Anyone can break boards if they choose to. Breaking boards is more mental than physical unless you are trying to break a large number of them at once. I must say this about board breaking... In truth it has nothing to do with the martial arts. There are people that can fight very well that can;t break boards very well. And there are some people that have learned to break very well but can't fight their way out of a paper bag. One guy I know can break a 24" long 2" By 4". He even had a custom metal stand made just to hold the 2X4. He breaks the 2X4 with a downward punch. Impressive and foolish, but he still can';t fight well and he has a 3rd dan and 20 or more years of training.
Lastly, it would seem that being able to break well would mean that you could easily break someones bones. It does not work that way. First you have to hit them. Second you have to hit them exactly correctly or you only make them mad.
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First of all why would you want to chop or break board with your bare hands? That's what "tools" are for! I'm a third Dan blackbelt and I practiced martial arts for 16 years. I have won 2 regional championships in Asia have participated in many competitions, but never have I seen any good reason for me to punch through boards or break them with my bare hands. But just to answer your question..yes it is possible to break them without being a martial artist but at the risk of injuring or even breaking the bones of your hands.
The skill of board breaking CAN be learned on your own. I have done it. HOWEVER, the skills used to break boards CANNOT be learned on your own. What I mean by this is, you need a good instructor to teach you how to punch right, and you need to learn perfect form with that punch, as well as combining strength and speed while maintaining good form, to break the board and avoid breaking yourself.
You can break boards with all the skills taught to you, knees elbows kicks and punches, provided you have learned them from a good instructor. Even less orthadox strikes like spearhands, shutos, and eye strikes can break boards.
A couple of tips: Don't imagine your power ending at the board, but imagine punch through another foot or two through the board. If you tap it, its a slap. If your power goes through it, its a break. Also, buy 2 of these, the yellow, and the red. The yellow will be easy at first for anyone, but its for softer strikes. If your strong, the red may be easy to break, but the point is not strength, but practicing the technique it takes to break the board. There both around $20, but you can break them over and over forever, so its worth it:
http://www.amazon.com/Rebreakable-Board-...
ie=UTF8&qid=1395607298&sr=8-2&keywords...
http://www.amazon.com/Rebreakable-Board-...
Then buy the black one when your more advanced.
Finally, buy some pine boards and break them. As long as your taking a striking martial art, YES YOU CAN LEARN TO BREAK BOARDS ON YOUR OWN! I'm the prime example of that. Just make sure you have a good partner to hold them.
Final note: Some people say boards don't hit back, waste of time, flashy, for demos only, blablabla. Some of its true. But I guarantee you, neither will an opponent that has his ribs broken, or knocked out from the power it takes to break these boards. Real board breaking is no joke. And its always been one of my favorite things about martial arts.
Yes... you can. Breaking is more of physics than just martial arts. Ofcourse there is a lot of practice and technique involved so that you don't get hurt, but yeah its possible!!
i use to teach 5 year olds to break boards its not that difficult.
I don't think so.
I know this is not the best place to ask this question because you guys are bias but can people learn to chop or punch through wooden boards without learning martial arts?
