The Ice Break

   

There is an art to ice breaks. Of course they are not for training but stunts done for public performances.

 

They can take technique and power or they can be faked and you can’t tell from watching. Here is what I learned from a fried who trained with Pai.

When he was a green belt (sash) used to help set up the ice breaks for Daniel Pai when he did them at tournaments or demo’s.

 

The ice break involves a stack of large ice cakes with spacers between each cake of ice. The ‘secret’ is that each of the large cakes of ice must be scored with a nail on the bottom of the cake. That is necessary because the ice to break requires a fracture line to break on. Ice un-scored will not break.

 

Of course this can be faked. If the ice blocks are cut in two and the ends are salted and then placed together to refreeze the ice cakes are then weaker taking less force  to make the break work. And by simply looking you cannot see the difference.

 

In either case (Just as for a stack of boards to break) The first block being broken with enough force, allows the weight of the broken falling first ice cake to add to the force of the blow and the next block and the next block etc. add to the dramatic effect of the break.

 

Daniel Pai gained much notoriety from ice breaks. 

 

 Here is a photos of Daniel Pai breaking ice.

 

The story of Daniel Pai’s last ice break is on this blog post.

I assure you it is an interesting story.

 

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2015/08/ice-on-not.html