World Records For Board Breaking and Brick Breaking

WORLD RECORD LIST

Claims for breaking bricks and wooden blocks are unsatisfactory because of the lack of any agreed standards upon which comparisons can be made of friability and the spacing of fulcrums.

quoted from an old edition of the Guinness Book of Records

The main problem for such records is that there are too much different bricks, wooden blocks etc. Maybe it is possible to define "standard bricks" used for a record. However, who can be sure that these "standard bricks" are still available 10 years later - in the U.S.A as well as in Australia, Russia or Japan? (But this would be essential for defining rules for accepted world records.)

Because there is no official authority for verifying these records, there is a lot of persons who claims to be a world record holder. Everyone of them is an excellent athlete. However, it is impossible to find the undisputed champion.

Information about records in this field are welcome (to info@recordholders.org), please specify the standards and rules of the attempt as detailled as possible. However, because of the problems for definding standards, it is very unlikely that a record claim can be accepted as an official record.

These records, achieved under strict rules, have been verified:

Head Board Breaking, 30 Seconds

Kevin M. Shelley (USA) broke 31 boards on his forehead on 16 August 1999. The boards were 30.5 cm (12 in) wide by 30.5 cm (12 in) tall by 2,5 cm (1 in) thick made of #3 pine. The boards were handed to him by assistants. They must be broken singly and clearly broken and spacers are not an option. The breaker has thirty seconds in which to break as many as possible.
Previous record holder was Jonathan K. Marden with 29 boards on 24 September 1998.

Board Breaking, One Minute

The Rules

The record is for the greatest number of martial arts boards smashed in one minute with the hand

1. This record should only be undertaken by martial arts practitioners, stunts men/women or similar
2. The boards used should be either standard martial arts boards from a martial arts supplier or pine boards direct from a timber supplier. Boards should be between 1.9 cm (3/4 inch) and 2.5cm (1 inch) in thickness and must be 10 inches long and 8 inches wide. Details of the type of boards used in the attempt should be submitted with the record claim.
3. All the boards used must be inspected by the independent witnesses prior to the attempt to certify that all the boards to be used in the attempt are sound.
4. The boards to be broken should be arranged either by the challenger or by stewards, but in either case the arrangement of the boards should be overseen by the witnesses.
5. Both ends of the boards should be resting on concrete blocks. The boards should be at least about 15cm (6 inches) off the ground.
6. It is recommended that suitable padding be used on the ground or concrete blocks as appropriate.
7. Boards may be stacked in piles with a maximum thickness of four boards in any one pile.
8. The piles of boards may be arranged in any manner suitable to the attempt, e.g. in a single line or in several lines. A description of the manner in which the boards were arranged for the attempt should be submitted with the record claim.
9. The number of boards laid out for the attempt should be counted before the attempt begins.
10. Boards/piles of boards may be broken in any order but the competitor must use the same hand throughout the attempt.
11. The competitor's hand may be strapped to prevent splintering.
12. When each board in a pile of boards is judged to be broken all the way through, that pile may be replaced by fresh unbroken boards by the stewards.
13. After the attempt, the witnesses should examine each board to judge whether it has been broken all the way through. Only those boards judged to have been broken all the way through count towards the total.
14. Stewards should ideally be martial arts practitioners or similar.
15. An experienced timekeeper should be present throughout the attempt.
16. Prior to the attempt the contestant must sign a waiver.
17. It is recommended that fully qualified medical assistance should be present throughout the attempt.
18. The name of the person making the attempt should be given, along with the date and place of the record attempt
19. Both witnesses should be martial arts practitioners, or similar

The Records

Board Breaking, One Hour

On 10 May 2003, Bob Knight (USA) broke 3,014 1 in. x 12 in. x 9 in. pine board in less than one hour (exactly in 53 minutes, when he ran out of boards), breaking the old record of 2,897 by Greg Ryman (USA).

Speed Brick Breaking, One Minute

Cement Blocks, One Minute

Cement Slabs Breaking, Most

Concrete Block Smashing

Dan Netherland (USA) broke 55 concrete blocks [76.2 cm x 20.3 cm x 7.3 cm (20 in x 8 in x 2.9 in) thick, 50 lb each, arranged in 10 stacks from one to ten blocks, separated by spacers] by hand in 17.45 sec on 26 February 2003, at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg (USA). DETAILS
New record claim (not yet verified): On 7 May 2005, Michael Tippett (USA) of  the Arrowhead Martial Arts Academy in Glendale Az broke 110 concrete blocks [measuring 23 in x 8 in x 2.7 in] in 14.65 seconds. staked in 2 x 10 stacks from one to ten blocks separated by spacers.

Board Breaking

Breaking Coco-Nuts, One Minute

Muhamed Kahrimanovic (Germany) broke 118 coco-nuts by hand in one minute in Halle, Germany, 4 June 2011.

Highest Martial Arts Kick

Christophe Pinna (France) broke a 2.5 cm (1 in) board 3.03 m (9 ft 11 ¹/₄ in) above ground level, on 30 June 1988.
The female record holder is Nicole Peter (Germany) with 2.42 m, achieved at the Euro Cup of the European Taekwondo Federation held on 20 September 2008 in Dinslaken (Germany).

Just for your information, here are some other record claims. In general, these are no official records because there are no standards of the quality of roof tiles, concrete blocks etc.

• boards: 70 one-inch-thick pine boards in 8.4 seconds
• boards: Mike Reeves (USA) broke 100 boards in 7.07 seconds on the TV show "Good Morning America" in Oct. 2004 (with shuto strike).
• boards: 1534 in 10 minutes and twelve seconds at "Ripleys Believe It Or Not" in Orlando (USA) in Oct. 2004
  
• roof tiles: 32 in a single stroke
• roof tiles: 101 in 21 seconds (with fist, hand, elbow, foot and hand)
• roof tiles: 105 in 9.60 seconds
• roof tiles: 200 (1.3 cm thick) in 50.28 seconds
• roof tiles: 14 with touch-break
• roof tiles: 2000 broken in 5:37 minutes
• concrete slabs: 13 in a single stroke
• concrete slabs: 1.5 tons broken in 14 seconds
• concrete slabs: 84 (total heigh: 4.20 m) in 20,1 sec
• concrete slabs: a pile of 16 (each 30 cm thick), separated by spacers 7 cm thick
• concrete slabs: 22 concrete blocks (¹/₂ in thick, separated by spacers ¹/₄ in thick)
• concrete slabs: 400 (each weighting 2.5 kg) in 50.69 seconds
• concrete slabs: 100 (each weighting 2.5 kg) in 7.2 seconds
• bricks (most, no spacers): 16 (DETAILS)
• bricks: 199 within one minute (DETAILS)
• bricks: 151 within 25 seconds with Gyaku Tzuki (DETAILS)
• bricks (50 cm x 30 cm x 5 cm): 250 in 20.1 seconds
• bricks: 8 in a single stroke under water
• ice blocks (10 cm thick): 12 in a single stroke
• ice blocks: 90 in 1:00,5 min (DETAILS)
• ice blocks: 15, using the forehand, in 20 seconds