Karate Breaking Techniques: With Practical Applications for Self-Defense

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Failure to execute a required break is often sufficient grounds for failure of a promotion test. In general, breaking is used both as a method of measuring force of strikes for martial artists, as there was no other way to do this and only recently have devices such as accelerometers been used in martial arts, and as a measurement of mental fortitude, the ability of the mind and body to overcome.

Generally, a martial artist engaged in breaking will practice by repeatedly hitting hard surfaces. Masutatsu Oyama , a famous breaker who was known for breaking the horns off bulls, [2] would use trees. In karate, a device called a makiwara is used; this device has found more popular use by practitioners of other martial arts today. In the past, Shaolin and other earlier martial artists would use many different types of devices in order to condition themselves, not always for simply breaking, but using the same concepts used today.

For instance, there is Iron Palm , Iron Shin, Iron Shirt , Iron Head, and other types of training which center around conditioning various parts of the body so they could withstand or give blows such as what is seen today in martial arts breaking. Many Chinese systems also are of the school of thought that "internal energy" or Chi is used when breaking, which is not dependent upon muscle strength and body weight.

The general principles used in martial arts breaking training is similar to the same principles used for most athletics. The body adapts to stress. There are generally three areas a martial arts breaker wishes to force their body to adapt to: The general principle here — for instance, for the bones — is found in Wolff's law , which states that the skeletal system will, after healing, be stronger if injury is put to it.

Craig Edmunds demonstrates this theory after breaking hand in seminar measuring bone density then measuring bone density after healing. In this manner the breaking practitioner operates not unlike a bodybuilder who works out with weights, then takes a period of rest to heal and allow the muscles to come back stronger.

Breaking (martial arts)

This kind of training is called "progressive resistance training"; see Weight training for more information. Often differences in body structure can be seen in the form of calcium deposits between a breaking practitioner and a non-practitioner. Mike Reeves , a champion breaker, advocates in his book the usage of a makiwara and knuckle push-ups. With knuckle push-ups, he recommends starting on softer floor material and working your way up to concrete.

He suggests that beginners should start with wood boards and increase the amount as technical prowess increases. Once a level of comfort, both physically and mentally, is reached, harder materials such as concrete can be attempted.

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There are safety concerns with martial arts breaking, so one should seek out an instructor. There are many small bones of the foot and hand which need to be very carefully and slowly conditioned for safety.

Repeated damage to the extensor capsules of the knuckles can lead to long term problems with dexterity. There are generally 3 classifications of breaks: Additionally, there is a 4th, lesser-known, classification known as the impulse break.

Martial Arts Is Not Self-Defence: Real World Violence Prevention

Speed breaks are breaks where the striking object is not held in place. The only way to break the object is to strike the surface with sufficient speed at a focused point of impact. Sometimes a board to be broken is held lightly between two fingers by a person; an advanced dan test may involve an attempt to break a board as it falls through the air.

Regardless of the strength of the striker, the board will only break if it is struck with sufficient velocity. Another type of "Speed Break" is that which involves breaking a number of objects over a given amount of time.

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A common time span is 1 minute, but this can vary depending on the material and venue. In competition it is very common for a speed breaking category to limit the time to 8—10 seconds, enabling more competitors to participate. Power breaks are breaks where the striking object is supported. Either the break will employ human holders for horizontal, angular, or upward vertical strikes, or the break will require that the objects be stacked for downward vertical strikes.

For a stacked break the object is placed on sturdy supporting objects, such as concrete blocks, that are placed on the ground.

Many color belt belts before black belt promotion testing breaks are power breaks—it is substantially easier for an inexperienced person to muster sufficient energy to break a wooden board with a power break Note, this is not true for all breaks. The vast majority of these employ human board holders. Often a stronger or more powerful striker may substitute some strength for technique and successfully accomplish the break.

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Most records that are catalogued are for power breaks. It is very common for black belt tests to use bricks, concrete patio blocks, or several boards stacked on top of supporting objects for challenging downward strikes. Taped boards are sometimes used to lessen the amount of human influence from the holders for a break.

Therefore, some strikers will tape a stack of boards together to make a "brick" for their holders to hold. Usually however, test breaks at promotions and events are done without taped boards. For single boards, it is generally easy as in the casual person has a sufficient reserve of mass to reach this threshold through a power break. The third method, soft breaks , also known as " ki " breaks almost always involve the use of "flat hand" strikes; primarily the palm, as it's easier to accomplish a successful break with forward momentum, but sometimes the back of the hand in a semi outstretched configuration it utilized to exhibit the person's prowess, as this alternate method usually entails certain conditioning of the hand to endure the stress of impact see note on Wolff's Law above as well as using a less natural arm position when delivering the blow.

KARATE BREAKING TECHNIQUES, with Practical Applications to Self-Defense

The material is usually supported, horizontally, on two ends. The breaker raises their hand and lets it fall with no tension or significant flexing of the muscles, instead relying mostly on gravity, in order to palm strike the material. The material is broken by a complete energy transfer all the way through, in a direct line from the palm to the other side of the material.

The impact also passes through a wider, more dispersed area and from a martial art perspective therefore causes more damage than other strikes, if delivered to a human adversary. This break is akin to striking a person with a slap, although more energy is transferred into the target than what is typically conveyed by a mere slap.

Thus, such a palm strike can cause significant internal damage while leaving few signs of the damage externally possibly a red mark but not much else , whereas a punch or similar strike, would tend to cause recognizably more external damage, such as bruising, swelling, etc. Any person of any age, such as elderly people up to 80 and 90 years of age, can do this break with little injury to themselves. The most serious repercussions may be a palm that tingles afterward, should the break be unsuccessful. Steve Denoo rated it it was amazing Apr 24, Marie Simmons rated it it was amazing Jan 30, Christopher Calo rated it liked it Jan 07, Christian rated it really liked it Aug 30, Juan Teissier rated it really liked it Oct 28, Michael Wise marked it as to-read Mar 20, Jaylin Hines marked it as to-read Feb 12, Chris Ruth marked it as to-read Aug 14, Abubakar marked it as to-read May 15, Danny Shilkett marked it as to-read Nov 23, Guillermo Oriolani marked it as to-read May 07, Kondwani Phiri marked it as to-read Jun 13, Esmail Bird marked it as to-read Jul 24, Dai Soke marked it as to-read Aug 19, Willahelm Powers added it Apr 09, K marked it as to-read May 11, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.

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