To anyone wondering why at 5:44 the opponent's king (called General in Chinese chess) can't just take my pawn: the concept is called 飞将 (Flying General) or 面笑 (laughter face to face). In Chinese Chess (aka Xiangqi), the Generals can never face each without a piece interposed between them. The reason is based on Ancient Chinese warfare. Occasional battles would be decided based on a duel of the commanding officers. Whichever General won the duel would win the battle and the rest of the troops would go home or surrender. Sometimes these types of duels were due to ego, sometimes they were due to altruism for the troops, and sometimes they were due to opportunity (aka seeing the general exposed and going directly for the takedown). The word you often hear for this action is 单挑 or 大将出马. So based on some historical precedent, the people who helped develop Xiangqi have a "Flying General" rule to mimic the fact that if your general were exposed, he or she might just get directly taken by a cunning opposing general. So going back to the endgame I showed you guys. My pawn is protected by my general, so the opposing general can't capture my pawn or else my General will capture him. With no ability to capture my pawn, the general has to move. Then I could have ended it another way beside using my rook to checkmate. Knowing that my centroid pawn is protected by my General, I actually could have used my other pawn on that rank to checkmate by moving either to the left or to the backrank. The General cannot move out of the 3X3 Place, so that General is stuck in that palace corner. My right-most pawn, if moved to the left would be protected by the centroid pawn. If it moved to the backrank, it would be protected by the General's inability to leave the palace walls (unless for a flying general move). We'll explore all this more as I show you more about Xiangqi. Learning historical games can teach you so much about strategy and culture at the same time!

Human bone is a lot more resistant to fracture than concrete. The humerus, the upper arm bone, has a compressive strength of about 107MPa. Generally normal human bone can resist about 4000N of force before it is at risk of fracturing. This means that bones can withstand more force than standard concrete. It is very difficult to break them in healthy individuals. The brick he was breaking can’t resist even half as much force as the larger bones of the body. It’s not surprising that he was unable to cause serious damage even during a serious attempt to break the upper arm.

I like the niche and casual feel of this channel. It feels like I'm talking to my friend while making a BBQ

You never know when you'll be ambushed by a gang of bricks...

He didn't use an iron palm technic, he just used his mass...

When i first started Kung Fu the teacher read a long document. In it was stated ."Brick breaking and showmanship is the lowest level of Kung Fu. The Iron palm is great to the face or solar plexus.

Jerr: bricks aren't alll the same. That brick didn't look fully fired. The middle was a different color than the outside. Try concrete.

Man, you made a lot of good points in this. I enjoyed this great job.👍

The end of the video was more interesting than the original content. I also play a lot of strategy games; I view jiu jitsu the same way I view chess and go, and the games help me build a better mindset as a grappler.

Iron stomach master

Another aspect for centering the brick is that it plays on the bricks tensile (pull apart) strength which is generally a fraction of its compressive (squish together) strength it's why you can pull apart a cinder block it's not designed to be pulled apart it's designed to be squished from a material standpoint

There is an old martial arts trick where you 'bake' a brick for several hours in a hot oven to make it brittle and easy to fracture. To make it a good test, we would want Xu Xiaodong or one of his students to try to break the brick and fail, or at least feel how difficult it is to break using the Iron Palm master's method. That would tell us if a 'baked' brick was being used, or an ornamental brick, or an average brick, or a heavy construction brick, and so on. There's a technique to it just like there's a technique to board-breaking, where you strike THROUGH the target without hesitation and that keeps your hand from being hurt when you use proper form. Then there's hand strengthening. Being able to use the technique in sparring is then the next issue. :) Oh, there's another trick where you stack up a pile of bricks and sneak a thin 'shim' of metal in the middle, after say the 5th brick. Slap the top, and the 6th brick will break! Why? Because the force that's spread on the flat surface of the other bricks will concentrate all on the tiny thin area of the shim, and make the crack. And then you yammer about your 'ki powers' and 'death touch' and 'dim mak'. :)

Kudos to you sir, you're a great casual cultural ambassador

I'm not saying he was deliberately using a fake brick. But let's be honest. You can tell by looking at the inside of the brick after it broke that it's not the same as like what you might go get at Home Depot in the states. One of those would be much harder to break.

