Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts Blog

Boards Don't Hit Back -- Bruce Lee's Famous Line is Only Entertainment

board-breaking fajin internal arts training martial arts training Aug 18, 2015

Last Saturday at our practice, we took a few minutes to have fun with board-breaking. We used the black rebreakable board, which is worth a couple of regular wooden boards. We tried different breaks from short range, the idea being if you are in close, can you generate enough power to do some damage to an opponent.

Here is the video that resulted.

When you put a video like this online, you will inevitably have someone reply with "Boards don't hit back." Sometimes a friend will say it in jest, but sometimes it is said by someone who is serious.

"Boards don't hit back" is a line that Bruce Lee said in "Enter the Dragon," when Bob Wall broke a board at the beginning of a fight with Bruce.

Since 1973, some Bruce Lee "purists" and "Real Fighting" macho guys have pretended that board breaking is stupid.

They would be wrong.

Yes, boards don't hit back. Neither do heavy bags. Neither do makiwara boards. And neither does paper.

Did you know that Punching Paper was one of Bruce Le...

Author - Instructor

Ken Gullette

I have practiced martial arts since 1973 and began studying the internal arts in 1987. My goal is to cut years off your development time by coaching you in the real skills for high-quality Tai Chi, Xingyi, Bagua. To see more about my bio, click the "About Ken" link on the menu at the top of this page.

Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

Boards Don't Hit Back -- Bruce Lee's Famous Line is Only Entertainment

Author - Instructor

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