artists do. No tricks, technique.

[popomaster]

I think what sam noyoun (the guy who showed the "trick") was trying to say was, "the technique to break bricks". not trick.

[Biopyro]

yes, but this means people who don't have blackbelt kung fu skills can win a fiver in the pub

[Vendigroth]

There's nothing wrong with using sleight of hand or a little trick to win a pint or a fiver in a pub

[codongolev]

where are you going to find bricks in a pub? and more importantly, where are you going to break them? on a tabletop?

[bob.smitty]

the bartender will supply a few bricks on demand, as any fool knows. you could use a table top, but real men use the floor or the bar proper for this.

[codongolev]

I'm not sure that I've ever been in a pub, seeing as I just so happen to be 14. and also, even if he did have bricks, I don't think he'd give them to you for fear that you're going to start a bar fight.

[smurfsahoy]

Although I applaud your sensei for being able to break through one block of solid ice, breaking through any more than one block, when they are set up like that, is not really much more difficult. You need to hit it a little bit harder, to accelerate the broken pieces downward after the first break, but after that, it is simply the downward momentum of broken ice that cascades through the rest of the pieces. There could be 5,000 blocks there, and he would have broken them all with the same hit. Seems like just as much of a trick as any of the things I have seen from Mr. Noyoun.

[_soapy_]

Not true. There are a lot of failures when trying to break ten slabs of ice, where only 5 or so break. It's easier than it should be, yes, but it isn't what normal people would call easy. When breaking multiple slabs, you really, really have to follow through.

[ellomate56]

Yeah! what the guy below me said...

[sam noyoun]

Hey, I'm a martial artist too, but these kind of tricks are commonly used in kung fu demonstrations (often calling upon 'chi').
The aim here is not to ridicule martial arts, but simply to show some techniques, based on simple physics and mechanics, which the average joe finds surprising, yet can easily achieve himself.
I'll refer you to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvRJEWHzGTo&mode=related&search= , for common 'kung fu demonstration' tricks...

This is in no way undermining the achievements of your sensei (or your own)... Board and brick breaking requires some serious conditioning... but add a few simple physical advantages you can gain, and the very hard suddenly seems extraordinary, or superhuman.

[codongolev]

hence the website name " bad kung fu".

[Klect960]

I do taekwondo and break boards but I do not find this offensive I mean it's good for people who can't actually do it and don't know the techniques props on the ible man

[KnexFreek]

 it fricken works!!!
i tried it outside my house with a few friends and i was only one who could do it until i told them

[Smurphette]

My grandmother could twist an apple in half. I wonder if this is similar.

[bob.smitty]

mine once ate one. by herself.

[zascecs]

So did I

[jmicko]

dude, you just made my day. now i can go to sleep.

[noahh]

amazing. I'm speechless.

[zimmemic25]

yeah really... cool... didnt ever see someone eating an apple...

[bob.smitty]

You need to get out more.

[8bit]

wow! Did she ever teach you how?

[bob.smitty]

Yes. But it's a family secret, so I can't show you.

[flaresam]

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/910033/super_human_strength_halve_an_apple_with_your_bare_hands/

[zimmemic25]

what about google?

[mefromliny]

One more quick comment on board breaking in martial arts class, it's fun! I'm an ex-Army Airborne Ranger Infantryman, and I take Tae Kwon Do for it's exercise aspects (I'm not 20 years old any more) and for the fun of it. And breaking boards is still fun! Ken

[splatterpaintballer]

I took Hop-qui-do classes for a little over a year, and while I can break boards, bricks, or ice, I find that the other skills I learned are much more important. I would still be in the class, but my sensei desided to only speak Korean, and after about three weeks of having no idea what he was saying, I quit.