How can some martial art masters break stone,wood and even concrete blocks?

Question

How do they train?I am really interested in martial art,but I don't know where to start. Can you couch me how can I start training martial art?

Answer 1

i've always wondered the same thing.......

Answer 2

Ok, slow down here.

First of all most the breaking the average public sees is for demonstration and most of the materials are for show. It is for entertainment and not part of traditional training.
Martial artists should be conditioning there striking surfaces against objects (like heavy bags or makiwara boards) but breaking material should not be a goal of a martial artist.

As far as learning martial arts- do not just blindly put a request out on Yahoo for someone to coach you. This is wrong on so many different levels.
You need to go find a good school in your area. Look for clean establishments where the people seem friendly and well mannered.
Look for a teacher that is open about his lineage and will gladly share his/her information.

Refuse to sign contracts, this is fraud. Never train at a place that will charge you for rank testing, this is a slimy money making trick.
Remember you are looking for a good place to train, not a style of martial art. Find the highest quality school in your area and you will have found the style that is right for you.

Good luck, train hard.

Answer 3

When they break wood they choose the pine boards, the strike must be at edge of the wood, with the striking hand (knife hand strike) in parallel with the grain. Sometimes, they would score the wood a little so that there will be a clean break, this is also for the safety of the martial artist.

To break other materials (concrete blocks, shale, ice, etc.) you'll notice that they strike just near the edge, so that the force applied on the object will radiate through the rest of it to achieve the break.

If Force x Speed is equals to power... Practice the dynamics of the break, strengthen the wrist, and supplement it also with strength and speed training to achieve the desired effect.

Practice breaking with different difficulties progressively.

Break objects wisely, don't break your hand... You don't want hairline cracks to your bones that could lead to more unwanted damage.

Prepare yourself physically and mentally for the task, stick with your training and it will work for you.

Never advice kids to do breaking, their bones are not up it.

Answer 4

the only thing I can tell you is to find local schools that interest you, see if they have a trial time of classes you can attend to see if you like the class.

If you do, enroll in the class but watch out for schools that have you sign up for lengthy contracts for 6 months at a time or more because often they are a "belt factory" or as some contributers have mentioned in the past "mcdojo's".

these schools practically give you a belt as long as you're paying the fees and don't pay much attention to the details of perfecting the individual's technique (although it is up to the student to make the progress by training at home as well, the instructors can only do so much in teaching the techniques).

Breaking techniques are mainly a show of focus of the individual, and often done for demonstrations to the public and as spidertiger said it's not a MAJOR focus of any Martial Arts to break wood or concrete.

But some disciplines or schools (such as Tae Kwon Do and Tang Soo Do for example) use breaking techniques as part of their testing criteria.

I'm not a master of my discipline, nor do I hope to be because there's so much more to learn.

but I've broken many boards and camfer (one inch concrete slabs) in my time of training and not that I've ever really cared to, it's just putting the fear of getting hurt aside and doing it; like turning off a switch in your mind, the possibility of getting hurt is there, but the moment you hesitate, that chance increases more and more, you have to have good technique through practice and just do it with the confidence that you can accomplish the task.

one additional note: the wood we use is a relatively soft pine, so it has some give to it (but the camfe slabs are actual concrete), as I said, it's more for demonstration on the individual's focus in their training.

Answer 5

If you just want martial arts in general then star with whatever is availible to you in your area. Most people start with TaeKwonDo as a start and get into other areas as later on. TKD is a good start quality of instructors is better and there is so much market competion the schools tend to be reputable and run by liscensed/certified professionals.

As far breaking. It is nothing more than skill/practice and technique. Just about anyone can do it if they learn the proper technique.

Answer 6

OK, I will try to answer this without the looooong hoo hah.

Its called hard body training.
Your bones are acutaly corigated. As you start hitting things, they adapt. Have thousands of mini breaks and they over repair and strenthen them selves. Get the video "FIGHT SCIENCE" There is a segment on hard body training for breaking.

The above takes a period of time for you to harden your body, hands, feet or what ever you want to break with. It has to be done on a schedual and not deviated. The training not only hardens your skin, muscles and bones but also builds confidence as you go so you wont stop half way thru a break and wind up breaking your hands.
Get the video from the discovery channel or cheaper on ebay called Fight science. And a little cheap book called Iron Palm training. these will help you. But a good instructor is the best.
Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Technique. It also a great deal of positioning, even if the most accomplished black belt were to "karate chop" a concrete block not positioned right would find them selves in a great deal of pain. If you hit a concrete block and it doesn't break, you would damage your hand, however, if it were to go through, no or little damage would be done.

Answer 8

I can do such things. Someone says it's a trick, but that's not always true. I can break 1" thick pine boards easily. Hickory is tougher. Some stones are easy to break, and others are impossible. Some of it is learning which stones and woods to use. The ordinary man cannot do such things. One must be able to achieve kime = focus of power to the object to be broken. I toughen my hands by beating them on concrete studded with gravel. Work up to that. I soak my hands in various things that help to toughen them. There are Chinese salves and liniments I buy in Chinatown.

Answer 9

I do Martial Arts, and im not a particularily big guy, im 14, 5 foot 8, and 120 pounds!? And i smashed through 2 slabs of concrete with ease. It is mind over matter. It really isnt that hard.

Answer 10

You ask a short question to a long journey, it is not one of those simple, quick fix, answers that most look for in their day to day living. Sounds confusing because it is, yet the way to answer your question, is very complicated. There is no real easy answer to your question.

There are many many great styles, teachers, students, and schools. There are just as many that claim to have all those qualities, and don't.

It's up to your preference, and what you want to learn. The first part of your question tells me your interested in the hype of Martial Arts, and not necessarilly the art itself. That part of training comes after many years of self sacrafice and learning.

In whatever trail you take, always look to yourself, to see what you have learned, and where it has benefitted you. You will find yours answers in yourself.

Go to a school, watch, listen.

Are there costly contracts?

Do they offer Black Belt programs like tennis lessons?

Find out the lineage of the school, it should lead to someone prominant in Martial Arts, and hopefully not 3 million years ago.

Look at the Senior instructors certificate ot liscense, who signed it? do some research on the internet.

If you are looking to discover yourself, it won't be hard to find a good school, if your looking to be a showoff, well that will be even easier, to find a school. It's going to all depend on what you want to put into it, and what is available in your area.

Good Luck from a beginner,

1st Dan (Shodan) 1st Degree Black Belt

Answer 11

Its mastery of mind and body, it also depends on which martial arts you are into. Shaoling monks trained every day to make their fists, legs, head, fingers to go through wood and concrete blocks. One training I remember was that a guy placed some yellow papers on a wall and hit 1000-2000 times everyday developing his fist, he also did push ups with his fist. i suggest that you enroll yourself in a school first, try kung fu, karate or tae kwan do.... I also here that the shaolin temple in china accepts foreign intern students, a lot of young martial artists from abroad go there to train every summer break. But first, try to find out which martial arts you are interested in learning... try checking out this site http://martialarts.about.com/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate, http://www.barrel.net/, http://www.shaolin.com/index.aspx, http://www.wushukwan.com/, http://www.jingmo.org/index.html.... I am sure there is a whole lot of martial arts out there.. hope this helps and good luck with your interest in martial arts....