Why So Many Boards Don’t Break on the First Try at Generation Hero

The setup is over. Now it’s just a line of attendees, a stack of boards, and David Albin standing next to each person telling them exactly where their hand is going wrong. What actually happens once people start swinging looks nothing like the clean demonstration from a few minutes earlier. Most people pull back at the exact moment they should be driving through.

That gap, between knowing the technique and actually committing to it under pressure, turns out to be the entire session. Albin doesn’t let anyone leave with a half strike. He coaches every single one of them through it, one at a time, in front of the whole room.

Why does almost everyone stop short on their first real swing?

Over and over, the pattern repeats. Someone lines up, hits the board with real force, and it doesn’t break, not because they weren’t strong enough but because they pulled their hand back the instant it made contact instead of driving through to the other side. Albin tells one attendee flatly that stopping right there is exactly the problem, that they’ve got to go all the way through it. He shows the difference physically, hitting his own palm to demonstrate, then has them try again. Some get it on the second attempt. Others need four or five tries, a short break to catch their breath, and a reminder that the board doesn’t care how many times it takes.

What Albin keeps coming back to isn’t technique at all by that point. It’s reason. He tells one person mid-attempt to find a reason right now to break the board, something in their family, something in their business, anything real enough to drive through with. The physical mechanics matter, but they’re not what gets someone through on the fourth try when the first three didn’t work. What gets them through is finally connecting the strike to something they actually care about.

What does it take to get someone through when they’re genuinely convinced they can’t?

One exchange stands out from the rest. A husband asks Albin how to handle his wife, who’s checked out mentally and doesn’t want to go through with it, though he believes she’s capable. Rather than force the standard strike, Albin offers her a different path entirely: breaking the board with her foot instead of her hand. She still has to fight through it, missing twice before Albin tells her plainly to find the warrior in her instead of the anger, and to go home with an actual win instead of a maybe.

Well, see, let me tell you what Henry Ford said. Henry Ford says, if you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.

Albin says this to a different attendee who’s stalling, hedging with a maybe instead of a real commitment. His answer isn’t sympathy. It’s a flat refusal to let the doubt stand unchallenged. He’s watched seven and eight year old kids break these same boards. The wood isn’t the obstacle. The story running through someone’s head in the half second before contact is the obstacle, and it’s the only thing standing between a strike that lands and one that doesn’t.

What is this actually training people to feel in their own hands?

By the time the line starts thinning out, Albin has said some version of the same thing to nearly every person who’s stepped up: “You have enough personal power within you to break that, a brick, anything else.” Not as encouragement dressed up to sound nice. As a flat statement of fact he’s watched prove true across thousands of people, over and over, regardless of age, size, or how certain someone was two minutes earlier that they couldn’t do it.

What the room walks away with isn’t really about wood at all. It’s a rehearsal, in miniature, for exactly what happens later that night on the fire, and for what happens every time someone in that room faces a real obstacle back home with no coach standing next to them repeating the same instruction to drive through it. The lesson gets planted here, while the stakes are still low enough to try, fail, breathe, and try again.

Watch every attempt in full, including how the room responds each time someone finally breaks through, free, when you Create your free account.

The full session transcript follows below.

Transcript

three two one go oh all right three three two three two one yeah we can do that okay here we go here we go get your up here there you go one two three go whoa there you go take your board congratulations good job here we go there we go 10 days ago all right so at the end let me see if I can we'll do it together how's that okay there might be all right how does that feel does that feel good you guys like that all right who's next three more yep come on in just come on in here we go step on in where's the arrow there's the X all right so get them like get her lined up step up into it there you go there you go you're fine just get her lined up get her hand up there get her hand down get her lined up there we go here we go okay you guys ready here we go on the count of three one two three very good you're stepping okay so now I want your arm all the way out get in a little closer there's where it so you're hitting in here go through the board all right go through it hold it up for okay right now come back here we go on the kind of no it's not going yeah well you hold on it will there we go well welcome to life I know right here we go here we go hit it this time here we go one two three here we go all right got it excuse my French but she bitch slapped at that time He knows me best, so he always knows what to say.

Right, yeah, he did. Good deal. Good job, good job. All right, who's next?

