knuckle conditioning for breaks

This argument usually comes down to a simple evaluation that each martial artist must make personally: Do the ends justify the means?

Conditioning will make your hands harder, I'm not going to disagree with that one. As long as you do conditioning in a controlled manner- knuckle push-ups, heavy bag work, limited makiwara work- I am sure it will have positive effects for breaking purposes. However, the possible risks of injury; of arthritis in later life; of loss of dexterity and of the often highly stigmatised aesthetic qualities of large callouses on your hands are very serious considerations. Let me show you my reasoning behind hand conditioning:

I am a martial artist, who while loving the added quickness, flexibility and strength that my MA has given me, only sees the "fighting" aspect of martial arts as a self defense aspect. I enjoy watching martial sports, but would not want to do them myself. As such, I see the likelyhood of any viloent confrontation as slim, perhaps a once or twice in a lifetime experience. Other skills, such as writing, typing, using a knife and fork, are daily skills that I need in order to maintain my quality of life. Therefore, I weigh-up the pros and cons of better breaking prowess with the loss of my dexterity in later life, and have opted for a largely conditioning free training.

I occasionally dob knuckle push-ups, I'm happy to break boards with my hands, I also don't mind doing a bit of bare-knuckle pad work . But I refuse to ever designate a period of my training to conditioning.


Bear my and other's experiences in mind, and make a judgement that suits you personally. Remember that whatever you choose, a grounding in safe methods of training is essential, and you should have thoroughly researched your training before attempting anything risky(that means learning some physiology and checking with a trained doctor or physician).

Supremor, very nice post.

I wont disagree with anything in this thread. Like Supremor said there is Pro’s and Cons to both sides of this argument and I doubt that they will get worked out here.

As far as the loss of dexterity goes, I started conditioning my right hand when I was about 16 yrs old. I am currently 34 (I stopped the conditioning around the time I turned 21) and I build large-scale networks for a living. I spend hours on a keyboard and I only have problems with my left hand. After big jobs the left hand hurt so bad at times it wakes me up at night, my right hand has no issues at all. The old guy that I used to work out with - he taught me most of my stuff - had hands like clubs, he was an amazing artist. I guess what I am saying is I know several people with very hard hands and don’t know any of them that have issues because of it. I am not saying this can’t or won’t cause issues long term, but my personal experience does not support it (the old guy was 70+).

On a side note, when students ask about conditioning, I typically try to talk them out of it.

The irony of this thread for me is that I am currently nursing a messed up right hand. I have been out for some time (about 14 years) and decided to see if I could still break like I used to. I stacked up 8 patio slabs to see how many I could break. I pulled the punch and I think I actually broke something and I am not talking about the concrete.

Big breaks are cool and all but I actually prefer the small quantity technique breaks, such as placing your hand on the board/block and breaking it just by changing stance or breaking SLOW (think Tai Chi slow). I can teach anybody to power through cement, but these are the breaks that require years to figure out. Conditioning for these breaks are not necessary.

-JBC-

Hand conditioning can create thick callouses on your hands, but the value of this is questionable. Board breaking is largely a matter of control and precision; you don't break more hands just because your kuckles are thicker.

Woot, woot nice post Supremor.

Look out Dereck this guy is gunning for the MOD of the year award.

I will answer your question less pro or con: one, yes conditioning your hands will help you become a better board breaker. Two, yes it does eventually give you different degrees or arthritis, I am living proof,actually right now I'm making a fist and my right hand is very stiff and a little sore when clinched. Although my shins and feet have never been bothered by all the stuff that was broke. Also I never conditioned any part of my feet or shins for breaking either. Probably all the bag work and sparring is enough conditioning for anyones legs, your conditioning them every time you train, how's that?