[QUOTE=teetsao;1119628]LOL, no.this is a substance called “y-tong” it floats.it is “airated concrete” mostly air not much concrete. it is used in europe. 6 year olds break it.[/QUOTE]
So are European buildings ****ty?
[QUOTE=mooyingmantis;1119612]Easiest way to fake a break:
- Drop one side of the block while hitting it.
- Score the block before breaking.
- Tap the block several times to cause small internal fractures before breaking the block.
Of the breaks that I have seen on YouTube, the Shaolin Monks seem to be the biggest cheaters.
Though these methods are legitimate, the easiest ways to break are:
- Extra long blocks or blocks that are only 4" wide.
- Blocks supported at the very ends.
- Spacers between blocks and let weight do the work after breaking the top block.
Toughest methods for breaking blocks:
- No spacers
- Blocks lying on a flat, smooth surface.
- Blocks held against a flat, smooth wall. [/QUOTE]
A couple of other tricks to make breaking easier include:
-
Heat treating or firing bricks and tiles in a way to make them more brittle (actually underfiring is the easiest).
-
Inserting small, concealed shims between bricks or pavers to direct the force where you want it.
-
For breaking flat breaks, you can exploit very minor irregularities in the brick or the supporting surface so either:
a. Place a long brick or paver or other very brittle object on a slightly yielding or fliexible surface. The subtle flex in the support on impact allows the more brittle object on top to break.
b. The brick or paver is supported by the ends creating a slight, almost imperceptible gap under the center, or…
c. The brick sits on a slight bulge and rocks a bit. Then by holding don one end at the moment of the break, the other end lifts up a tiny bit and then slaps back down and snaps.
Here’s some examples that may use method 3b… using a slight gap under the middle of the paver… although such a break could equally be done with the 3a method as well. You’d have to check out the supporting surface to be sure. Watch the center of the paver drop and the edges lift when broken. This couldn’t happen on a truly flat, solid surface as concrete doesn’t compress that way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKLprlpfstI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FRGq_mYZFg&feature=related
Now here’s another impressive, “selective” flat-break clearly demonstrating method 3c Watch how the demonstrator presses down on the right edge of the bricks with his fingers as he performs the break. Now watch how that causes the bottom brick to rise up a bit on the opposite side and then slap back down… a really good trick!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgFVDr2Rs74&feature=related
Now I know these methods work since I’ve succeeded pulling them off myself, and even wrote an article about them back in the '80s. I never got very good at them though, and my hats off to guys like Dale who can do these things well.
sny7
this is close as I can get to your request, this is John newberry my kung fu brother perfroming a extremly diffucult break forma blck hanging by a string
There is something to breaking in terms of the conditioning, practice, and technique. An untrained breaker is not as good as a trained one, but all this qi talk is just talk.
I think breaking can be a nice confidence builder and a small demonstration of technique, but sheesh. Let’s stop fooling ourselves and the paying public and move on.
when will people understand qi is everything!!! you need qi to tie your shoes, its not mystical its not super powers its called “energy” the simple life force,
the more you practice and concentrate it the stronger it becomes and the more it flows plain and simple, so YES you use qi to break, you also use to to get up in the morning.
Here is an interesting break:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmxhYDvXdGk
I saw Rod demonstrate this at his seminar in Cincinnati, OH a few months ago.
[QUOTE=EarthDragon;1119751]when will people understand qi is everything!!! you need qi to tie your shoes, its not mystical its not super powers its called “energy” the simple life force,
the more you practice and concentrate it the stronger it becomes and the more it flows plain and simple, so YES you use qi to break, you also use to to get up in the morning.[/QUOTE]
Thank you
that what I was saying!!
QI means energy…qi qong just teaches you how to concentrate the energy more and make it stronger!
[QUOTE=Pk_StyLeZ;1119787]Thank you
that what I was saying!!
QI means energy…qi qong just teaches you how to concentrate the energy more and make it stronger![/QUOTE]
Are you serious? I’ve never seen a break that couldn’t be done without all the mystic qi stuff. Can someone post a link to a vid of a break that involves qi manipulation to the extent that it couldn’t be done with only physical conditioning and physics?
All the fancy warmups the people do before they break, that may be to psyche themselves up (nothing wrong with that, I fully understand the need to get into the right headspace before a big athletic performance), but it’s not manipulating the qi in a way that would prevent them from doing the break without it.
This is true for the legit breaks. It’s especially ultra super mega true for the charlatans (the ones who are using physics and parlor tricks).
How are you “concentrating the energy” or “making it stronger”? Focusing the mind isn’t qi. Psyching yourself up isn’t qi. Are you saying you’re actually moving qi into the hands or something for the break which is somehow allowing the practitioner to do things that he wouldn’t otherwise be able to do?
I’m not saying I’m 100% right and you guys are wrong. I’m saying, show me an example that proves I’m wrong, because I’ve never seen any breaks or other qi demos (iron body, etc.) that couldn’t be duplicated entirely with physical conditioning and application of physics.