Here we go. All right, guys, so you're seeing how it's done. Okay, all right, here we go. You guys ready?

Let's do this. Here we go, line them up. Line them up. Remember, hit it with your palm on the count of three.

Here we go. Here we go. Yeah, remember. Where am I doing?

Yeah. Okay, more force. Yeah, remember here. This right here.

Not there. Don't get that palm up. Here we go. Are you guys ready?

Here, show them some love, you guys. Here we go. One, two, three, go. That's nice.

There we go. Step up, step up. Yeah, go all the way. Here, get your paw.

You're coming here. Not here. Here, hold it up. That's good, right there.

You got it this time. One, two, three, go. There we go. Here we go.

Yeah, see, you had a little knot. It was giving you a little bit of, yeah, but that's good. All right. Right in the middle there.

Yeah. All right. Here we go. Get your arms lined up.

Get him, line him up. Get him, get it, yeah, step up. There you go. So remember, you're hitting here, okay?

All right. Aw. Here we go. On the count of three.

One, two, three, go. Get off a little coaching. Get your, get your hand up. No, no, you're, you're, you're doing this.

Yeah. You want to, you want to go through, go through it, all right? Can you do it higher? A little higher, sure, absolutely.

Rotate. Aim, aim for that, get, get to, yeah, there you go. That right there is going to do it. It's that bone right through there that's going to get it.

All right, here we go. One, two, no. You're going to have to hit it. Okay.

See what I'm doing? Here's what you did. You're stopping right there. Right here, all right?

You've got to go all the way through it. All right. So you're going, you're going to here. Getting, getting a little closer.

All right, here we go. So stand like like your hips into it. Move, move, move. Put your hips into it.

Hit it this time. Here we go. Ah. Okay.

I can't do it. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, you can. Here, let me, let me have it for a minute.

Can you, can you do it on my palm? Yeah, if you want to hit a fat palm, just hit it on your palm. Because I can do it on my elbow. All right, so, so here's what I want you to do.

So, so stand right here. All right. And then on count of three, you're just going to come into me right here, all right? Don't hit me in the chest, but you're going to come all the way through.

Come through this time, all right? Got it? Look at me. You got this?

Yeah. All right, here we go. One, two, three. No?

More. I want more from you, okay? Do you want me to hit you? No, I don't want you to hit me.

Okay. Okay, that's what I want. Yeah, let's just be clear. So here we go.

You got this? One, two, three. No, that won't break it. Hold for a second.

Look. Move your hips, okay? Do this. Mimic me.

Move with me. You're not moving your hips. Move your hips. Come on, like you're dancing, okay?

We're not dancing here. So it's going to be like this. One, two, three. There you go.

That would have broke it, all right? Did you see it that time? I want to see it again. One more time.

Guys, go ahead. You guys can keep going if you want. Here we go. Let me hold it.

Here we go. Try it again. One, two, three, okay? That would have broke the board, all right?

Now hit it this time. Got it? You got this, all right? Here we go.

One, one, two, three. Come on. You got this. We'll be here.

One, two, three. Yeah! Good job, man. Yeah.

Want help? Yeah. Yeah. Come here.

You just needed a little cheering, bud. All right. So here's what I want to see. All right, so what I want you to do is just show me.

Your move right here. You know what? That's not really helping all that much, is it? Yeah.

Yeah, can we just, yeah. Hold on just a second. Can you stop representing? Yeah.

All right, so let me see. Hold on just one second. You want to take your flip-flops off? All right.

Yeah, there you go. All right, so now it's going to be one, two, three, all right? So that's what I want to see right through here. And I want you to land.

I want you to. I want you to end about right here, all right? So it's one, two, three. Harder.

One, two, three. Harder. You've got to hit it. Like something that's important to you.

You gave birth to a girl, come on. What is it? Find something. Find a real empowering reason right now to break this board.

Think about whatever it is. Your children, your family, mom, dad, somebody that you're going to break this for, okay? So now you're going to hit it. Going to hit it, hit it.

Like somebody was going to do, going to hurt one of your children or your mother or your father was going to hurt you. They were going to hurt you and you had to hit them, okay? Are you ready? Here we go.