Civil Engineering, brick is extremely strong against compression but relatively weak against tension. That was tension applied to brick.

Thank you for the upload Brother! Dude: in China these tricks are well known as are the type of bricks used. A "fake" master uses an ornamental brick: whereas an actual master; aka Sifu, uses a heavy load-bearing brick. The latter minimum compressive strength for clay bricks is 9N/mm2 for buildings up to 2 stories: 13N/mm2 for buildings taller then 2 stories. Peace & Love!!!

a functional and objective method to testing punching power would be to use something like the PowerKube. You don't need to worry about the quality of brick, or weird special tricks on how to place them. And you don't need to sacrifice a human body. And you could use it to test different types of strikes...

I love your videos! My understanding is that human bones are flexible to some degree, and the force of the Iron Palm strike could travel throughout Brother Long's body. In the initial brick-breaking demo, I wonder if the underlying brick's edge acted as a fulcrum. You can see in the shadow he cast that Iron Palm Master had his right hand quite high. The momentum his hand travels, plus the mass of his arm, plus the fulcrum point receiving all that applied force could have, perhaps, contributed to the brick's breakage. What do you think? Bro, you're awesome! I enjoy your keeping up with Xu Xiaodong's journey!

To break bricks without physical statures like being heavy set or muscular, you can practice internal strength to counteract, if you don't feel like being a heavy or muscular fellow.

You don't need to pre-break them. Just hold the top one 1 mm higher than the second one and it will break really easily. That's why he is holding the brick.

i did see a crack

would love to see him fighting monks, the real ones

Notice the inside of his brick is black... It could be that his brick wasn't baked yet, and it's still a little wet inside; making it easier to break. Another way to go easier on your hand is to break a mason brick with the holes in it, but if you wanted more of a challenge, go for the baked mason bricks without holes and if they are slightly curved and fatter in the middle, it makes it more of a challenge that way also. c: That, and baking the brick fully after letting it dry out fully in the sun first. (if you don't, it makes the brick more brittle and therefore easier to break, if it doesn't crack in the kiln.)

I heard a story second-hand about a trio of American martial artists who were friendly with a Tai Chi Chuan master from China and used to play cards with him. One night, he asked one of them to fetch a brick from behind the house, inspect it to make sure it was totally solid, and place it in the center of the table. Once that was done, the brick was determined to be real and very solid, they continued playing cards with no further mention of the brick. But at some point, the master reached over the table and lightly tapped the brick with his fingertips, then continued playing with no comment. The guys playing cards with him didn't say anything until the master got up to go to the bathroom. Then they glanced at the brick and saw that it had a massive crack through it.

and even with iron first and breaking iron bars, we still need to account for the tensile strength of the bar. It might be much more complicated to break spring metal rather than some regular iron. Imagine trying to karate chop a bamboo pole in half, and the splinters... much easier to break a wooden slab.

A beer belly isn't an indication of anything other than they've stopped doing physical fitness. There are lots of examples of both amateur and professional boxers who have beer bellies once they've stopped physical training and are past a particular age. The brick breaking is more to do with physics than Iron Palm technique. I seen guys on building sites do the same thing.

Bricks do not fight back.. For our Martial test..breaking concrete tiles was mandatory…mainly to building confidence….. Thank you for pointing out your thoughts..

You definitely don't need to be big and strong to break a brick, it's all about using your inner strength fully, and completely, and at just the right moment, as well as using a muscle memory to memorize exactly how much force it takes to break the brick... I would gently hammer the brick with my hand for an hour or so, getting harder and harder each time you hit until you find just the right amount of force, so that you never over-exert or injure yourself in the process. I would break bricks all day if I had a steady supply, but they do cost money or effort to create, and the kiln I mentioned in a previous post. =3 Also, this isn't really Iron fist, but an exercise to get there, but Iron first is when you can break an iron bar; while wood and bricks are much simpler, yet all different.

