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personally i have never broke a board however i would like to sometime. however it is all just something to show off with and does not really help your training that much, as Bruce Lee said "boards do not hit back"
Styles: Western Boxing, Tai Chi, Animal Form Kung Fu, and Wing Chun
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With beginning students it is a good tool to teach concentration and striking through your target. It is also pretty good at helping build confidence within a student. After a certain level, breaking really doesn't have much to offer...accept maybe as some cool thing to do at a demonstration to get students. I can and have broken many boards and concrete blocks. That doesen't mean I know how to fight. It means I have a skill at breaking. I don't study martial arts to be able to break, I study to better my fighting skills and myself. As Bruce Lee said (yeah, I'm actually pulling out a Bruce quote), "Boards don't fight back!"
I've never been attacked by a house, tree, OR the sidewalk.....yet! When that happens, I'll let you know if all these years of not breaking boards or concrete blocks should have been spent doing just that. Otherwise, I think that breaking has NOTHING to do with TODAYS martial arts others than marketing.
Many years ago, I MIGHT have seen it's significance.....MAYBE......No, nevermind. I still fail to see it.
It isn't a training method, it is a test method. Being able to break a board with a specific technique is significant as it means that you are able to generate a good amount of force and focus it where you want to.
I've never been attacked by a bag or a pad, Gambatte, does that mean I should stop using those too?
To the Bruce Lee fans: have you ever messed up a kick/punch and not broken a board? Being solid and physics working, boards do hit you back if you don't break them.
It is true boards don't offer a live realistic oponent. However I feel breaking is useful to test the force one can generate on a specific point. To sucessfully complete a break u must also strike in the center of the board or piece of concrete. If you were to test your best punch or kick on a classmate u would damage them substantialy. Breaking allows you to test techniques without hurting someone. Except possible yourself if you fail.
Styles: Ninjutsu, Tae Kwon Do, Modern Army Combatives
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i agree. its obvious that one is not trying to fight a board. breaking demonstrates how much power your able to generate on a target and use your accuracy etc. to break the target.
i also see it as an expression of this thing we do called martial arts. artful expression of skill and power
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Hatsumi Sensei:
"Never stop moving. If you stop moving,you give your opponents openings and you may be killed. If you stop moving, what you are doing merely becomes a technique, not Taijutsu"
Shaka Zulu:
"A man chosen to wield life and death on the battlefield must be an artist, if he isn't, he is simply a murderer."
Chapel and TKD&JKD said it all. Board breaking does have value as a training tool as it allows you to test your proficiency with techniques. If you can't break a few inches of pine with a round kick, then how do you expect to damage an attacker with that same kick when the chips are down?
__________________ "An eye for an eye only blinds the world." - Ghandi
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein
"Without deviation from the norm progress is not possible." - Frank Zappa
I also agree with Chapel and TKD&JKD. As for never being attacked by a house or tree, I have NEVER been attacked (nor do I plan to). Guess my martial arts training should cease immediately as it would appear I am wasting my time.
Just like any other training technique, breaking has it's place in martial arts. Plus it's fun to break stuff!
It isn't a training method, it is a test method. Being able to break a board with a specific technique is significant as it means that you are able to generate a good amount of force and focus it where you want to.
I've never been attacked by a bag or a pad, Gambatte, does that mean I should stop using those too?
To the Bruce Lee fans: have you ever messed up a kick/punch and not broken a board? Being solid and physics working, boards do hit you back if you don't break them.
A focus pad helps to develop the speed and timing neccissary to actually strike a target, without injuring yourself or your partner. A heavy bag provides resistance and a somewhat lifelike feel for what it is like to actually punch a body.
However, I can see your point when you say board breaking helps to develop the force needed for a punch. I can't tell you how many times I have seen students punching on the bag, and giving it love taps. I tell them HARDER! and they tap it again. LOL But, while I have broken boards in the past, I still won't teach it or have it done in my school.
I also agree with Chapel and TKD&JKD. As for never being attacked by a house or tree, I have NEVER been attacked (nor do I plan to). Guess my martial arts training should cease immediately as it would appear I am wasting my time.
Just like any other training technique, breaking has it's place in martial arts. Plus it's fun to break stuff!
But the possibility of being attacked by a person is there. The possibility of being attacked by a house or a sidewalk is not. (unless, of course, you live in Kansas where tornadoes are popular. ) LOL
LOL But, while I have broken boards in the past, I still won't teach it or have it done in my school.
Oh, it certainly isn't necessary for improvement. Rather it is just a method of testing that the student has done enough pad work to build up a required amount of those things.
Using boards for training purposes, I think, would get way too expensive for most schools (unless specifically training for competitions).
Anyway, since you have your own school I can understand some reasons why you would not want to teach that. But I can say that I have seen many younger students that perform kata in very sharp and concise manner but cannot break a board. They strike something and stop. We use the plastic rebreakable boards for practice and have a board break clinic where you may break real boards, if you wish. I've been holding for so many kids that stop once they make contact that it isn't funny - that's because in all other aspects of our training they have to stop to a degree since they are striking a bag or pad. Breaking the board allows the student to hit through the target and gives a sense of really striking something and I don't think you can get that same experience with any other training methods.
I like board breaking. Again, it is fun to break stuff!
I believe that board/brick breaking, or rather the ability to break a board/break, is not a skill unto itself but rather is the product of much training to develop power in your blows and the skill to focus it on to a small area.
Being able to break a board doesn't necessarily mean that you are any better of a fighter than the next guy, it just shows that you know how to focus your power. However, I find that a focused blow is much more dangerous than an unfocused one.
Breaking
) LOL
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