Are Karate And Taekwondo Boards Easy To Break?

Many that have seen or tried to break boards in Karate or Taekwondo experience it differently. Some have an easy time due to proper training and technique. Some have it easier because they are naturally stronger or athletic. Yet some have trouble and must put forth much more effort than expected.

Karate and Taekwondo boards can be easier or harder to break due to thickness, the amount of knots, or the type of wood it is. Boards are meant to be a test of will and technique. They may also be easier or harder to break due to the student’s size and strength or the type of technique used.

To be sure, not all boards are created equally. Sometimes this is on purpose as well. For toddlers, kids, and even pre-teens there are differing sized boards and thicknesses than the average adult will break. I will answer a few questions here that I have been asked in the past.

Are Karate And Taekwondo Boards The Same?

Boards are usually all the same, until they are not. Some boards are fairly standardized for the age and size of the students. But some are thinner when Taekwondo acrobatics or demonstrations call for spectacularly more difficult techniques.

Karate and Taekwondo boards are basically the same thing. They are usually thicker and bigger the older the student, but between the two styles, there is essentially no difference. Karate boards are more often broken with hand techniques than in Taekwondo, but the boards are still the same.

The difference can sometimes come though when Taekwondo boards are used in high flying demonstrations by well trained teams. The WT or the World Taekwondo federation (formerly the WTF) demo teams do use dryer, thinner boards at times, but you can see why when you see them in action.

Are Karate (TKD) Boards Fake?

There is nothing fake about the wood used to make breaking boards, yet there are obviously harder and softer wood types. Small children will be given softer wood and thinner boards. This is not fake. A 4 year old standing in front of a 1 inch rough cut oak board is simply cruel. They will never break that board.

Karate and Taekwondo boards are not fake, they are simply designed to be tougher or easier to break depending on the student and the situation. There are thicknesses and types used for children, teens, adults, and demonstration teams that are different for legitimate reasons.

There could always be those people using pre-broken boards, cracked ones, or balsa wood boards during a testing, but that is not the norm. There are people that try to ‘cheat’ in just about everything people attempt to do. Though the exception does not disprove the rule.

Why Are Karate Boards So Easy To Break?

If you or someone you know have had an easy time of breaking a board it could have been for many reasons. The board could have been cracked, the technique used could have been done correctly, the thickness should have been increased, etc.

Karate board breaking is not designed to be easy, but sometimes it could be so. The norm is for the form of the technique to be tested and the difficulty require proper mechanics. Defective boards or improper thickness could make the break easier, but that is not the intent of the drill.

An instructor should control the board quality and thickness their students break. These breaks are not about self defense. They are about self-confidence and surpassing self imposed limitations. Boards that are too easy or too difficult to break defeat the purpose.

It is ultimately up to the instructor to be the quality control in these situations. Let me speak from tons of experience here. There is a lot more to do with art than science here. You can prepare as much as you like, but there is a percentage of the boards you hold that will not do the trick.

Do Young Children Break Boards In Karate?

If these boards are real wood and not doctored to make them easier, is this something that younger children can do? Shouldn’t these boards be too hard for them to break if adults are also breaking boards in demos and testings?

Young children do break boards regularly, but these boards usually are made of softer wood or are smaller in thickness and width than others. These boards are intended to be on the level of a smaller child and not meant to have them perform at a teen or adult level.

The same can be said with the technical proficiency of any martial art technique. No matter how perfectly the timing is performed or how flawlessly the technique is applied, a 9 year old black belt will be hard pressed to do any damage to a random untrained man on a construction site or in a warehouse.

Size, age, and strength matter in self defense. The same holds true for martial arts drills like board breaking. Younger children do break boards, just ones appropriate for their stage in life.

What Are Rebreakable Boards?

Some people don’t like that boards are actual wood and it offends their sensibilities when it comes to conservation and the use of trees. Some people don’t like the constant cost of buying wood or precut boards for breaking. This problem has a solution: rebreakable boards.

Rebreakable boards are formed plastic, imitation wooden boards that have joints engineered to break apart at approximately the same psi as wooden boards. They cost much more than wooden boards in the beginning, but can become more cost effective over time.

These boards also come in many different difficulty levels. This can accommodate small children through adults for board breaking drills, though more than likely not all in one board.

Board Breaking Wrap Up

Boards are not all created equally and that is the point. If an adult breaks a child’s board, then of course that will seem less than challenging. Yet, go to the local home improvement store, get some 1×12 pine boards and cut them at different lengths. You will definitely find your match.

For kids, it is the instructor’s job to make sure that the boards are on the proper level. Younger children can still break boards; it just means the boards must be the proper ones. Teens and adults need to have challenges that match their ability.