Martial Arts Breaking Techniques: Boards With A Single Finger
The hardest trick in all the martial arts, many hard core martial artists believe, is the single finger break. This is a break wherein you use only the outstretched, pointing finger to break...whatever you can break. Obviously, this requires diligent training, and there is a lot of risk to it.
The history behind this technique is most interesting. There used to be over 50 martial artists on Taiwan who could break a single inch of pine board with a straight finger. The reason there were so many on that island is because the communists killed martial artists during the great Cultural Revolution, and many martial artists fled to the island republic.
Interestingly, there aren't enough students of the caliber needed to perpetuate this ability, and so the technique has largely died out. You need a large population to find the few with sufficient talent. Still, the ability to thrust a finger through a board is incredible and signifies high ability.
I first heard of the single finger break when I began Karate at the Kang Duk Won. The lower belts would jab their fingers into sand for a bit of time, and, finally, around the time of Brown Belt,they would break a board with a spear hand. By the time of black belt and they would start doing push ups on fewer fingers until they could do the technique with two digits.
One day one of the upper belts, a student by the name of Ted, decided to part two boards with a spear hand. He set up the boards, focused his intention, and, broke his hand. Being rather typical of the students at the Kang Duk Won, he completed the break with his other hand.
My instructor, however, was the best at this single finger thing. On one occasion one of the students held held up a piece of plywood. It wasn't too thick, only an eighth of an inch, but plywood is crisscrossed. There is no grain to speak of, and, unless you feel like breaking your fingers, people just don't break them.
The student had a fool grin on his face, then Bob (my instructor) sunk down, twisted his hips, and his finger snapped out. The student holding the board felt no impact, was not pushed back, but when he looked at the board he found a hole in it. Just a neat, little hole, like a bullet hole, and there was an incredible feeling of power leaving the room.
There are a lot of breaking tricks, but this is one of the highest. If you can leave a hole in a board with a single finger, you have arrived at the top of the heap. But I always advise people to train excessively before even thinking about this ultimate martial arts breaking technique.
The history behind this technique is most interesting. There used to be over 50 martial artists on Taiwan who could break a single inch of pine board with a straight finger. The reason there were so many on that island is because the communists killed martial artists during the great Cultural Revolution, and many martial artists fled to the island republic.
Interestingly, there aren't enough students of the caliber needed to perpetuate this ability, and so the technique has largely died out. You need a large population to find the few with sufficient talent. Still, the ability to thrust a finger through a board is incredible and signifies high ability.
I first heard of the single finger break when I began Karate at the Kang Duk Won. The lower belts would jab their fingers into sand for a bit of time, and, finally, around the time of Brown Belt,they would break a board with a spear hand. By the time of black belt and they would start doing push ups on fewer fingers until they could do the technique with two digits.
One day one of the upper belts, a student by the name of Ted, decided to part two boards with a spear hand. He set up the boards, focused his intention, and, broke his hand. Being rather typical of the students at the Kang Duk Won, he completed the break with his other hand.
My instructor, however, was the best at this single finger thing. On one occasion one of the students held held up a piece of plywood. It wasn't too thick, only an eighth of an inch, but plywood is crisscrossed. There is no grain to speak of, and, unless you feel like breaking your fingers, people just don't break them.
The student had a fool grin on his face, then Bob (my instructor) sunk down, twisted his hips, and his finger snapped out. The student holding the board felt no impact, was not pushed back, but when he looked at the board he found a hole in it. Just a neat, little hole, like a bullet hole, and there was an incredible feeling of power leaving the room.
There are a lot of breaking tricks, but this is one of the highest. If you can leave a hole in a board with a single finger, you have arrived at the top of the heap. But I always advise people to train excessively before even thinking about this ultimate martial arts breaking technique.
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