Some possible examples that would help me believe that qi is actually playing a role here:
-
breaking using qi with a very soft touch that is not hard enough to break the bricks. Use the power of qi to break the bricks instead (the “egg in the hand break” doesn’t fall into this category; you’re still hitting the brick hard which is causing it to break).
-
an iron body demonstration where the guy gets hit in the gut with a sledge hammer (or punch or kick, but I know they like to use sledge hammers for these demos) where the guy doesn’t need to flex his abs to absorb the blow. I’ve heard this is possible before, but in all the iron body demos I’ve seen, the guy was tensing every muscle in his body at the moment of impact. Don’t get me wrong; that’s how you absorb a blow. But I want to see it done with qi. Bonus points if it’s a skinny guy who doesn’t have an additional layer of protection from fat
here ya go IF this is a break that uses more focused qi and less power than most breaks, this is Rod aka teesao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmxhYDvXdGk
[QUOTE=EarthDragon;1119812]here ya go IF this is a break that uses more focused qi and less power than most breaks, this is Rod aka teesao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmxhYDvXdGk[/QUOTE]
Huh? Focused qi?
The description explains this one:
“This is a true demonstration of vibrating short power. There is about a 3” distance traveled with no wind up, but instead power alliteration through a compressing strike."
[QUOTE=LFJ;1119817]
The description explains this one:
but instead power alliteration through a compressing strike."
[/QUOTE]
Huh? Focused qi?
The description explains this one:
“This is a true demonstration of vibrating short power. There is about a 3” distance traveled with no wind up, but instead power alliteration through a compressing strike."
correct, and this cannot be done without mental , phsyical and energy focus. notice his left hand summoning up the qi from the dantien.
heres an IP demo done at my school kung fu USA in Buffalo NY. Now if you think qi is NOT used, try to do this on your own and see if your welt mark looks anything like his, notice the dissipation of blood in the bone of the fingers. I can assure you if you just hit someones back with no qi focused with it, the welt will just be solid red. Nuff said
Breaking is fun and people do it because it is cool.
Just the simple.
It has nothing to do with fighting skill or anything else, it is just a fun thing to do.
If people want to fake it then it is THEIR problem.
Don’t make to much out of it OR make to little either.
Fight Science had an interesting take on all of this;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KArX8iNnY4Q
[QUOTE=wenshu;1119820][/QUOTE]
It was an interesting word choice, but not mine, lol. It’s in the video description posted by the uploader.
[QUOTE=EarthDragon;1119829]
correct, and this cannot be done without mental , phsyical and energy focus. notice his left hand summoning up the qi from the dantien.[/QUOTE]
That’s not at all what the description says. It has nothing to do with qi.
As for his left hand, I saw it hike his pants up. Then he simply held it in a neutral guard position.
There was no “summoning up the qi from the dantian”. :rolleyes:
wow are people really ignorant, educate yourselves just a little before you post then people with knoweldge will make more sense.
will how do you vibrate or breath if it has nothing to do with qi? qi means “life force” the energy that give life, so to say qi has nothign to do it with means that brightness and heat have nothing to do with the sun.
perhaps peopel need to understand what qi is so it will help them realize that you need qi to live, without qi your dead. Do you now understand what qi is? so if you tie your shows, think, breath, walk or break bricks it is all done with conciousness
which is??? …qi
IF one wants to use qi as an explanatory model, then the translation of qi as energy is not a good translation, as the usage of qi in TMC is not made up of a division between matter and energy, as it is in the Western paradigm.
In short, using qi as an explanatory model does not mean that if the qi is refined, then body mechanics do not matter. In fact, it means the opposite, if qi is refined, then the body mechanics will naturally be optimized, and that one requires the other. To choose body mechanics that are not optimal for conveying kinetic energy would be counter to having good chi.
If you are not efficient in managing kinetic energy, potential energy, gravitic, whatever the energies often used in fighting in all styles, then the odds of being a master at utilizing some metaphysical energy unknown to the rest seem questionable.
That said, since the definition of qi is holistic, describing a energy/matter whole, then it is congruence between matter and energy that defines good chi, so mechanics that best manage all the forces involved in a fight, in a martial usage, within the context of a human body(without being destructive to the practitioner) that describes having chi.
I know this is hard to take when you either believe in mystical, versus philosophical, Taoism, or when you want to debunk something based on the usage by mystical Taoism, and wish to avoid the other uses that also happen to have existed at the same time as the mystical explanation. But it is the only definition that holds up. Separating the energy from the matter, the conveyance of power from the structure that conveys it, is incorrect. Internal styles do not do this in function, they merely tend to approach learning it from the energy aspect, learn the proper structure by learning the way energy, kinetic, potential, and gravitic, travel through the human frame. Of course, without another person’s energy input, there is no good way to learn applying this to fighting. Judo also does this, often in ways that internalists could learn a lot from. BJJ also does this. Most wrestling arts, in fact, require this. I know I’m saying nothing new.