cheating at breaking?

zenschick

I'm currently testing to a brown belt. I've always had difficulty with my required breaks. It this level I'm required to break a 2 board side kick, 1 board jump kick, spinning hook, and a hand technique. My sensei and another black belt keep insisting that I always get "bad boards." They suggested I "microwave" my boards to dry them out and make them easier to break. Someone else told me microwaving the boards would make it harder. I kinda feel like that is cheating. Plus i really don't see how I always get bad boards. I think the problem is more me. What dose everyone else think?

jfinnivan

It all depends on the boards you are trying to break. From what I've read, if a board hasn't dried yet, it can be very hard to break, Using an oven will bring the moisture content down. If you microwave it for a really long time, the board will almost break itself. Most board breaking is done for show, and since it's so easy to make a board weaker with microwaving, you never really know what real effort is involved. In your case, I think you might need to learn what your ability is, and if the boards you're using are too hard to break, by all means cook them. You will improve with practice. Make sure your front two knuckles, back of your hand, and forearm form a straight line. Good luck with your test! What style is your karate?

I did see an impressive demonstration a few days ago. I took a class from a 10th degree master (80 years old!), and he was explaining about focus of power. He said that when breaking boards, it's usually a joint effort between the holder and the striker, both providing half of the force needed to break the board. He then put two boards together (He jokingly asked if these boards have been in the oven!) and had a student hold them up (hanging) using one hand. He proceeded to break the boards using his two front knuckles, with his fingers loosely dangling. He said if you have to make a tight fist, you're doing it wrong. We don't really break boards in my style, and he would never do it outside of the classroom setting, but it was a great demonstration of focus, speed, and power.

LordBear

well depending what what level ur actually at with ur style.. breaking boards is fairly easy. its mostly technique. and kicks with wood boards should be no problem. your weight alone should break the boards. i would advise for a test not to do anything fancy and do the easyist break you can. cus u get nervous or screw up etc. i would also recommend practicing more and working on your technique. u may be standing to far away?

side kick... power break
hook.. technique and speed
jump... technique
hand..depends on weapon u use..

i would choose if ur having issues.... side kick and straight punch... both power attacks... kick u could almost lean in to 2 boards and break them. and the punch will be a straight forward attack. if you cant break that... either one of those i would say your to far away or your not following thru..or unless ur not being taught well which i hope is not the case... you could try videoing it so we can what ur doing...but ur teachers should be able to fix that.

zenschick

My style is Yoshukai. Thanks for all the advice!

shinkalork

Don't listen to them (people at your school)...Bad board...come on, that's a lame excuse.
Power,precision and stability.... Oh Breathing too

In our style (Hoshinkido Hapkido) we break many boards...1 inch thick pine board.
Starting from orange belt .....We break from 1 to 3 boards thick together.

Most of you are all experiented with this anyway but my only trick is...I aim and focus to hit 2 to 3 feet behind the board.....
I get better result that way.


I've been doing martial arts for over 13 years.

Take care and good luck

CriosDubh

You can choose your wood more carefully, but you don't have to "cheat." Also, did anyone tell you that you need to break with the grain, not against it? Simply flipping a board over can improve your chances. Make sure that it oriented properly, and as shinkalork says, plan to go THROUGH the board.

When we break wood, we can always tell that some boards are too wet for some people. Kids get totally dry wood, adults get the sappier wood. Our school buys wood from the lumber company, 12x1 pine shelving. We may store the wood in a closet for a few months, but it is never purposely dried.

We use re-breakable boards for testing and tournament so that no one gets crappy or easy wood. They go from white to black, and the colors are assigned by age, size, and gender. For example, a 5 year old breaks white, while a 13 year old breaks green, and a 30-year-old male black belt breaks a black board. My classmate who is a former world-class gymnast, 4'10", a black belt, and in her late 50s breaks a green board, but that's only because she has bird bones, not because she's weak.

peuglow

Sounds like cheating to me. I never got the whole 'board breaking' thing with martial arts. Or the belt testing really. Maybe because I train to fight, not wear a belt/break boards.

My tests are when I fight.

(This is not meant to be a rude comment, please don't take it that way).

CriosDubh

Well, to each his own. Some schools are more about the artistic side, some are more about the martial.

Compare fencing (especial foil) to actual swordfighting. Very different, no? Doesn't make the fencer less of an athlete.

peuglow

Well, to each his own. Some schools are more about the artistic side, some are more about the martial.

Compare fencing (especial foil) to actual swordfighting. Very different, no? Doesn't make the fencer less of an athlete.

Not at all. Not what I was implying. Just saying I don't get the mindset of that side of the sport, that's all.

Also, I feel like ACTUAL swordfighting would have very little room for error lol

raygunn_viola

Well, to each his own. Some schools are more about the artistic side, some are more about the martial.

Compare fencing (especial foil) to actual swordfighting. Very different, no? Doesn't make the fencer less of an athlete.

Not at all. Not what I was implying. Just saying I don't get the mindset of that side of the sport, that's all.

Also, I feel like ACTUAL swordfighting would have very little room for error lol

I get that. I train tae kwon do and karate, and they both have very different ideas about board breaking.
In tkd, we learn that board breaking teaches follow through, and gives you an idea of hitting something other than a bag or a person. 3 boards put together are supposed to be the same density of a femur, so if you can break that you should be able to break any bone in the body.
In karate, my teacher says, "why do you want to break the board? What did the board do to you?"
Personally, I think that board breaking is a lot of fun, especially having to do multiple breaks without time in between each one. We practice that as a type of practice for self defense with multiple attackers.

CriosDubh

Well, to each his own. Some schools are more about the artistic side, some are more about the martial.

Compare fencing (especial foil) to actual swordfighting. Very different, no? Doesn't make the fencer less of an athlete.

Not at all. Not what I was implying. Just saying I don't get the mindset of that side of the sport, that's all.

Also, I feel like ACTUAL swordfighting would have very little room for error lol

I get what you're saying. It is a totally personal thing. I love sparring, but I wouldn't love it nearly as much if we were fighting without pads. I don't think the other PTA moms would be too understanding of me showing up at school all messed up. They'd probably report my husband.

You know, for some reason I meant to compare foil to SCA battles... those folks really like to beat the hell out of each other with their wrapped-up swords.