One, two, three. Okay, so you did this. I don't want you to do that. I want you to come.

I want you to follow all the way through, okay? One more time. Here we go. Three, two, one.

Stronger. Wow. One, two, three. One, two, three.

Stronger. One, two, three. Okay, that would have broke the board. Now I want you to take it up just a notch, okay?

Here we go. One, two, three, go. All right. You pulled back again, right?

So you had it the first time. Let's go ahead. Guys, go ahead and do another one. So we'll move with it.

Who's up next? Well, here we go. This time you do it. One, two, three.

Okay, that was pretty good. That would have broke. All the way through. Stiff arm it.

Stiff arm it. Is your hand all right? You want to take a break? We can try?

No try. You can't do it. You can't do it. What did he say?

You can do it. Okay. Okay, smack it this time. One, two, three.

Stop it. Keep going through. You got it through. You're pulling back.

Take a break for a minute, and we'll come back, all right? Okay. Because I'm going to show you another way to do it. All right, who's next?

Who's up, who's up, who's next? Who's next? Draw it down. Guys.

You want to, can you come around? You want to come this way? Okay. What part of your hand are you hitting with?

Go with this part. Remember, this is through. You hit it, and you instantly pull back. Don't pull back.

Go all the way through. Like you're going to drive it through his chest, okay? Even if you have to just take a step and go through. There you go.

That was no problem. I think you broke the board. Nice job, Dave. Oh, yeah, that's a break.

That's a break. There you go. Come on up. All right, show me, hold this.

Okay, all right, you and I, right? Okay, so the board's right here. I want you to drive all the way through. Move your hips, drive it all the way through.

One, two. No, see, you're one, you didn't change, right? So it's got to be one, two, through, okay? You felt the energy of that, all right?

You all right? All right, you don't have to hit it that hard. The board will break the same. So let's try it again.

Here we go. So it's going to be one, two, three, all right? One, two, three. Oh, that's right.

Grit, that's what we're looking for, see? That's the determinant. I want to see it again, one more time. You want to get your hand up, get that thumb in, and I want to hit it right here.

This is the bone through here that will break that board, okay? So here we go. One, two, three, all right? Close.

Close, but it wasn't like the other one. I want you to grit your teeth this time. Show me your teeth. This is just you and I right now.

No cameras, no nothing, just you and I. Here we go, grit your teeth. Find the reason to do this. One, two, three.

Okay, that was pretty good, but I don't know. One, two, three, there you go. Yeah, now, next time, I want to see teeth, all right? This time, I want to see teeth, all right?

Here we go, come on, here we go. One, two. Three. Hand all right?

Here we go. Okay. One, two. Here we go, come on.

Do you want to take a break for a second and come back to it? Maybe. I think you're better off not doing like this. You can.

Good job, man. Good job, Rudy. Take a break. Take a break.

Okay, hold on to a second. Who's got another board? I'm ready. You ready?

Here we go. Let's go, Paul. I'm going to get you through this board. Thanks, guys.

Okay, put your arm out. Okay. All right. All right.

All right. All right. All right. All right.

All right. All right. All right. All right.

All right. All right. All right. All right.

Alex, you ready? Are you ready? One, two. Here we go, guys.

Come on, Darren. You can do it. Right through, dude. Here we go.

One, two, three. Who's next? Come on, Darren. You got this, man.

Paul, lumberjack catching. There you go, man. Right through. Right through.

You can do it. Here you go. Here you go, Darren. There you go.

Hold on. Who's next? You want to go? You want to go?

You ready to go again? I think so. I can do it. You can do it.

Well, see, let me tell you what Henry Ford said. Henry Ford says, if you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. Can you do it? No, it's not a question of if.

You can do it. I've had kids break these who are seven, eight years old. Kids. Break them.

They believe. You can break this. You have enough personal power within you to break that, a brick, anything else. You're holding back.

You're pulling back. Okay? So find a reason right now to break this board, whatever it is. Something in your family, something in your business, a reason to break that board.

Nice. Good job, Mike. You got it? All right.

Hold this for a second. All right. Hit it here. Hit it here.

See, you don't have to have it up there because it's right here. See, I'm going to hit that. See what I'm doing here? I'm hitting that board right there.

