Watch Roseville woman smash stacks of concrete blocks with arm — and why it matters
A new video shows Master Amitis Pourarian of Roseville breaking a stack of seven concrete blocks on her way to earning her 8th-degree black belt in taekwondo.
Pourarian tested for the belt on Oct. 9, 2022. The 45-year-old martial arts expert is now one of the highest-ranking female athletes in the sport in the world, according to a news release.
Pourarian, a Stanford University alumni, owns The Studio Martial Arts & Fitness in Roseville, California, which has nearly 1,000 members. An immigrant from Iran, she earned a spot on the U.S. National Taekwondo Team in international competition in 2001 and went to the World Cup.
While promoting the physical and mental benefits of martial arts, Pourarian said she is paving the way for girls and women to be powerful, equal to everybody and self-reliant.
“Martial arts predominantly has been a male-dominated industry,” she told The Bee in an interview. “And by climbing the ladder of rank, and being an influential person in the martial arts, we’re paving the way for girls and women to step into that arena and empower themselves and rely on themselves for self-defense.
“And we’re showing women that it’s OK to do martial arts — it’s great to do martial arts — and it’s a great way to, again, become self reliant. By setting that example firsthand, of being successful in it, (I’m) hopefully inspiring other people ... to step into this arena.”
The video above shows the Roseville, California, woman, who has more than 25 years of taekwondo training and teaching experience, busting stacks of up to seven concrete blocks in various demonstrations.
So how does she do it?
“A lot of confidence and technique,” Pourarian said. “That’s the only formula to break concrete. And typically, only men break those and not a lot of women. And when they do, they certainly don’t do that many.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 2:39 PM.
