Just thought I'd start a no doubt explosive thread. What have you: 1) Broken for testing/grading 2) Broken for "fun"?? and finally 3) The most impressive break/ aerial techinque - You've seen - Heard about - Heard rumours about For my one of my favourits is the two brick air break performed by Master John Williamson VII recently Similar to this one by Master Paul Cutler VII
Hi I realise this is the TKD forum and I have NO experience of TKD so my views are not at all relevant - but here they are anyway What have I broken for grading/testing? Nothing apart from fingers, toes, my nose etc Seriously though - I feel breaking inanimate objects is worthless (no doubt someone will quote Bruce Lee so i won't) Breaking is as far removed from actual fighting ability as musical forms competition is (There's another explosive thread in the making Hehehee).
hi tosh spice welcome here... as such i hav broken nothing for gradings but broken teeths jaws ribs not for fun, once we(i was about 12 yr old) were playing n exchanged couple of punches i got bleeding nose n he got teeth broken(that was before MA) most impressive was one russian BB girl who broke board in 360 kick in World championship good enuff for me to hook up with MA yea i had crush on her rumored...um was from Master Hee li cho(two fingered cho, guess got the name rite) he broke a wine bottle(after getting drunk) n bust his fingers too -TkdWarrior-
As far as I'm concerned breaking is a test of accuracy rather than than showing "fighting ability" for striking techinques at least how do you ever know what's going to be effective if you cannot hit the mark with power?? At least that's the way I was taught to respect breaking... I know others will differ
By putting protective gear on and sparring - that's how. Hitting the mark with power when "the mark" is not trying to do the same to you is not a good indicator.
Just for fun I thought I'd reply. Again nothing to do with TKD I'm afraid. I was told about a video (how third party is that!) introducing Qi Gong by the Shoalin Monks. Apparently at the beginning one guy breaks a bottle without touching it (mind you David Blaine can do that!). Also read a book about internal arts, apparently one master in Ba Gua could break concrete blocks just by walking on them.
I suppose its like the way of the samurai when a man commits seppuka (suicide by stabbing their own stomach) a Kaishaku must chop their head off after the knife goes in. Its a great dishonor not to lop the head off first time. Just like breaking boards?????? I dont know where that came from it must be friday
I've got answers to both of those stunts Simon. And both involve bovine extretia There's $1,000,000 waiting over at the James Randi Educational Foundation for anyone that can break that bottle without touching it
Damn yoda you beat me to it!!! As Yoda said sparring is the best route. You normally aren't required to hit something/someone when things are hunky dorey. If you ever do have to hit you'll be most likely hitting a moving target, probably a moving target trying to hit you. Personally I really enjoy breaking...but i'm not under any illusions that it helps my training My favourite breaking moment was when at the Bercy Martial arts festival shown on Eurosport a few years ago, Bas Rutten came on after the TKD people had been doing a breaking demo.....took a board and calmly broke it over his head. It was priceless!!!! To say he ruffled a few feathers is putting it mildly
LOL! I saw that Did you see the one where he broke the "board" that was between two piles of bricks? Hillarious
$1,000,000! Right, I'm going to give up work today and dedicate myself to full time practice... Woo hoo, I'm gonna be rich!
Didn't see the one you're talking about. In the demo i saw he just put it over his head and snapped it. Are those Bercy martial arts demos still going? If so are they still shown on Eurosport?
That's why I said it was a test of power /w accuracy - not fighting ability. I completely agree sparring is the way to go for fighting ability. and is my favourite aspect of TKD However, from a TKD perspective in a fighting situation (bearing in mind I've done very little in other arts) I HAVE to rely on my first strike (or second if countering) being the hardest most effective one I can serve up. I know all too well the consequences of in-fighting and grappling when i have little or no regular training in any of these arts. Another point I should of mentioned was the old "woodsman and tools" analogy. By regularly practising destruction I ensure that the tools I use for the job punch, knifehand & backfist are readily prepared for the job in hand. God knows I'd hate to try and hit someone only for my to break my hand. I have to comment on the old "crappy" breaking front. The worst one I saw was an instructror who "doctored" a board. He performed a jumping side kick only for the board to fly through the air and break to two clean parts on the ground. This was in front of aboput 300 people who *still* all went berserk.
As an addition I'd like to point out in the school sI have been to we all used plastic re-breakable boards not "wafer thin, dried up boards to be broken with shrieks of fury" IMO WOOD is for aerial techs and fancy show off stuff as it shows no convincing mark of accuray when it breaks anywhere along the grain. With a brand new breaker board it only breaks easily if you break it along the center. Thus promoting accuracy. Just my pound twenty
i heard of a local Karate guy who was putting on a display of breaking in public, only to have someone replace one of his boards. It turned out to be the 3rd of 5 and the guy couldn't break it and eventually broke his hand! Doen the hospittal he was reputed to have said 'I don't understand, I baked that thing for at least 3hrs last night'. LOL
I was once picked out of crowd to hold a board for a guy that was going to break it with a side kick. The board was supprisingly thin! When he bounced off it & failed he shouted at ME and told the whole place that it was because I hadn't held it tight enough. Grrrr...... So - he told me to hold it as tight as I could - so I did - and snapped it Crowd = not impressed Hehehe....
LOL, I've also seen the instructors use "the force" I.e. Board falls out of holder and breaks on the ground - fnar
There must be some out there who can genuinely break strong materials. What about the meditative side of chillin out then suddenly breaking something like a brick(s). Is meditation an important part of serious breaking?