Right? So, like, you're hitting for this part. Well, remember, this is good. This is bad.

So it's the bone that goes through here. The power is in the bone of the wrist right there. So you're hitting. You want to hit right there.

So I don't want you to hit here is what I'm saying. So you're holding that part back. Okay? That make sense?

Like this, right? Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

That right there. That movement is what will do it. Which side do you want? This side?

Okay. All right. So hold on one second. All right.

Here we go. I want to see it. One. Two.

Three. Okay. There we go. One more time like that.

Really. Take it to the next level. You've got another level. Let's do this.

Here we go. One. Two. Three.

Yeah. All right. All right, guys. Here we go.

She's got it this time. You've got this this time. Here we go. You're coming all the way to here.

Here we go. Here we go. One. Two.

That was close. Come on. You were that close this time. Smack.

One. Two. Three. Ah!

All right. Scream this time. Yup. All right, you guys.

Let's give her some love. She's got this. Come on, you guys. Let's do this.

Here we go. One. Two. Three.

Ah! One. Two. Three.

Come on. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.

Right there. Right there. You hit here. That part.

Over here. Feel it. Hit him in the chest. One.

Two. Three. You're hitting flat hand. Take a breath for a second.

Just take a breath and we'll come back to it. Take a breath. Take a breath. He's trying to do it.

Hey, guys. If I could get maybe just a few of you just move back just a little bit. That's you, man. You got this?

got this? All right. So, show me what you got. One, two.

Okay. All right. So, get that palm up, though. All right?

Here we go. On the count of three. One, two, three. Who's next?

Go ahead. Let me take care of her. Let me take care of her. She's been standing here all day.

Okay. So, show me what you got. Yeah. No, you're going to break it.

I'm going to hold. Yeah. So, it's here. This is good.

One, two, three. Yeah. Drive through it. You're driving through it.

Okay? Put your hips into it. One, two. Okay.

Try that one more time. That was pretty close. No, that was pretty close. One.

Let's do it on the count of three together. You ready? Here we go. One, two, three.

Yeah. Nice and smooth. One, two, and then drive through it. All right?

You've got them on both sides. So, yeah. Let's do it this way. Here we go.

One, two, three. Smack it. Find your reason. One, two.

I'm sorry. Aim for here. If you have to, you can flat hand it. If you're hitting it with your knuckle, you want to hit it with this part of your hand.

Bend your wrist back. This is good. I hit it with my knuckle. Get a monkey pop.

Yeah. Get a monkey pop. Okay? And you want to hit here.

So, this is the movement. One, two, three. Then you drive through it. Yeah.

If you can, yeah. If you want to do it. I hit this this time. Yeah.

So, that's just how I teach to do it. So, it's this part here. I hit here. No, it's okay.

It's okay. Which way do you want it? It doesn't matter. Whatever's going to break it.

Whatever's going to break it. Here we go. I hit my knuckle. Okay.

Here we go. Aim for the… Okay. Put it into it.

Here we go. One, two. No. So, you're hitting.

You don't need to touch it before you do it. Hold it. Hold it one second. So, hold it.

No. So, that's what I want you to do. So, you do it. Yeah, but you want to.

You want to pull that back. All right? So, here's the movement. I'm hitting my knuckle.

Yeah, you don't want to hit your knuckle. Hold them back. See, if I'm going into it that way. So, one, two.

See that? I'm hitting here. One, two, three. I'm not going to hit my knuckle there.

Right? You have to get leverage. Go up. Okay.

You need to be able to bend your wrist back. Yeah, I'm hitting here. Okay. All right.

Here we go. You got this this time. Find a reason. Don't hit it like that.

Is that right through the floor? Well, yeah. You went, but you're going to… On the third try.

No. You'll break your hand. One. Good job.

Thank you. You're welcome. That was awesome. Woo.

All right. Good job. Yeah, you're welcome. Like it wasn't even there.

Wow. You kind of went, whoa. I did that. Get your wrist back.

All right. Are you next? Wow. Oh, okay.

Okay. All right. All right. Here we go.

Who's next? Yep. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Hold it. Yeah. All right. Show it here.

You're coming into here. There we go. A little further back. What do you want me to do?

