Some new toys!

[_Simon_]

Got some new toys for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. Rebreakable board and a ball... headband... reflex.... thingy!

Rebreakable board I've always wanted, and even though it's not exactly like the real thing, it is aLOT harder than I thought it would be. Have always loved breaking as a tool, it's a really good challenge.

And the ball is a really cool exercise (cheap too), if anyone else has one I'd love any other ideas as to other exercises for it. Also aLOT harder than it looks haha. The vid showed a bit of progress compared to when I started with it!

 

[Dirty Dog]

Cool. Looks like fun. Can you post a picture of how the board is put together?

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Where did you get the headband ball thingie? I might want to add that to my home training routine. I tried using one a friend had a while back and it was really difficult.

 

[RTKDCMB]

That second one will lead to a lot of balls to the face.

 

[CB Jones]

I've seen video of lomanchko using the reflex ball.....will be interested in how you like it

 

[_Simon_]

Cool. Looks like fun. Can you post a picture of how the board is put together?

Alot of fun yes! And yeah sure! It seems to just slide together into certain grooves (you can slide it together and apart at either end), unsure of how it breaks apart at the perpendicular angle, it must just take a certain force to "unjar" it.

 

[_Simon_]

Where did you get the headband ball thingie? I might want to add that to my home training routine. I tried using one a friend had a while back and it was really difficult.

They're a really great training tool, got it from good ol e-to-the-bay, just type in something like "Boxing Punch Exercise Fight Ball Head Band Reflex", really cheap, and I think the different colours are different levels of how fast it comes back. But I tell ya... the harder you hit the ball the faster it comes back anyway haha

 

[_Simon_]

That second one will lead to a lot of balls to the face.

Hahaha... might have to try stomping it instead! XD

 

[_Simon_]

I've seen video of lomanchko using the reflex ball.....will be interested in how you like it

That is some serious skill... it looks really really simple in this vid but I tell ya... when you try it is very humbling haha... I really like it but it'll definitely take practice!

 

[Dirty Dog]

Alot of fun yes! And yeah sure! It seems to just slide together into certain grooves (you can slide it together and apart at either end), unsure of how it breaks apart at the perpendicular angle, it must just take a certain force to "unjar" it.

I hope you have good luck with it. Rebreakables are a lot of fun. I had one like yours, though. It was quite firm at first, but after maybe 50 breaks it got really weak. After 100, I could break it with a pinky strike.

 

[_Simon_]

I hope you have good luck with it. Rebreakables are a lot of fun. I had one like yours, though. It was quite firm at first, but after maybe 50 breaks it got really weak. After 100, I could break it with a pinky strike.

Ah really, yeah I have heard that they get easier to break over time.. was only going to do maybe a break or two a month, so hopefully it'll last a bit [emoji14]

 

[JR 137]

I hope you have good luck with it. Rebreakables are a lot of fun. I had one like yours, though. It was quite firm at first, but after maybe 50 breaks it got really weak. After 100, I could break it with a pinky strike.

You breaking it with a pinky strike doesn’t say anything though. I’ve seen you break concrete pavers with a pinky strike

 

[JR 137]

Alot of fun yes! And yeah sure! It seems to just slide together into certain grooves (you can slide it together and apart at either end), unsure of how it breaks apart at the perpendicular angle, it must just take a certain force to "unjar" it.

We’ve got what might be the same one in our dojo. It’s fun. Just don’t hit too far off-center. I did that once. It didn’t break. Didn’t hurt too much, but didn’t feel good. A 15 year old punched the thing about 5 times in a row off-center. Full force every time. Wouldn’t break. Also, align your striking surface (fist, shuto, etc.) with the edge rather than across it.

 

[_Simon_]

We’ve got what might be the same one in our dojo. It’s fun. Just don’t hit too far off-center. I did that once. It didn’t break. Didn’t hurt too much, but didn’t feel good. A 15 year old punched the thing about 5 times in a row off-center. Full force every time. Wouldn’t break. Also, align your striking surface (fist, shuto, etc.) with the edge rather than across it.

Ah yes... I can imagine that would be painful! I guess that's the difference between wood and a rebreakable board, the wood it's okay to hit not dead centre.

Ah do you mean strike sort of parallel to the line in the middle, rather than across it (shuto 'line'/edge parallel with line)? I wonder if fist orientation matters much when striking through.. eg tate/straight or full rotation... I would think it wouldn't matter as much as tetsui and shuto

 

[JR 137]

Ah yes... I can imagine that would be painful! I guess that's the difference between wood and a rebreakable board, the wood it's okay to hit not dead centre.

Ah do you mean strike sort of parallel to the line in the middle, rather than across it (shuto 'line'/edge parallel with line)? I wonder if fist orientation matters much when striking through.. eg tate/straight or full rotation... I would think it wouldn't matter as much as tetsui and shuto

Yes, parallel to the the line. Punching probably doesn’t matter as much as a shuto/knife hand. If you’re punching right, you’re only using the first two knuckles anyway.

I haven’t tried tata ken/vertical fist punch. I’ve done most everything else with it.

 

[_Simon_]

Hmmm interesting!

It was time to do some more breaks (aiming for once a month), and wanted to try a couple of different ones, tetsui (hammerfist, doing it descending), and kakato (heel- doing a descending heel kick).

The board broke... both times. BUT... I wouldn't consider them successful breaks, as I hurt myself doing them.

It's rather strange, as I always thought these two breaks specifically were among the easier ones (less margin for error, pretty great surface area, easy targeting and trajectory of movement etc).

I did the techniques a few times in the air, then did it very lightly on the board to get the correct form and striking surface.

For the heel kick, it seemed to go well, but my ankle was really hurting afterwards. I initially I thought something just scraped it as I did it, but it was bruised a bit and hurts still hours later. It's possible the board fell and impacted against it, the bricks didn't cave in and fall either... hoping it wasn't maybe a ligament or something that pulled too rapidly (this is the same ankle I had partially torn a ligament in a year or two ago and had to rehab :s ).

For the hammer fist I think I know what happened. I struck with my hand too angled and hit more with the outside bone instead of the padded bit/fist of the hand. This one hurt, and strangely, not only the side of my hand swelled up, but my first knuckle did too! It looked greenish, had swollen, and it hurt. Amazing that it was not only the part that struck that was affected, perhaps the bones in my hand were all pushed together and something happened...

Was aiming to do 3 or so breaks but I called it a day there...

Hoping there's no injury, but I seriously learned alot, a real lesson in humility. I've never really done these techniques with impact (I've done hammer fists on the bag but coming round rather than descending; heel kicks I've only really done hook kicks and spinning hook kicks on the bag, never descending). Never assume anything, and practice good technique at all times!

The hand pain makes a little sense to me, the ankle one less so!

 

[_Simon_]

Videos here

Heel:

Hammerfist:

And here's my knuckle (you can see it's puffy and bluey/green)

 

[JR 137]

Careful with shuto. Keep your hand nice and tight, ie squeezing your fingers together. It’s an odd feeling when you don’t, as I learned the first couple times breaking boards with it.

 

[JR 137]

Also, try using Coach’s Eye app if you aren’t. You can slo-mo, rewind, control the speed, etc. very easily. That’ll help determine the angle of weapon, placement, stuff like that. I used it in our dojo for breaking competition training. Everyone loved it. They were easily able to key in on stuff they missed with regular video even played in slo-mo.

Edit: I redid part of my patio and now have a bunch of old pavers. I think you can see where this is going

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Hahaha... might have to try stomping it instead! XD

Always remember to re-stomp.