# What's the hardest object broken by a person barehanded? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-object-broken-by-a-person-barehanded/179595 "2003-06-04T14:09:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-object-broken-by-a-person-barehanded/179595/1 "2003-06-04T14:09:37Z")
I’m sure we’ve all seen martial arts demonstrations where a person breaks boards and bricked with their hands and feet. My question is, what’s the hardest thing that a person with this type of training has broken without injury? Is there a record? ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-object-broken-by-a-person-barehanded/179595/2 "2003-06-04T14:14:19Z")
You probably mean strongest, not hardest. Glass is very hard. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-object-broken-by-a-person-barehanded/179595/3 "2003-06-04T14:24:36Z")
Ask and ye shall receive. [Cite](http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/karate.html) . ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-object-broken-by-a-person-barehanded/179595/4 "2003-06-04T14:34:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phlosphr \* > \*\*Ask and ye shall receive. [Cite](http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/karate.html) . \*\* > [@](#): > > _from Phlosphr’s cite:_ > **Muhamed Kahrimanovic (Germany) broke 67 coco-nuts by hand in one minute on 7 September 2002 in Munich** :eek: That guy gets my vote if those coconuts were fresh. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-object-broken-by-a-person-barehanded/179595/5 "2003-06-04T14:39:02Z")
Does Bending count? ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-object-broken-by-a-person-barehanded/179595/6 "2003-06-04T15:41:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Hell \* > \*\*I’m sure we’ve all seen martial arts demonstrations where a person breaks boards and bricked with their hands and feet. My question is, what’s the hardest thing that a person with this type of training has broken without injury? Is there a record? \*\* I don’t have a cite handy, but I once read in a book that the boards are often heated up beforehand, which makes the wood more brittle and therefore easier to break. The bricks are specially made with extra sand in them, which likewise makes them easier to break. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-object-broken-by-a-person-barehanded/179595/7 "2003-06-04T23:26:49Z")
As one of those lunatics who breaks boards/bricks/tiles, I can tell you they aren’t treated. Or at least they don’t need to be. I can and have broken bricks and boards picked up from building sites. The thing is that brick and pine boards are fairly brittle to begin with. It really doesn’t take much training to teach the average man to break these things. You can get some idea of how easy it is by getting a brick and rapping it sharply on the corner of a solid object, like a slab of concrete. Or place the brick bewteen a couple of other bricks and jump on it. It will usually break. There’s no reason why any trained person can’t generate as much force on there hands as they can jumping on there feet. Bricks are designed to take a lot of weight. They aren’t designed to flex. A little force applied side on and the thing snaps. It’s not a superhuman feat, it’s just a trick. Maybe the multiple brick breaks are done with treated bricks. I don’t know. I have broken multiple tiles and I suspect they wouldn’t need to be. Once one breaks the rest don’t add much strength if you can follow through. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-object-broken-by-a-person-barehanded/179595/8 "2003-06-05T00:40:27Z")
There had to be some trick or method with the coconuts beyond brute force. I’ve broken coconuts with a claw hammer and some (not all) took a few solid blows before they shattered. There is no way a human could generate more striking force with his hand or foot per sq inch than a reasonably strong man can with the striking head of a nail hammer. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-hardest-object-broken-by-a-person-barehanded/179595/9 "2003-06-05T00:54:46Z")
Cocounuts get fairly brittle with age. I guess that helps. Added to that the fact that they shattered aftermultiple blows suggests that maybe you weren’t hitting them right.