In other words, you're just going to… Yeah, I just want to see you practice one time. Okay. One, two, three.

Harder than that. Harder than that. Harder than that. Harder than that.

You're a big guy. Hit it. One. A little bit of pressure, right?

Well, yeah. I don't want you to break. I don't want you to do that either, right? One, two, three.

Harder. Here's what I want to see. Just one, two, three. Drive through it.

So I want you to come… Your hand's going to end up here. Okay? You got this this time.

Hit it. Here we go. Let's do this. One, two, three.

Good job. Nice job, man. All right. So we got my wife to do the breaking.

Yeah, my wife will do the breaking, and I'm not sure what's the best way to approach that. If she just mentally checked out, she's just checked out. Is she checked out? I don't know.

I mean, she's trying to hide from it, but like as a husband, I don't want to force her, but I know she can do it. Of course she can. Oh, I just said, do you want to do the step? I just said the other foot's back out.

I had one girl do a step. She has wrist injuries. So they broke it? I don't know if it was…

No, my wife was the person who broke it. Okay. I'm just trying to find a way to… Does she want to break it with her foot?

Whatever y'all feel like. Let's break it with her foot. Let's break it with her foot. Okay.

So that way she goes home away. Alvin, go get the boards back. Sorry. Sorry about that.

I'm sorry. So I'll tell her with the foot. Absolutely. Yep.

All right. I was scared to death. Okay. I'm going to have it.

I want you to break it that way. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to show me first, okay? So you're going to end up right here.

So it's one, two, and then you're coming all the way to here. Okay. Here we go. You know what?

Let's stand over here so you're not on that rug. Okay. Here we go. One.

Two. Three more hits. Hit it. Got to smack it.

One. No. Take you over here. One.

Two. Yeah. No. Okay.

No? No. Got to hit it. Got to hit it.

Find a reason to break this board. Okay? Hit the damn thing. All right?

Here we go. One. Two. Three.

A little more. That might have broke it, but I don't want a might. I want you to go home with a win. Let's do this.

Now hit it this time. Grit your teeth. Don't get angry. Go inside.

Find the warrior. Let's do this. Here we go. One.

Two. Three. Not enough. Nope.

One. Two. Three. That would have broke it.

Now. Okay? Put your hips into it. But here's the thing.

I want you to hit it harder than you just hit it that last time. You ready? Okay. You do it this way.

I'll hit it really hard. Let me see. No. That's.

I can't. I can't. I can't. That's.

I can't. You. That's the wrong way. Okay.

I don't want you to break. It has to be up here in the curl. Oh, okay. Okay?

I was thinking about that. So break through happiness and break through fear. All right? One time.

Here we go. One. Two. Three.

Nice. Yes. Great job. Thank you so much.

You're welcome. All right. You look ready. Show me what you got one time.

Yes. Right through here. Here we go. Like this, yeah?

Right here. Hit it right there. Get that thumb. All right.

Here we go. Drive through here. One. On the count of three.

One. Two. Three. Now, let's do it this way.

One. Two. Three. Follow through on the third one.

Okay? Here we go. One. Two.

Three. Okay. Double it this time. Give it to me this time.

One. Two. Three. That breaks the board right there.

Here we go. Here we go. One. Two.

Three. Here we go. Hey, man. I just walked in the door and they handed me this.

That's all it takes. It's like, dude just showed up at the party, man, and they're breaking shit. Yeah. I mean, that's perfect, man.

It's like a rock star. So it's just a simple one, two, three. So you're breaking it. Get your hand in a monkey paw.

Break it right here. This is good. This is what breaks it through there. This is bad.

So if the board's right here, I want you to drive to here. Yeah. On the count of three. And try not to hit the instructor in the neck.

Here we go. One. Two. Three.

No. Try it this way. Here we go. One.

Two. Get your body into the movement of it, okay? Like a martial arts, if you will. So it's one, two, three.

Okay. Here we go. One. Two.

Three. Okay. That'll break it. Here we go.

You ready? Get that palm up. Here we go. Here we go.

One. Two. Three. Four.

Five. Six. Seven. Eight.

Nine. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18. 19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 23.

24. 25. 26. 27.

28. 29. 30.