Last month, I published an article of my answers to commonly asked questions (Link here). Shortly after that, I realized that I left one out, “Can you break a board or a brick?”. The answer is yes, but most people don’t understand why we do this. Outside of the fact that it just looks really cool to see someone break through a stack of bricks, or do a wild jump spin kick break; there are actually other purposes to this training element in the martial arts.
First and foremost, this is one of the most quantifiable ways to prove if your technique is in fact effective. The board is, in a way, an unbiased judge. It’s simple, if your technique is bad, the board won’t break. Different breaks show different strengths and weaknesses. Power breaks; e.g. brick breaks, multiple board breaks, baseball bat breaks, are a great way to determine if you are able to generate the proper amount of power behind the skill. Speed breaks; e.g. spin heel, speed hand techniques, jump spin kick variations, determine if you can throw your technique fast enough to get the board to break. Both speed and power are key elements in martial arts and need to be honed like the edge of a knife. The smallest tweak in a skill can make all of the difference between that board busting in half, and your fist bouncing off and you having a bruise for a week.
Breaking also requires excellent targeting abilities. Targeting is again very key in the martial arts. You not only need to be accurate in that you can hit the target every time, but you also need to be precise in that targeting. Your punch doesn’t do much good when it just hits your opponent in the shoulder; you need to be able to punch them in a key target zone in order for it to do any amount of real damage.
Now because we are nice to our training partners, we don’t hit them, or at least not in a way that would injure them. If that was the case, not many people would continue coming to train. Breaking provides this simulation for us. It gives us a chance to see what it feels like to actually go 100% and not have to hold back. Again, this demonstrates for us in real time what it feels like and what to expect should we ever be in a situation where we would need to use our training for self defense reasons. It’s good to know beforehand how much more a punch hurts versus a palm heel or elbow strike.
The other, maybe not so obvious, purpose to breaking in the martial arts, is how it helps fortify and improve mental toughness. It takes a lot of mental will power to convince yourself to slam your hand, foot, or sometimes head, into a board. You look at it and think “that’s gonna hurt!” But you have to be mentally tough to do it. I have seen many people, myself included, experience doubt in their abilities when it came down to a certain break. They often have the skills needed to successfully do the break, but their brains get in the way. Like many things in life, we are our own worst enemy. We doubt ourselves and get in our heads; and convince ourselves that we “can’t” or we “won’t”. Having the ability to convince ourselves that we “can” and we “will” is a skill that transcends the martial arts; and being able to break through a brick is just another great way to build that skill.
