Give Me A Break

The young US airman had been studying the martial arts for several months when his sabum announced to the class that they would be performing a demonstration at the public square. A large crowd of people stood and watched in the small Korean village as the first event commenced. The master spoke briefly to the villagers about the art of tang soo do before he called upon his first charge. The nineteen-year-old airman felt honored to hear his name announced to demonstrate his ability to break a stack of roofing tiles with his bare hand. He stood up nervously and walked over to the small platform where the tiles were placed. His heart was now racing with anticipation as a hush came over the crowd. He visualized annihilating those formidable looking tiles that seemed to be stacked a mile high. He knew he had to nail this on the first try - there would be no second chance. This was it. He raised his hand, and with all the ki energy he could muster he fired his fist down with incredible speed. The tiles didn't budge. Chuck Norris had just broken four knuckles in his right hand.

Breaking has always been a crowd pleaser at martial-art demonstrations. No karate or TKD demo is really complete without the obligatory sidekick or shuto (knife-hand) busting apart some inanimate material. Planks of wood (white pine is a favorite) and even slabs of ice have been the objects of choice at many demos. Even the Karate Kid had his turn at the frozen stuff.

For the less inclined would-be breaker, the convenience of using Breakaway boards - plastic molded panels that have interlocking seams that allow them to be reused - offer all the glory of mayhem without having to end up in the X-ray room. The ones that I've seen use a color-coding scheme; yellow being the least resistant, on up to black for the heavy hitters. Still, don't try this at home.

Mr. Miyagi's tactic of shearing the tops off of three beer bottles at once to fend off bullies was a neat trick. Kyokushin karate founder Mas Oyama routinely performed this stunt at demos with just one bottle. When one of his students attempted the same feat he almost lost his little finger. Oyama's other infamous knack for using a shuto to chop off a bull's horns would have undoubtedly invoked the wrath of animal rights activists today. I think pitting Oyama against a group of unruly protesters would've been much more fun to watch.

Some schools use board breaking as a requirement for belt promotion, the idea being that a good break should be equated with causing great injury to your opponent. Otherwise, yourself. Just ask Chuck Norris.