In iron palm training you develop the muscle, ligaments, and bone to a certain degree. It takes time and the main focus is on maintaining health and safety. A boxer makes gains in development of the fist and wrist, a thai fighter his shins just by working on heavy bags. The weight gain sometimes comes from ego, and age. Not everyone who trains does it to be an active fighter. Plus iron body training is filled with showmanship and fraudulent practices for profit and notoriety.

Many iron hand/palm practitioners do spar. They just hold back because of the damage that is done. Soft tissue damage is observed too. There is a difference between those who just learn the techniques and forms and those who practice the fighting.

The real purpose of iron palm is to condition the open hand for repeated full force striking. You can't punch your way to victory without gloves. But, if hands are well conditioned, you can slap, chop, grab, and kick to a win. Even against multiple combatants.

That arm slap allows the arm to "go with the hit" without resisting thus the damage of the impact is lowered. For a better understanding imagine 2 cars colliding. The brick hit is a front to front collision. The arm hit is a back collision while moving (or without breaks on). A hit to the body, let's say ribs, would have broken the guy's ribs due to the resistance the body gives back into the hit. If the hit to the body would be snapped back the shock goes into internal organs. I know this because I was the dummy years back. No ribs broken though, was just given a sample. Yes, I did flew in the air a few meters before realizing what is happening to me.

The beer belly is where theu store their chi😂🗿

What is the expected result? Xu Xiaodung was pointing at the arm as if we were supposed to see something that wasn't (?) there. I am not sure what he was looking for. What is the claim the practitioner makes that the iron palm is supposed to differentiate on? Without that, it is difficult to even know what the test is supposed to be.

Best we can say of iron palm dude is that he has some degree of strength and form to break bricks. I dunno if Xu Xiaodong would've been able to do it himself if he tried, because that's the closest thing for comparison I can give. On the other hand, if dude was more in fighting shape, maybe doing some strike to strike comparisons between the Iron Palm guy and Xu would've been good.

Not only Taichi o Quigong masters, blackbelts in Aikido, karate and kenpo have big belly. Because the amount of ki?

And at the last second slightly pick the brick up however the bricks are porous so

Because Tai chi isn't cardio but don't tell them that

You need to work collaboratively with this guy and meet him. You're like his biggest supporter

5:45 In case you may wonder why the black king didn't get the red pawn: it is due to a rule special in Chinese chess, two kings can't see each other.

The only real way to test A vs B is to have a medium similar to ballistics gelatin in that it's universal in reaction. Not all boards, bricks or stones even are the same . I don't know what that medium would be though . Or maybe just a device that measures foot pounds or energy ? When I was training Hapkido during a belt test the head instructor did a break. This guy had seriously calloused fists. He had 4 boards that had certification marks on them of some sort and were bound together with no spacers He then had a student hold them by a string so they were suspended in air and he broke them in one shot with a backfist . That was pretty great. He Il Cho used to break a standard 6 ft 2x4 being held up by 2 light bulbs and the bulbs didn't break . He also routinely split a fresh out of the box Everlast heavy bag with kicks. Now of course it's possible that all of these were rigged somehow but I think it at least showed an effort at having a standardized medium .

Ive always wondered about the beer belly as well, motobu choki the karate guy from early 1900s was known to start street fights to practice and they called him the most practical karate master, and he had a gut

Cool xiangqi moves

I apreciate your honesty about never breaking a brick before. That is a very difficult break to perform. My sifu would do that type of thing, but while squatted down with his breaking hand only about a foot above the brick (so no added leverage or body weight involved. However, like you said.... "Bricks don`t hit back"

They should have let the mma student try the brick trick, and yeah, it's obviously a trick giving the amount of leverage given by the position of the brick underneath. You just need to find the right spot for the fulcrum to do its magic, apply swift heavy force on the exposed side and firm pressure on the other end to keep the top brick in place, flush with the bottom one during the strike.

