My favorite explanation of chi that I’ve ever heard was from a tai chi master I had the good fortune to learn a very little bit from. He said:
By “free” I Mean blocks not supported at all – just falling in the air. The boundary conditions aren’t the same as for a “simply supported” block (one supported on each end by gravity holding it onto something holding it at each end. This is different from the case where the block is rigidly held at one end only.
By “free” I Mean blocks not supported at all – just falling in the air. The boundary conditions aren’t the same as for a “simply supported” block (one supported on each end by gravity holding it onto something holding it at each end. This is different from the case where the block is rigidly held at one end only.
Sad to ay, my stuff isn’t on-line as far as I know. You’ll have to schlep over to the library if you want to look it up.
The AJP article, by the way, is:
S.R. Wilk, R.E. McNair, and M.S. Feld
The Physics of Karate
American Journal of Physics 51 (9) 783-790 (1983)
Quit thinking of just using your fist (or foot). Basic martial arts starts with stance. When you break, you are using the torque of your whole body, snapping your stance from the balls of your feet, through your legs, hips torso and arm to your fist. Think of the ripple effect backwards.
And yes, it can be a show off type thing and confidence builder. I am a 118 lb. woman and can break concrete and several (4) pieces of wood no problem. But get green or pressure treated wood…I have seen a six foot dowel of pressure treated wood literally make a “U” around a 200 lb. man and not break. Not breaking hurts, breaking doesn’t…
Anyone who would doctor boards or concrete is a poor martial artist and is doing a disservice to the martial arts world and their students. Teaching by cheating isn’t teaching.
just my 2 cents.
Breaking boards requires technique in several ways.
First is hand conditioning. I spent many an hour striking a ‘makiwara board’, which is essentially a 1x4 board about 4’ high with rope wrapped around the top. It’s designed to give about an inch when you hit it. Striking it properly takes technique, and it also builds up calluses on your knuckles. My sensei had hands that were essentially large slabs when he made a fist. His knuckles were just a mass of calluses. If he hit you, it was like being hit with a mallet.
So conditioning is a big part of it. Follow-through is another. And striking force is the third. Proper use of hip rotation and locking causes momentum of the body to suddenly be transferred through the arm to the fist. The result can be an incredibly powerful strike. This is how Bruce Lee’s “1-inch punch” worked, and is probably the source of the stories about Chi. In reality it’s just a transference of momentum into kinetic energy.
The third thing is the setup. Have you ever seen those guys break huge stacks of cinder blocks? If you have, one thing should immediately jump out at you - there’s a large gap between each block. Wooden spacers are used between the blocks. So here’s what happens - you strike the first block with enough strength to break it. The block itself moves down, and hits the next block. Now two blocks are forced down to strike the third, etc. All you need to do is hit the first block with enough energy to sustain the chain reaction, and voila.
For our black belt test, we had to have 2x2 boards broken over our forearms as a test of conditioning and rigidity, We would assume the Sanchin stance, and a 2x2 would be swung like a baseball bat. The ‘trick’ wasn’t really a trick - but you had to keep your arm extremely stiff so that all the energy of the strike would be absorbed by the board in flexing and breaking. And, your arms have to be conditioned to make the bones and skin tougher. We spent hundreds of hours smacking our forearms into things to toughen them up.
Even so, things can go wrong. One time we were doing a demonstration of breaking, and my Sensei attempted to show the breaking-the-2x2 trick. HIS Sensei who was visiting from Okinawa swung the board at great speed, but instead of hearing that crack, we just heard a dull thud. Undaunted, he set up again, and the 2x2 was swung at full speed - THUD. One more time, to no effect.
We were all surprised his arm didn’t break - the force was tremendous. It was badly bruised, but intact. Later, we took that 2x2 outside, leaned it up against the wall, and tried to break it with kicks. It would flex about 30 degrees and not break. Finally, when it broke, it split in half longitudinally instead of snapping. Inside, it was all gnarled and twisted, and it looked like the thing had been left outside for a long time.
Those pine boards, by the way, are very, very easy to break with the grain. And when I had a class of little kids, I’d let them break a 1/2" pine board. For the littlest ones, you could torque the board a bit in your hand so it was pretty much ready to snap. In fact, if you did it a little too much, you could just snap the board that way without anyone touching it.
The reason of the 'Board Breaking" is to give the MA a target upon which to strike.
An understanding of the resistance of the target, the power of the blow and the force necessary of the strike.
Very few of us get to practice on living target (targets outside of practice that is) and the board gives the MA a sense of the power and the intention required to strike, and break, an opponent.
Sam Stone said it well, it’s a set up… with alot of discipline behind it.
But still, its a far cry from boards to ribs and shins.
It gives the MA a ranging gauge to determine proper stance and power. Just what it takes to penertrate bone.
Confidence…yes. Attitude…yes.
But also an understanding of the point of impact and peneration that open-air katas will never have.