TKD would be reccomender for girls... Right...

[Balrog]

It wont be a very big bone though.

Ribs work fine for me.

 

[Balrog]

What an interesting question.

According to Wikipedia, the tensile strength of pine (breaking with the grain) is 40 MPa. The tensile strength of bone is about 3 times as much: 130 MPa. So presumably if you can break a 2-inch pine board, you could break a 2/3-inch-thick board made of bone?

Of course shape matters too: the bone of a human skull is only about 1/4-inch thick, but it's round so it's hard to break (like an egg shell).

Agreed. As I mentioned above, if I can punch hard enough to break ribs, then if I land that shot on someone's face, it would cause some serious problems to them.

I personally would rather land a hard blow on the brachial plexus origin. Does less damage, causes as much (if not more) pain and stuns the opponent enough to drop him so that I can escape.

 

[Tez3]

If women's breasts are such a weakness in some people's eyes I wonder how they explain female fighters? In all disciplines, boxing, Muay Thai, kick boxing, karate, MMA etc etc. There are parts of the body that are good targets and others that are a waste of effort going for.
It seems 'fun' for some people to have a go at TKD, it's not my style but I know plenty of people who do train, they are hard fighters with devastating kicks AND punches, very good martial artists so it's probably best not to judge any style by a couple of people you may have seen.

 

[oftheherd1]

I'm not going to bother looking her up. I didn't say I was stronger than anyone, nor that I was 18 stones. To me light contact is contact that touches without a hard hit. For example grappling martial arts are "soft styles" because there is no hard strike by the opponent. If one person is more sensitive than another, then I can't help but think that the definition of "light" changes.

That's not what I thought a soft style was. So opponents are not allowed to strike hard? How do you arrange that?

 

[oftheherd1]

What an interesting question.

According to Wikipedia, the tensile strength of pine (breaking with the grain) is 40 MPa. The tensile strength of bone is about 3 times as much: 130 MPa. So presumably if you can break a 2-inch pine board, you could break a 2/3-inch-thick board made of bone?

Of course shape matters too: the bone of a human skull is only about 1/4-inch thick, but it's round so it's hard to break (like an egg shell).

I understand where you are coming from, but a blow to the skull, and unconsciousness from that blow, has to do with trauma to the brain, not the skull itself.

 

[oftheherd1]

Yeah, if I did that to you, you'd be bent over in pain, wishing you'd never been born either. Calm down keyboard warrior.

Most martial artists are Type A people. Even if they aren't when they start MA, they tend to become more so as they progress in their art. Usually Type A people even if they don't start with it, tend to acquire wisdom

When you get there do let us know. I would be the first to want to congratulate you.

 

[drop bear]

Ribs work fine for me.

Yeah ribs shatter all the time. It is hell on my friends who do kyokushin.

 

[Balrog]

Most martial artists are Type A people. Even if they aren't when they start MA, they tend to become more so as they progress in their art. Usually Type A people even if they don't start with it, tend to acquire wisdom.

I'm still working on that myself.

I've learned a lot in 30+ years of training. One of the main things I have learned is that there is still a helluva lot more to learn.

 

[oftheherd1]

I'm still working on that myself.

I've learned a lot in 30+ years of training. One of the main things I have learned is that there is still a helluva lot more to learn.

Yep. I am always proud of new things I learn, in life or MA. Until I realize how much more there is to learn, and so little time. I'm never so smart as I think.

Thanks for the reminder (again).

 

[Dirty Dog]

What an interesting question.

According to Wikipedia, the tensile strength of pine (breaking with the grain) is 40 MPa. The tensile strength of bone is about 3 times as much: 130 MPa. So presumably if you can break a 2-inch pine board, you could break a 2/3-inch-thick board made of bone?

Of course shape matters too: the bone of a human skull is only about 1/4-inch thick, but it's round so it's hard to break (like an egg shell).

Misleadingly simple. Bones come in too many sizes and shapes to generalize like this. Further, bone structure is, in this context, directional. For example; jump off your couch. Land on your feet. You didn't break anything, did you?
Now take that same level of impact and shift it 90 degrees, so it's across the bone instead of along it. I'll bring some splint material after you do...

This is one reason why 'proper technique' exists. Punch right, hand OK. Punch wrong, hand broke.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

It wont be a very big bone though.

Any shmo can break a bone in my hand if he hits it wrong with his head.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Misleadingly simple. Bones come in too many sizes and shapes to generalize like this. Further, bone structure is, in this context, directional. For example; jump off your couch. Land on your feet. You didn't break anything, did you?
Now take that same level of impact and shift it 90 degrees, so it's across the bone instead of along it. I'll bring some splint material after you do...

This is one reason why 'proper technique' exists. Punch right, hand OK. Punch wrong, hand broke.

I'd think the fact that most bones are hollow cylinders would play in there, as well. Wouldn't that structure be more resistant to side force than a similar amount of bone that was just a cylinder (not expanded and hollowed)?

 

[TrueJim]

Misleadingly simple...

Agreed! That's why I said "a board made of bone"...the only way the analogy could hope to even approximate accuracy is to assume the thing being broken has comparable shape. As gpseymour rightly points out, bones have stronger tensile strength than flexural strength, because bones are hollow cylinders. My only point was that -- shape aside -- bone is about 3 times as strong as pine.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I'd think the fact that most bones are hollow cylinders would play in there, as well. Wouldn't that structure be more resistant to side force than a similar amount of bone that was just a cylinder (not expanded and hollowed)?

Bones are like blades, in this context. They have to provide both rigidity AND flexibility. Solid bone would not flex very well and would be phenomenally heavy. The matrix structure of bone provides more surface area as well as both rigidity and flexibility.

 

[drop bear]

Any shmo can break a bone in my hand if he hits it wrong with his head.

Yeah that is what the pine boards represent. The ability to shatter bones with each punch.