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Why break?

• It is required for promotion. Some only break only because it is required for promotion. However, as explained below, there are other more important reasons for breaking. 

• Speed, Focus, and Power. These elements are required in any successful break. Breaking training will increase each of these elements and thus improve other other aspects of Taekwondo training. Techniques will be crisper, patterns will be sharper, sparring will score more, and self-defense tactics will be more effective. When used in self-defense situations, techniques must stop or injure the attacker. To develop this power, students must practice hitting solid objects. Striking a heavy bag accomplishes this but breaking gives the student instant feedback. To see a mechanical analysis of the affect of speed and power in board breaking, see Mechanics of Breaking.

• Balance. Techniques that seem balanced when performed in the air may not be balanced when executed against a solid object. Breaking forces students to maintain their balance while executing full power techniques.

• Control. In sparring, techniques are controlled to not injure the opponent. In target or bag work, the techniques are controlled but there is little indication of the amount of control. In breaking, control must be used to break the object without striking a board holder or the floor under the object. Together, sparring, target/bag work, and breaking teach the precise control needed to respond to any self-defense situation. 

• Concentration. Breaking require intense concentration. Concentration is always useful in Taekwondo training, such as when performing patterns. Concentration is also useful in all aspects of daily life, such as when driving in bad weather or taking school tests.

• Confidence. A successful break increases and confirms a student’s belief in his or her abilities. In class, this confidence will manifest itself when performing patterns or sparring. In daily life, this confidence will be visible in the way one walks and acts. Others will respect this confidence and think twice before challenging it. 

• Discipline. Breaking requires a student to discipline his or herself. Successful breaks require persistence and dedication to purpose. One must train him or herself to overcome fears, pain, and failures. This, of course, is highly useful in daily life.

• Forging. Forging is systematic training to toughen and strengthen body parts that are used for breaking. See the forging topic for more information.

Why is the hand not injured?

One key to understanding breaking is a basic principle of motion: The more momentum an object has, the more force it can generate. For example, when breaking a brick with a punch, the fist reaches a speed of 11 meters per second (24 miles per hour). At this speed, the hand exerts a whopping force of 3,000 Newtons, or 675 pounds. That amount of force concentrated into an area as small as a fist will break a brick. Human bones can actually resist 40 times more stress than a brick.

In the late 1970s, Stephen Wilk and Ronald McNair, the scientist-astronaut who later died tragically Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, set up a strobe light that flashed either 60 or 120 times per second. They photographed McNair and others throwing various kicks and punches. Once the film was developed, they could calculate the speed of a punch by counting how many times the strobe flashed until the fist  or foot hit its target. They found that beginning students throw a karate punch at about 20 feet per second, enough to break a one-inch board. But a black belt like McNair could punch at 46 feet per second. At that speed, a 1 1/2-pound hand can deliver up to 2,800 newtons. Splitting a typical concrete slab 1 1/2 inches thick takes on average only 1,900 newtons.

Wolf's Law

Wolff's law is a theory developed by the German Anatomist/Surgeon Julius Wolff (1835-1902) in the 19th century that states that bone in a healthy person will adapt to the loads under which it is placed. If loading on a particular bone increases, the bone will remodel itself over time to become stronger to resist that sort of loading. The converse is true as well; if the loading on a bone decreases, the bone will become weaker. Over time, bone under stress attracts calcium salts fuses it to surrounding bones as a protective measure to resolve the weakness or stress. So, whatever part of the body receives repeated abnormal stress will be the site of attraction for calcium salts. With repeated forging (training to toughen body parts used for striking), not only does the outer surface of the body part get tougher, the underlying bone gets thicker and stronger.

Bone can withstand 40 times more force than concrete. A cylinder of bone less than an inch in diameter and 2 1/3 inches long can withstand a force of more than 25,000 newtons. Hands and feet can withstand even more than that, because their skin, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage absorb a great deal of impact. As a result, a well-kicked foot can absorb about 2,000 times as much force as concrete before breaking.

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