Martial artist seeks house to demolish with bare hands
SASKATOON — Wolfgang Manicke has demolished 26 houses over the course of his career as a martial arts master, a feat he accomplished with his bare hands.
It’s something that has earned Manicke, 58, several world records, and landed him on TV shows broadcast in Japan and Germany. Now the grandmaster at the Kuro Ookami Dojo in Prince Albert, Sask., is looking to take on his next opponent.
Born in Canada and raised in Germany, Manicke was two years old when he started his martial arts training. To prepare to knock down stucco and drywall, one needs to do a lot of strength training, he said. You can also expect to come out with bruises and splinters.
“For me, a house is like any other opponent,” Manicke said. “The first thing I do is to look for where the weak spot is.”
Newer structures are easier to take down, the grandmaster said, because older houses tend to use thicker wood. “The toughest spot is usually the stairwell,” he said.
Manicke, who teaches a variety of martial arts including karate, kick-boxing and ninjutsu, last took down a house in Prince Albert in 2011, along with a team of 15 other martial artists. The spectacle was filmed for Stan Lee’s Superhumans.
He said he and a crew of martial arts students once destroyed a house in 95 minutes.
Having been approached by a British film crew, Manicke posted in the classifieds of a Prince Albert newspaper that he was looking for another house to destroy. Since then he has received at least three offers from prospective homes.
“They would like me to take down the house within an hour,” Manicke said.
Once confirmed, the filming of the feat would take place sometime before March. Until then, Manicke said he will continue his training.
“I’m doing this completely for the fun of it,” he said.