Science of Scams - Factoids

Brick Breaking

Man breaking stack of concrete bricks with his hand

The Science of Brick Breaking
Brick breaking is often associated with various martial arts. Often it is claimed to have been achieved through focused energy and concentration. The reality is that the bricks are broken without harm to the martial artist due to physics and technique.
The martial arts move most commonly used to break bricks or slabs is known as the 'knife hand strike'.
In Japanese martial arts the practice of breaking objects is referred to as tameshiwari.
Further than simply being used as a spectacle, brick breaking is practiced as a confidence booster and training in heavy hitting and strike power, due to sparring being classically non or light contact.
One of the most famous practitioners of the knife hand strike was Mas Oyama, the founder of Kyokushinkai karate. As a show of his skill and a form of training, Oyama was known for fighting bulls bare handed. Out of 52 bulls fought throughout his life, 4 were killed instantly. These fights earned Oyama the nickname of 'God hand', as it was claimed that he was able to shear off a bull's horn with one knife hand strike.
Brick breaking has now evolved into its own extreme sport - speed brick breaking.
The current speed brick breaking record holder is Kevin Taylor, founder and president of the World Speed Brick Breaking Association, awarded the title after breaking 809 bricks in 3 minutes 59 seconds.
See a further simple trick that can be used to approximate brick breaking. Just don't try to do it at home.
In martial arts the name 'breaking' is used as an umbrella term that encompasses any form of object breaking with parts of the body. The most common materials used are wood, bricks, cinder blocks, or more rarely ice.