Martial Art Rebreakable Board?

Question

Well, my martial art school uses those plastic rebreakable boards to save money on wooden boards. But when I tell my friends or family that I break these plastic boards, they say "Ooo it's just plastic, they're already broken, that's easy!".. I know as a martial artist, I'm not supposed to care about what they say, but it gets frustrating sometimes.

So, my question is:

Are plastic rebreakable boards really easier or harder than wooden boards? I've never broken a wooden board before so I wouldn't know. Any feedback and information is appreciated!

Thank you in advanced.

Answer 1

Wooden boards are the most easiest to break! Just go to your local home depot or lowe's and ask for pine shelving wood. The measurement should be 12 inches on all four sides. Look for pine shelving wood with wide gaps on it. The wider the gap, the easier it will be to break. The narrower the gap, the harder it will be to break.

Answer 2

This should help. The plastic boards generally comes in different colors. The color determine how many pound per square inch it would take to break the board. This is the equivalent of how many wooden boards you can break or the thickness of boards you can break. Some people can break a 1 inch board while others can break sever 2 inch boards.

Answer 3

Like people said they come with different colors and different resistance. They are close to reality as synthetic can get.

After the feeling is different and it's psychologically easier as well. And believe me the mind plays a lot in breaking.

However, since you break it over and over it will get slacker and at some point make it much easier to break than it was intended when new.

And more importantly is that it's stupid to break wood and throw it away. Unless it's for important event like a test or demo I suppose. It's my ecologic side in me but if you can break 500 times the same plastic board over and over it's better than to throw away 500 one inch pine board of 12"x12"... Make the math.

P.S The guy and many other guys saying that tree never attacks them it's the silliest thing I've ever heard. Of course no tree attacks you unless you live in Middle Earth. It's just a way to see if the technique is valid or not...

Answer 4

I've never broken a plastic board, but from what I've seen it doesn't look very hard.  But true boards aren't that bad either.  Not after you get used to them.

Answer 5

i used to to tae kwon do and my instructor would get wooden boards and after they wer broken he glued them back together with some extreamly strong glue and left them for a year before breaking them again. but even the glued ones wer just as hard as new boards. i have also tried some plastic boards and they did feel a bit easier but i dont know if it was suposed to be easier or how think wood has to be to be equal.

Answer 6

JW got it right; the boads vary in color, with different colors being equivalent to different thicknesses. I can tell you from experience that they are extremely accurate in the board thickness they portray.

If you are that concerned with what your family/friends say about the boards, ask your instructor if he would be willing to allow them to "test" one; preferably one of the black boards (representing between 1-1/2 and 2 board thick). they will find out rather quickly that it isn't "easy" at all.

Answer 7

I'd hate to be a damper, but they're both pretty easy. Plus, as another answerer said, over time, the plastic gets easier and easier. I found one of those plastic ones (the black one, the thickest) laying around and I had somebody hold it for me. I was able to snap it with an arm punch, which means one of two things...

1) I've got sledgehammer fists.

2) they're pretty easy to break

As much as I'd like to believe that it's option 1, I weigh around 155 pounds, which isn't heavy enough to get worthwhile power out of an arm punch.

Answer 8

Depending on the Plastic re breakable boards, their strength can vary, but i believe the Plastic boards r just there to give u the feel, Showing u how much power you need, to be safe for breaking a real wooden board try apply more force on the plastic board so therefore u are sure it will break, they are similar in a way if u look at it, they still require effort to break!

Breaking boards is okay but i really dont plan on fighting any trees, just apply more force u'll be okay