Break it down
A prevailing image associated with the martial arts is that of an intense, screaming guy in pajamas screaming as he breaks a board, or a brick, or a concrete slab, or something along those lines. There was once even a karate team in Pittsburgh, Pa., that got publicity by volunteering to "demolish" condemned homes with their bare hands.
There was once a time when breaking skill was equated to fighting skill, and to this day, many traditional schools have breaking requirements for belt advancement. Breaking skill is still one of the things that most impresses people who don't study the martial artists. This article doesn't purport to debate whether or not you should train your breaking ability or whether it's an even remotely useful skill to have (many fighters say "no"). It's just an attempt to dispel the mystery.
How does one train to break stuff? There are generally two methods: the external and the internal.
The external method is very simple. Pick a semi-hard, mostly stationary object. Strike it repeatedly, but gently. The next day, do more reps, or strike it harder. Repeat until you can hit said object full force. Then find an even harder object, and start the process over again. Eventually, you'll be able to break bricks with your bare hands.
This method is favored by most Japanese stylists. Its primary advantage is the surprising speed in which practitioners can condition their hands to the point where they can break large, impressively hard objects. In just a few months, you can see real results, and people have reported that they were able to break bricks after just six months of training.
There are several big disadvantages to this method, however. The first is that it tends to leave a good deal of ugly scarring on your hands. Look at an old Japanese karate master, or observe the knuckles of renowned Chinese kung-fu expert Pan Qingfu and you'll see the evidence of the hard training. It's not pretty. I guess the scarring is OK is you're never in polite company, but if you train the martial arts as a hobby and work in, say, a law office, people will be put off by the disfiguring scars.
The second disadvantage to this type of training is that it typically involves a lot of pain. It hurts to force yourself to keep hitting the iron plate or rough-hewn tree trunk constantly, every day. And if you stop the training, your breaking ability will slowly and gradually fade away. That's not just training, it's a life sentence.
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