Break Boards with Your Bare Hands
You too can learn to do everybody's favorite martial-arts stunt. Breaking boards is a fun way to develop speed, power and control in your strike -- and not fundamentally all that difficult. They don't even hit back.
Contents
Steps
- Choose your board wisely. Most schools use soft white pine, 6" x 9" x 1"; cut these from 9" by 1" planks available at any lumberyard. Look for a board that is dry and well seasoned. Sappy, heavy wood is much harder to break. You can also buy specialist re-breakable boards at some Martial Arts shops. These are slightly different, and more expensive, but if you wish to practice a lot they are a good investment.
- Secure it. Advanced martial artists can strike a loose or flying board so fast that it breaks before it has time to move; but as a beginner, you want a stationary target. The best way is to recruit a human who is at least your strength and weight, and have him or her hold it where you can strike.
- The break to start with is a palm strike at a 45-degree angle downwards, with the target board held at that 45-degree angle from horizontal at a little above waist height. This angle and position makes it easiest to put your body-weight into the motion. Hit the board straight on with the heel of your hand.
- the board should be held with the grain parallel to your fingers. if you hit it sideways, injury is exponentially more likely than success
- Empty your mind. Relax. Don't think about success or failure. Take a calming breath. Focus yourself first. Unless you are extremely weak or sick (in which case you shouldn't be breaking boards at all), mental preparation is the most important aspect of the technique.
- Now focus on the target. Breaking effectively is less about the amount of force you apply than about putting all that force at the single point of your choice.
- Strike through the target. Don't aim at the board itself; if you do that, your hand will tend to stop there. Aim your strike six inches beyond the board.
- Concentrate on speed, not power. You're not trying to push the board away, you're trying to hit it as fast as possible.
- Yell. The kiai that martial artists often emit when striking is not just for show, nor to startle the opponent. The contraction of the diaphragm and torso muscles can be used to put more power in your strike.
- Give it your all. Commit your strike. Don't hesitate, don't think, just do it.
- Follow through. Don't try to stop your hand after the break; relax and let the motion end on its own. If you try to over-control, you will tense up and rob yourself of power. Mental knowledge is the key to a successful break.
- If you do prepare mentally, and commit your strike fully, you will succeed. Even prepubescent children have the physical capacity to break boards; for any adult in reasonable health, all the obstacles are mental.
Tips
- For the easiest target position, have your holder kneel on the ground holding the board up in front of him.
- If all else fails, do karate or tae kwon do or another martial art for a few years. you'll get taught by the time you're done.
- Once you've mastered one board, move on to two. The boards are harder to break when held together than apart, but the holder and striker are at a much bigger risk when boards are separated. Once again, don't strike against the grain.
- If you don't get through the board, all the kinetic energy you've generated will bounce back up your hand and arm. Therefore, the harder you hit, the chance of breaking the board increases and you reduce the chance of getting hurt.
- The next easiest break after the downward palm strike is probably the side knife hand. For this one, the board should be held vertical at upper-chest to neck height. Make first contact with the fleshy part of the outside edge of your hand, not your fingers.
Warnings
- Don't pull your strike. The most common failure mode in beginners is to be afraid contact with the board will hurt them and to start pulling their strike just before it makes contact. Interestingly enough, pulling your strike is the most effective way to ensure that you do get hurt.
Related Articles
- Do a Cat Breakfall