It's unfortunate that it's hard to know whether someone is really using power and technique besides just trickery. Even if the brick is lifted a tiny bit before hitting it, it would cause it to break pretty easy when struck

Isn’t that just the best friend from the new Spider-Man?

Breaking is about skill practice a d method if do parm is different to edge and pressure will depend if bricks on tope of each other is still possible to breack both or one brick if focus the enrgry thought it

To paraphrase THE MAN “bricks don’t fight back” and if he does not have the skill as a striker this is not worth much. But it does have some worth. The issue is not a magic bone breaking but toughening the body as a weapon. The fact that he can break the brick only shows his hand and body can transfer force in a controlled circumstance and his hands are tough enough to be used in open hand attacks using the palm. Good for him. But that only works if you are good at parrying strikes and hitting at the parts of the body where that force transfer would be most efficient - ribs, side on elbows/knees and side of the skull. (Again not for breaking but energy transfer when striking) And he does not show that to me (his body may hint he can’t but I will not judge. )

I bet that guy could break a collar bone. I met a guy who did Iron Palm and it was one of many things he did in his system. He had huge callouses on his palms and as impressive as they were, I wasn't clear on the Iron Palm application in a fight.

Imagine doing an Iron Palm on a joint? 😮😮😮

Hey, you have a cool channel, I watch you a lot. I have retired from a lifetime of practicing the martial arts, but I can't stop being interested in the stuff and how it keeps changing. Anyway, I will tell you a recipe. Take a regular brik and soak it in water for some hours, and then freeze it overnight in the freezer. And then thaw it and and let it dry. That's it, your break is ready. It weighs the same, it feels the same, and your grandma can break it now.

I'm surprised no one has brought it up till now the story of when Bruce Lee dislocated someone's shoulder with a slap.

The more I look at Xu Xiadong, the cuter his face is.

Here's the thing guys... 😏 Knuckles and straight punching take a lot of conditioning. You can train bareknuckle for years and do zero palm conditioning and STILL hit hard objects with your palm more easily. I can punch walls now, but nowhere near full force. But with palm or hammer fist - easy.

For the Chinese chess puzzle, if anyone is wondering, the Governor should never be exposed to the General--these are the kings--and vice versa. So, if your General/Governor has a clear line of sight to your opponent's Governor/General, you can fly across the board to capture him--which is why the pawn wasn't captured. Otherwise, the General and Governor can never leave the square which represents his palace or fortress. Nice end-game puzzle. I do like this version of chess for its cannons and catapults and certainly the river and the houses for the Governor/General. Great game.

I bet he'd be great at one of those slap fights all over KZfaq.

Talking about bellies Xu isnt exactly wearing a small size shirt himself lol i have a bit of a belly too but i can spar and roll for an entire class but my opinion on brick breaking is its a trick but you do have to follow through in most cases but alot of those bricks aint too hard to break you just have to know how to hit them and it doesn't necessarily translate to fighting

There is a trick for breaking boards and bricks. I tested that in my vids. The very first scene in my oldest vid posted in my ch is when i broke a solid brick with that trick.

When I was in high school, my friends and I chopped bricks from a house next door doing some reconstruction. We got in trouble because we broke so many bricks.

paw SOMEONES ARM AS YOU DO IN EVERY COMBAT SYSTETEM I have learnt including white collar & professional boxing (In am not nor never have been a professional just learnt from a professional boxing coach!)

If u look closely on the brick u will see the line 😂

Very nice. Plz check coconut breaking techniques

Iron Chop is not Iron Palm. He was supposed to shatter the brick with his palm, not chopping it. Another sign is to look at his palm. I remember part of Iron Palm training is to wash his palm in sand and then iron crusts constantly which eventually toughens the skin and bones to the point they feel like iron hard. During the process, the hand, the forearm, and the arm would get a lot of exercise and should be somewhat muscular. I'm not see any level of muscularity on that arm. Maybe they are hiding underneath that layer of fat.

The brick is held in place and it has a fracture edge. Try breaking a brick suspended from a thread.

