Product Review: ProForce Rebreakable Board
Back in October, I reviewed the ProForce Curved Plastic Rebreakable Board. Once I was finished with it, I moved on to its bigger brother, the ProForce Rebreakable Board. These boards come in multiple sizes (ranging from 1/4″ thick to 5/8″ thick), are not curved, and – thankfully – are padded, to help prevent you from tearing up your knuckles. Pictured on the left is the 3/8″ board – they are color coded for convenience. I’m going to assume at this point that you know what rebreakable boards are, and what they’re for. If not, go ahead and read my earlier review which covers those basics. Now, on to the good stuff!
These boards are 9″ x 12″ in size, and as I said above range in thickness from 1/4″ to 5/8″, with yellow boards at 1/4″, blue at 5/16″, red at 3/8″, and black at 5/8″. This is handy, since it means you can be sure to find a board that is appropriate for your skill level. I have personally only used the red and black boards, but as they are the two most difficult ones it allows me to give some perspective on the challenge. The red boards are not difficult to break. I would say that any adult male should have no difficulty with them, if they have any prior experience with breaking. Women/children should probably start with the blue or yellow boards and work their way up. The black board, being the thickest, is the hardest to break. Again, any adult male with prior breaking experience should be able to handle this with no problem – at least at a full punch. I can not yet 3-inch or 1-inch punch my way through the black board – thankfully the padding on the boards helps with this sort of training.
The padding on the boards is extremely helpful. If you are practicing close-range punches, it helps keep you from injuring your knuckles. The only downside, of course, is if you slide your hand on the board when you hit it – the padding will tear your skin. That said, I find the trade off to be quite worthwhile. These boards do not stack as well as some of the others. You can do it, but you may find them too close together to break well.
These boards seem to run around $35 each. This is more expensive than some of the other boards on the market, but does not make them the most expensive. The construction quality is pretty good, with my only complaint being the glue used to hold the padding on – in some cases it can wear off and the padding will come off the board. I have not encountered this on all the boards, but I have on some – and in these cases I was able to re-glue the padding back on without issue.
The bottom line is: these boards are a great value for the money. They are reasonably well made, and not over-priced, and the padding will let you keep hitting them over and over again with minimal discomfort. The range of thicknesses will help keep an appropriate difficulty level as your skills improve.
Interested in buying one? Head over to Sakura Martial Arts Supplies.
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Tags: board, equipment, martial arts, proforce, rebreakable, review, training