Everyone who has done martial arts in any form has at some point wanted to demonstrate their prowess by breaking stuff. Usually this takes the form of breaking pine boards. It’s easy, gratifying, and a decent way to make sure that you’re hitting with sufficient speed and power to do damage to the thing you’re hitting. Plus, you get to make kung-fu noises while you do it, especially if you’re in your own basement.
I was watching a documentary on Bruce Lee, and there was a comment from a film producer that one of the really impressive things in Bruce’s demo tape was that he was able to break “dangling” boards.
Curious, I rigged up a “dangling” pine board in my basement, and tried out my best kick on it (right side kick, thanks for asking). I don’t think that the board was impressed. After a few minutes of various attempts, it’s still hanging there intact. The only evidence of my efforts are some footprints. The kung-fu noises didn’t help.
Bruce Lee was a major badass.
–UPDATE–
On the instruction of my teacher, I went after it with a front punch instead. Snapped right in half. Apparently it’s all about speed and timing.
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