Martial Arts Breaking Tricks Exposed-Michael Kinney

Great stuff, a friend told me that a High Ranking Karateka, said..sometimes the fingers break, sometimes the board breaks.
Ossu!

i dont really like karate, it's not a true martial, more of a westernized self defense. i do tkd, but there is no trick. the wooden boards however definately arent plywood. ne1 could do it but there IS technique to it. dont hit and snap back, you have to go all the way through. if u do it correctly, you feel NO PAIN. i feel like i hit the air wen i do it rite. but if u mess up and dont break it... it hurts like a mother!!!

this sounds plausible. However, I think its fair to expect a demonstration, not just an explanation. the Amazing Randi does it all the time.

over generalisations like this just create myths of their own.
not everyone can break real stuffs, but not all breakings are scams.
some may look harder or more dramatic than they need to be, but they are not really easy either. don't try them at home. otherwise you might break something.

The best iron palm training is taking your training partner and punching him in the face, until he asks you to stop, or his eyes roll around all funny and he falls down. At that point pretty much everyone can see how little it really takes to knock someone out or hurt them. I'd invite anyone watching this to grab a coconut or a red brick and give it the old kiyah! I bet your little metacarpels, carpels, or radius/ulna break before the materials do. If it's parlor tricks go try it for yourself!

Agreed... I've heard that smashing a coconut is comparable to smashing a human skull. Mas Oyama used to do incredibly powerful blows like this in bullfights, striking the skull and killing the bull. Of course, he also got gored once, but the point still stands.

Great job I used to practice karate as a child but then I realized the guy was a scam and now I'm mainly focused around northern mantis KF and Jeet kune do along with little bits and pieces from practically every other martial art around lol. Karate is a great system but has become greatly corrupted. I'm glad you exposed this. Glad to see there are still many noble martial artists out their.

I wouldn't necessarily say that the karate schools out there are more 'corrupt' than the others. It's just that the techniques have become watered down in many schools and instructors in a very short span of time. Go back 30 years, and they trained much harder, and much more traditionally. Sadly, there are many of those taught in the old way who have softened their training and made a business out of it, giving belts and ranks so long as students pay their dues. Now that's garbage.

Yes, cheap pine is usually used. Some very easy to break and some more difficult. The vertical cut makes the board easier with the grain (5-8") A dry board (baked or sun dried) is much easier than a wet board. Many use imported 'breaking wood' from Martial Arts suppliers. These are composites and are very easy to break. They come in 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4" thicknesses.

great vid... and i applaud your courage to wear pink ;) not alot of guys have that kind of confidence