What is Board Breaking in Martial Arts?

Series Summary

Breaking is a martial arts skill that is used in competition and demonstrations. Breaking is an action where a martial artist uses a striking surface to break one or more objects using the skills of their art form. The striking surface is usually a hand or a foot, but may also be a fingertip, toe, head, elbow, knuckle, or knee. The most common object is a piece of wood, and wooden boards are the most common breaking item in tae kwon do and related art forms. There are generally two types of breaks, which are speed breaks and power breaks.

Board breaking is a martial arts skill that is great for making an impression. In this free video series, our expert will teach you everything you need to know about board breaking, from positioning the board, to different types of power and speed strikes. You'll learn how to break boards with your fist, with knife strike techniques, and with kicks. Whether a board is held up by a partner, fixed on cinder blocks, or suspended in your own hand, you'll be able to break it. You'll even see how to break a board with your head! So, whether you're in tae kwon do, a similar martial art form, or just interested in learning this skill, these video instructions are right for you!

Video Transcript

"LASZLO HUVE: On behalf of Expert Village, my name is Laszlo Huve, here in New York City, Camp Undefeated. Today, we'll try to break a board. Board breaking. Our--today's subject is board breaking. Board breaking is a martial arts skill. Usually, we're using it in testing, competitions, or demonstrations--the practitioner using the surface of their body to break an object. You could break boards, you could break bricks, you could break cinder blocks, you could break ice. You could use your knife hand, fist, elbows, knees, other parts of the body. In Asian martial arts, people really believed in iron body, so they tried to train as many parts of the body as possible. One way to test that, it was breaking an object. In our case, we're talking about board breaking. For a beginner in the first break, it's a power break, which basically its one board, one wooden board. If you take a look at the board, we're talking about a 12 x 12 pine board. Alignment, the grains on the board--it's very important. We have to be able to place the board on the right way with the positioning, with the grains in the direction which you want to use the break."