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Step 10Try Not to Hurt Yourself
As I wrote into the warning in the intro step, if you break boards with zero experience, it's likely that you'll eventually hurt yourself. I sure did.
To minimize injuries, practice just breaking one board at a time before moving on to two, and make sure that you're breaking boards that are large enough to protect your fingers. The smaller the board, the more likely it will be that your fingers will accidentally get whacked when your partner delivers their blow.
Furthermore, if you're going to start breaking multiple boards, or delivering other types of blows, consult more than just this overly simplified Instructable. I wrote this up because I wanted to share how invigorating and exciting breaking boards can be. It's by no means meant to be a complete guide that will enable you to become a karate master. For that, I think you've actually got to take the class.
To minimize injuries, practice just breaking one board at a time before moving on to two, and make sure that you're breaking boards that are large enough to protect your fingers. The smaller the board, the more likely it will be that your fingers will accidentally get whacked when your partner delivers their blow.
Furthermore, if you're going to start breaking multiple boards, or delivering other types of blows, consult more than just this overly simplified Instructable. I wrote this up because I wanted to share how invigorating and exciting breaking boards can be. It's by no means meant to be a complete guide that will enable you to become a karate master. For that, I think you've actually got to take the class.
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If you are hitting with a palm strike, the grain should be vertical. For a chop, the grain goes the same direction as the hand.
Yes, one board is easy, but you can still get hurt. I wouldn't do more than one without proper instruction.
Goes to show, no experience needed to break
Not all martial arts/artists perform breaking (misrepresentation) to demonstrate their skills
In both pictures I weigh just over 120 pounds. Breaking three boards with a palm heel, elbow strike, or hammer fist isn't hard for someone who has trained for a while.. I train with other people that are a lot better than I am -- one guy did a 6 board break a couple years past.
It's cool if you want to inform people on something. A lot of people do use spacers. It makes breaking two boards almost as easy as one. But please don't claim that an "expert" can't. I could do three 11"x12" boards when I was 15.
as a second degree black belt in tang soo do (sister style to tae kwon do), i agree with you. it's a fairly simple thing breaking a board. placement, force, inertia, etc, all play into it. I've done plenty of routine breaks, and at most, i think i did six 1" boards without spacers. and i'm not completely sure but i think most of the people here have the spacers concept backwards. adding spacers should increase diffficulty in the break as the energy is being disperesed through the first board, and is severely limited into the following boards. In any case, this whole mess is a stereotypical "contest" if you may. (oh and by the way, i'm 13.)
I think the most I ever went through was four back to back, that did hurt.
Now, when you get to brick and concrete, spacers become much more common.
Frankly, I find it amazing that this has gotten as much praise as it has. It is very, very easy to hurt yourself doing this. There are many things that go into a proper break, board selection, grain direction, hand formation, hand placement, and proper form and movement. Yes, it can seem rather simple, but doing it right carries a lot less risk.
While pine is normally very easy to break, if you pick the wrong board, you can easily break your hand. Sap/moisture content is very important, especially for the inexperienced and for multi-board breaks. A board that is too wet or has too much sap will fight you all the way. I've had boards with so much sap/moisture that my instructors had a hard going through them. The trick to a board like that is to throw it in the microwave for a little while. Notice, I said a little while. If you leave it in too long, you drop the moisture content to a point so low that the person can snap it in half while holding that, which will kill the 'cool' factor pretty fast.
I have not seen anyone do any other type of wood, but please inform yourself before you try this at home.
when we do gradings we use plasic re-breakables that slide back together because they are much more consistant than wooden boards, come in four thicknesses and the thick ones are often harder to break than wood. wooden baords we use for demos because it looks more impressive.
I had allowed my husband to read that^^
He is into carpentry/cabinet making for over 30 years.
He said there is no possible way that the thicker re-breakable is harder to break, or harder than wood.
He said it frankly:
If they use a thicker re-breakable, simply try the same thickness in wood. The wood would be harder than the re-breakable.
Also, he had said that the wooden boards have to be the right size.
Too short, it wont flex a little and thus is harder to break.
He said it is all in the selection of wood and sizes
Looks like you all got a good laugh out of it, this would probably make a good (dry) party game.
Hey, are you saying I'm not intrinsically badass? We may need to armwrestle...
Breaking is a blast. I find it is psychological more than anything, but using proper technique, focusing, using the twisting motion starting at the hips helps as well!