History Main / BrickBreak

* Not that uncommon in certain martial arts, in fact it's a pretty standard part of training and competition in Tae Kwon Do. It's also not nearly as difficult as people think it is, though you can still break your hand or foot if you use bad technique, even with the wooden planks they start beginners with. It's also worth pointing out that one of the main goals behind this is that it builds confidence and trains students to always follow through with their strikes (failure to do so is what gets you hurt), not so much to show off how badass you are. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mREmQ4gx9r4 Although it can certainly be used for that purpose as well.]] Some schools use reusable plastic boards that can be put back together after they're broken, of increasing difficulty based on their color (the hardest, of course, is black).

* Very ''[[UndignifiedDeath fatally]]'' used in ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie''. A skinny nerd attempts to break some bricks ''[[UseYourHead with his head]]'' as a part of a viral video he's shooting to score with chicks... and is dead after hitting himself on the head with a {{nunchaku}}. The brick breaking trick had actually cracked his skull, and the nunchaku hit fully fractured it.

* ''Series/CobraKai'': Johnny interrupts the Miyagi-Do karate demonstration with one for Cobra Kai, involving fireworks and having his students duke it out on stage. Then, when they set up the bricks, Johnny has his students ''set the bricks on fire'' before he breaks them all in one strike.

* The Imperial China Chapter of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' opens with the elderly Master of Xin Shan Quan attempting to break a boulder with a punch during a practice session...and fail. This is what convinces him that his time is running out and that he must seek out disciples to whom he will pass on Xin Shan Quan. [[spoiler:The chapter ends with the surviving disciple punching the same boulder and breaking it in two, showing that they have surpassed their late master.]] [[spoiler:In the final chapter, the disciple must do this many times in their specific dungeon to claim their ultimate weapon.]]

* The Kung-Fu Chapter of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' opens with the elderly Master of Xin Shan Quan attempting to break a boulder with a punch during a practice session...and fail. This is what convinces him that his time is running out and that he must seek out disciples to whom he will pass on Xin Shan Quan. [[spoiler:The chapter ends with the surviving disciple punching the same boulder and breaking it in two, showing that they have surpassed their late master.]]

* In ''Series/CobraKai'', Johnny interrupts the Miyagi-Do karate demonstration with one for Cobra Kai, involving fireworks and having his students duke it out on stage. Then, when they set up the bricks, Johnny has his students ''[[UpToEleven set the bricks on fire]]'' before he breaks them all in one strike.

** [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]]: Brick Break is a [[ElementalRockPaperScissors Fighting-type move]], which, besides being a fairly powerful Fighting-type move that is learnable by many Mons, can be used to break [[DeflectorShields Reflect and Light Screen]], moves which halve physical and special damage when active.

* in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''

* An episode of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl'' featured a contest where Croagunk had to break several bricks in order to proceed, using the [[TropeNamer Brick Break]] technique mentioned below. Brock's Croagunk managed to break all of them. Meowth, disguised as a Croagunk, only managed to break his hand.
** A later episode featured the same thing, but with Oshawott and Dewott using scalchops to break the bricks. Meowth participates in this one too, disguised as a Dewott, using high tech scalchops that manage to break all twenty of the bricks, where the top competitors could only manage around ten or so.

* An episode of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries featured a contest where Croagunk had to break several bricks in order to proceed, using the [[TropeNamer Brick Break]] technique mentioned below. Brock's Croagunk managed to break all of them. Meowth, disguised as a Croagunk, only managed to break his hand.

* [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]]: Brick Break is a [[ElementalRockPaperScissors Fighting-type move]] in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', which, besides being a fairly powerful Fighting-type move that is learnable by many Mons, can be used to break [[DeflectorShields Reflect and Light Screen]], moves which halve physical and special damage when active.

* When [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] is powered up with a mushroom, he can do this from below.

->'''Test Your Might!'''
-->--''Franchise/MortalKombat''

* Not that uncommon in certain martial arts, in fact it's a pretty standard part of training and competition in Tae Kwon Do. It's also not nearly as difficult as people think it is, though you can still break your hand or foot if you use bad technique, even with the wooden planks they start beginners with. It's also worth pointing out that one of the main goals behind this is that it builds confidence and trains students to always follow through with their strikes (failure to do so is what gets you hurt), not so much to show off how badass you are. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mREmQ4gx9r4 Although it can certainly be used for that purpose as well.]]

* ComicBook/RichieRich''. After getting mugged, Mrs. Regina Rich decides to learn martial arts. Richie hires a bodyguard for her, who shows off his strength by breaking a branch with his bare hands, only for Regina to karate chop a log in half. She then goes around chopping everything she can see until she splits the Earth in two. Fortunately it's AllJustADream.

* The Karate Club of Youkai Academy in ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' once had a contest to see who could break the most tombstones. Kokoa won, beating the record set by the club captain.

-->'''Gaston:''' KIAAAAAAAAA-
'''Gaston (offscreen):''' AWOOOOOOO

* There was a ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' cartoon in which a martial arts class sees invading aliens whose bodies are made of bricks and boards, and know that their time to shine has come.
** Another had a martial artist ''about'' to break a brick...with the wall behind him about to land on his head.

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''

* Kuu Fei in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' moved on to ''boulders'' once bricks didn't provide enough of a challenge. And when those stopped being a challenge, she moved on to ''mountains''.
* An episode of Anime/{{Pokemon}} featured a contest where Croagunk had to break several bricks in order to proceed, using the [[TropeNamer Brick Break]] technique mentioned below. Brock's Croagunk managed to break all of them. Meowth, disguised as a Croagunk, only managed to break his hand.

* {{Parodied}} in Animation/InvestigationHeldByKolobki, where one of the protagonists, Colleague, uses a karate chop to break a pack of macaroni in half.

* Local chem-addled burnout Fred Allen of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' attempted this while high on Buffout. As his terminal details, he managed to shatter ten at once...then he tried breaking a ''steel'' board. The last bit of the Buffout trial is typed with his left hand.

* The Kung-Fu Chapter of ''Videogame/LiveALive'' opens with the elderly Master of Xin Shan Quan attempting to break a boulder with a punch during a practice session...and fail. This is what convinces him that his time is running out and that he must seek out disciples to whom he will pass on Xin Shan Quan. [[spoiler:The chapter ends with the surviving disciple punching the same boulder and breaking it in two, showing that they have surpassed their late master.]]
* Ryo Hazuki gets roped into a martial artist street performer's brick-breaking exhibition in ''Videogame/ShenmueII'', wherein the player must pass two rapid-fire QuickTimeEvents in order to succeed.

* During the TrainingMontage in ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'', they did this with their heads. Then during a fight later on, you see the same guy doing it to an enemy soldier's ''back''.

-->--''VideoGame/MortalKombat''

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', when Lu-Tze is being sniffily dismissive of all martial arts, he calls one of them "a waste of good bricks".