How can a "Shaolin monk" stand to rest his body on the tips of five spears pressing into his chest and abdomen, It's a matter of pressure and sharing the weight.
Compression is the secret to this difficult body manoever, but strong, muscular fingers are definitely part of the equation.
Cracking thick wooden poles on the chest and back of the peson to the left is a sight to behold. Believe it or not, the force required to break the pole can be smaller, depending on where you hit it. This even holds true when an iron bar is broken over a person’s head (if both know what their doing) , it is a simple fact of physics.
The version of the traditional bed of nails sees two ‘monks’ sandwiched between a double nail board all on top of a bed of swords. However, the stunt is safe, it's all about pressure.
Cracking and breaking a stone with a karate chop of your bare hand takes a lot of strength and force, but it's not impossible. Afterall, some rocks are weak in tension.
Soldier monks demonstrate how they can play with fire, or a red-hot iron shovel from the fire, and not get burned. It's a matter of the Leidenfrost effect. It takes an incredible amount of heat to turn water into steam, more than most people would realize. That heat is used up in that process, and the skin is protected.
In this Chinese
presentation a Chi "teacher" cracks a concrete slab with his head. Impossible?
Just check out an ostrich egg model, and you'll be surprised.
