He actually did it. Not CGl, no stunt double

one of the only movies i can watch over and over and also sparked my interest in martial arts as a kid

Medical experts say that breaking wood with your legs is irrational and harmful to your body, but I believe that beyond the body’s physical mechanisms, there’s also an invisible mental realm. In Korea, many people strongly believe that if you harden your mind and train your body, you can unlock limitless strength. One well-known example is toughening your fists by punching concrete walls. When my friends and I were kids, we believed that if we trained by punching concrete walls, we’d grow up able to punch through walls and even knock down buildings. One of my friends, at the age of nine, claimed that if you could throw a punch fast enough, you could smash a glass window without hurting your hand. He proved his point by leading a bunch of us downtown and punching straight through the glass window of a restaurant. The owner came running out with a baseball bat, and we all took off running. Later, back at our hideout, we checked his hand — not a scratch on it.👊

Not only did he do it, but he went out clubbing afterwards too.

Except the breaking tree part. You’re not doing that with that kick

The reason why they do this it to strengthen the bone. Repeated impact to the bone increases the density of the bone. Therefore, it makes the bone stronger.

He’s a GOAT 🐐

Well, this is a comment from a YouTube-video where they discuss this: "Here's the thing of kicking a banana tree. One, most people would do it on a dead or a dry banana tree. Two, because of how the banana trees are structured the more you kick it the more loose it becomes making it easier to kick and kick. It's one of those marital arts gimmick which looks more impressive than it actually is. I'm from Myanmar and dry banana trees aren't that sturdy. A kid can basically rip it apart with their hands. It's not like you're kicking an oak or a yew tree, which would be a completely different story entirely."

The 80’s action stars were at a whole other level. I saw this clip recently of him just sitting & emoting & showing that he’s able to act. It was really cool.

If you know how to kick and it’s a banana tree then it is fairly easy. Having said that, I am not sure that is a banana tree.

That's so much hurting but training demands a high level of patience

I admire the dedication, but I question the method he chose to prove it.

Anger leads to hate Hate leads to suffering Suffering leads to kicking trees ass Kicking trees ass leads to pain Pain leads to anger...

That's why there were so many camera cuts. They had to stop and marvel at his stone shins destroying that tree. It's a miracle they made it through filming after he pulled this stunt.

@Grok is there any evidence that Jean-Claude Van Damme actually broke that tree by himself (without any other human intervention) during the respective filming session?

That’s impressive and all but it’s got nothing on this.

Miss me on that

Now thats called a real man

NGL that's impressive as fuck

Incorrect, his twin (Albert, left) in fact, did these type of scenes leaving Jean-Claude completely unharmed. After double impact, Albert-Claude Van Damme went on to work as an estate agent, due to ongoing shin issues. They have never spoken since.

Absolute legend 💪

He did actually kick the tree hard. He didn't really break the tree.

@BurzenFX 🤔

Damn, the Muscles from Brussels still got it! 💪🇧🇷

Jean Claude van Crack

Memorable scene, at least for kids at the time, good times

ouch

All time Classic! 👊🏽

i had more emotions and goosebumps from that one scene than any movies in the last 10 years.

He actually does what him to break his leg. True fighters break their bones to let them regrow stronger (though this is admittedly a little drastic here).

Legend

Kickboxer