Imagine the iron palm hit to the head, back, stomach, groin. Not hit the hand

I and my younger in laws once had a lot of bricks for our house's renovation. They were in their teens, and they managed to break the bricks with their palms without practice. It's gotta be at least 5 bricks to be worth watching

The Iron Palm guy's hands look soft though. I watched the Charlene Houghton video you linked where her dad was showing how he trains Iron Palm. His hands are gnarly man. Looks like they've gone through H E double hockey sticks and back. Could probably crack a bowling ball without breaking his own hand.

I'd say to get a leg of pork to test it on. The bone density and the meat and tissue etc... round the bone is going to be reasonably similar to a human arm (I think, maybe forearm??). Going to look up the Chinese Chess now. I live in Guangzhou and have often wondered how this version is played. My 13 year daughter often destroys me at Western Chess so I'd love to give this a whirl. Cheers!

"Very good, but brick not hit back"

He can stick the brick out! It's still impressive stuff!

To paraphrase Bruce Lee -- "Bricks don't hit back."

I'm looking at the brick, and it's not in the middle. I would say it's closer to 40% of the way. But also, Xu probably can't do this w/o coming away unscathed. Having said that, bricks don't fight back. To me, these types of feats are more like circus feats. Kind of cool to look at, but certainly applicable only in very limited cicumstances.

Beer belly is where you store the qi. Lower center of gravity.

It's physics I've done this when i was 16 you hit it at a sliding once you come into contact with the top brick you slide while using the bottom bricks edge like it's a knife clean easy

Bricks don't fight back. - Chong Li

One of myy instructors used to call these "martial arts party tricks". I've broken a lot of boards and a couple of bricks (concrete, not like these). The trick is speed and not hesitating. If you hesitate, you will get hurt. Like Columbus's egg, it's easy enough when you know the trick.

They want that kung fu panda look.

I think breaking brick or cutting glass with the palm of your hand are just for show and entertainment.

There have been a lot of extremely tough fighters with good cardio who also had bellies - not that I think that the same is true of that old dude, but you can't always trust your eyes.

The way the top brick stick out over the edge - doesn't that make it easier to chop? I would have thought so.

I have broken bricks in stacks by my fists by palm by Chopping and dim mak without knowing dim mak. It was just challenges and dares from people, and I would show them. Untill now that know what I did was called dim mak. Now I'm trying iron fist, so far I paused a bunch of times and had to start from the beginning, it's painful to restart.

If you look closely that brick already have a little crack to where it broke, n if it's legit iron palm I don't think you need any leverage to deal serious damage in a human body...

If the arm was lined against the ground and had no where to move I think it would be a different story

completely flat and no space between the hand and the ring mat. Make if they add space like maybe 3cm? I believe it can break the arm in one punch.

I tried this after watching fight quest... it's hard

bricks dont hit back.....

its not the femur, its the humerus

I've got this Chinese chess ♟️ at home, but flat and out of wood and Chinese letters on it plus the playing field out of paper. It's a lotta fun!

Plot twist: the bricks are tofu dreg

Beer belly? Sammo Hung has joined the chat.

I guess you've never heard of Roy big country Nelson

He got hands like bear paws

Ive trained iron palm for a while, its a lot about technique so you dont hurt yourself. You train bone density to the point you can use your hand like a hammer to hammer nails. now THAT hurts the bone tho to anyone lol

They tested well, better beyond normal use in combat, meaning the guy couldn't pull off a more perfect iron palm strike than that in a real fight.

Look at the brick half at 1:10, it is filled with dirt. Real bricks are red throughout.

wait why couldn't the king capture the h pawn when you moved it up?

6:06-6:08 Jerry Yeung exactly used Chinese chess as a metaphor for his understanding of Wing Chun principle. If you want to know it, I can copy the paragraph for his book to you

bricks dont hit back.

I thought a test that'd make the most sense would be for Xu Xiaodong to take one of the dude's bricks and try to break it himself. That is, if Xu can do it without any specific training then it basically proves there's no benefit to breaking bricks over regular striking training.