Is board breaking a requirement for black belt in TKD and Karate?

I was just wondering what break are performed in ITF TKD or Karate for black belt and for advanced degrees?|||for me for first degree, it was 3 boards, and i had to pick a technique blind (they were written on a piece of paper and were in a bucket for me to pick one out) the techniques were front kick, side kick, roundhouse, reverse kick, flying front, flying side, sudo (knife hand strike), punch, elbow and palm smash, for second degree the breaking requirements were four boards with the hand and four boards with the foot... but board breaking was the smallest part of the test (but the most fun and the most nerve racking) it was TKD... I saw my instructor test for 5th degree and it was six boards with the hand and with the foot... (that%26#039;s crazy power and technique.... good luck man|||I studied Goju-Ryu Karate. In my dojo board-breaking wasn%26#039;t so much a requirement as a cool photo-op for all the friends and family who came to watch someone%26#039;s grading. The real training was basically getting beaten up for two hours by our Sensei%26#039;s buddies who also had their own dojos. Good times, good times.|||Board breaking should be the least of your worries. Even when i was 14 years old for me to achieve black belt was specifically train 1 year for it, do 30-40 hours of community service, write a 10 page essay on how tae kwon doe had changed my life, run 5 miles basically without stopping, and teach a bunch of classes to the beginner/intermediate classes. I remember just for my blue belt i had to break 7 or 8 thick boards with a flying kick (not as hard as it sounds), i stopped at recommended black belt (right before my training for black belt) so i couldnt tell you from experience, just from what i remember and knowing from other kids.|||Yeah, it is.


If you can%26#039;t break it, you%26#039;re probably going to the wrong gym. In another words, blame the gym.|||Yes it is a requirement. It is one SMALL part (albeit for some the most fun), but an essential one as well. The purpose for board breaking is to allow you an opportunity to truly showcase your technique, not only to prove to yourself, but to your instructor, that you can execute the proper technique, i.e., power, control, accuracy, instead of just cutting loose and busting up some lumber, or in some cases, concrete slabs. Under my instructor, beginning at the test for I Dan, both a power break and a technique break (suspended board) is required. Some instructors allow you to choose your technique break, others chose one for you, and others allow you to choose from a list. Either way, the intent is to demonstrate to YOU that you have learned the technique properly, because attempting a technique break without the proper amount of speed and accuracy will result in you propelling the board across the room into the wall (if you kick it hard enough, it will break when it HITS the wall, but that doesn%26#039;t count - believe me, I know).|||I think we started breaking boards at white belt, but this was more than 30 years ago. It was not a requirement for belt testing, just an exhibition that everyone was invited to participate in. (Most likely to show that even a small child that I was at the time could do it with the proper technique.) This was before the feuding and separation of Hawaiian Karate styles.





I have also seen lower belts breaking boards in TKD, but I hold no belts in that style. One of my sisters said it was required for her brown belt in TKD.|||Tae Kwon Do used to really emphasize %26#039;demolition%26#039;, all sorts of board breaking and tile breaking, especially for the higher black belt ranks.





Some styles of Okinawan and Japanese karate also emphasized board breaking for all ranks above brown belt.|||For my black belt test, those under 15 (not me) had to break 5 boards together, those over 15 (me) had to break a concrete slab. Don%26#039;t be nervous, if you%26#039;ve trained hard the whole time, you%26#039;ll break it with ease.|||in the tkd school i went to i the black belt requirement was to brake a pice of concrete.