The Ultimate Blocking Method
There are two goals when sparring, the first is to hit your opponent and the second is not to get hit in return. This is easier said than done. Many martial artists in many countries train their entire lives to become good at achieving these two basic goals. Martial artists around the world for thousands of years have come up with different ways to hit and not get hit, and I cannot say that any way is wrong, but some ways are less efficient than others. In all of my studies I have striven to find the most effective, most efficient techniques to include in my arsenal. What I would like to discuss here is what I call the ultimate blocking method. It is a carefully honed, bare bones blocking system that covers the most ground with the least effort to keep a person from not getting hit.
The ultimate blocking method might be best understood if compared with Roman sword and shield style fighting. In ancient Rome, Centurians carried a shield in their lead hand and a sword in the rear hand. They would intercept or strike their opponent with the shield and when he was off balance they would whip their sword out from behind the shield and hack at their assailant. In this way their bodies where exposed for the least amount of time while taking advantage of any openings that their efforts created in their opponents defenses.
To a modern hand to hand martial artist our lead hand is our shield and our reverse is our sword. A Centurion trained hard to have the strength to hold up their shield so that it would never drop in battle, so too must a martial artist keep his lead hand up at all times. It is a common mistake to drop the lead hand when kicking, punching, or even stepping, but this is foolish as it exposes our bodies while gaining no advantage. It costs little but training to keep the lead hand up and remain shielded from attack.
The lead hand must cover the most area possible in order to be effective. As the human torso is longer than it is wide the forearm should remain perpendicular to the ground or parallel to the body. The knuckles should always point to the sky, and the elbow should always point to the ground. If this position is maintained at all times, then your blocking tool will never be far from any viable target.
In order to make this block as effective as possible it is important to give the lead arm as little area to cover as possible. For this reason it is best if the defender stands sideways, presenting only a small portion of his body to the opponent. If you are sideways and your lead arm is up in the shield position described above then it will be no more than 4 inches from any target the opponent may attack.
With 4 simple movements of the lead arm the entire upper body is defended. If the arm is moved from the shoulder and hips inwards to the belly button without changing the forearm's orientation then the front is covered. If the arm is moved to the back no further than the shoulder the side and back are covered. If the fist is raised no higher than the eyebrows then the head is covered. If the elbow is dropped (but not the fist) as low as it can go, then the ribs and stomach are covered.
Why is it so important to move such small distances when blocking? The answer is that action is faster than reaction, and most blocking is a reaction to an attack. In order for the reaction to reach a vulnerable point before the action the reaction must have less distance to travel. I like to demonstrate this point to my students with a game. The defender places their hands palm to palm in front of them. The attacker places his hands, palm to palm on either side of the defenders hands. When the game begins the attacker attempts to slap the defender in the face. The defender tries to lift their same side hand to stop the slap. They can seldom if ever stop the hand from slapping their face. Action is faster than reaction.
Here is an example of what happens in the body during the game. The attacker decides to slap the defender with his left hand. The brain sends the message to the hand which then begins to move. The hand travels 10 or 12 inches before the defenders brain registers the movement. It travels 5 more inches before the defender identifies the side attacking and makes the decision to move his left hand. The attacking hand moves another 5 inches as the message is sent to the defending hand to begin moving. By this time the face slap is all but inevitable. The only way for the defender to win this game is by having his hands closer to his face than the attackers hands.
Why do I practice big chambers and large powerful blocks in my martial arts class if I am just going to do this small blocking maneuver and block everything? The answer is that the large blocks, the gross blocks teach you how to move your body and arm in concert. It is the same motion, but only made larger to help you learn the important hip and shoulder rotations that make all blocks even these small ones work.
Why do I see a lot of fighters at tournaments move their hands all over the place, changing position ever few seconds? There are currently several generations of fighters who are influenced by the showboating of very very gifted and cocky martial artists who are so fast and so good at reading telegraphs that they can get away with bad techniques that look cool. Bruce Lee is a very good example of this sort of fighter. He was so gifted a fighter that could stand full facing and have his hands behind his back and still block almost everything thrown at him by most opponents. This worked for him, but most of us are not yet as good as Bruce Lee, so it is not a good idea to imitate his showboating, but instead pay attention to his technique when he fought seriously and kept his hands up.
When I was coming up through the ranks my instructors would sometimes put on pads and spar with us. I remember very clearly one such match. My teacher would stand there with his hands on his knees, crouch down and stick out his chin. When I would throw a technique at said chin he would spin around backwards and back fist me in the head every time. He could get away with doing this because he was so much older, more experienced and better than me. A fighter who is not so unevenly matched or so ridiculously good should not showboat, but use the best, most efficient blocking system that he can learn.
How can I practice this Ultimate Blocking Method? To start with practice performing the movements with force. Move your arm in, then out, then down, then up. When you get good at this and your movements are smooth have a friend come and try to hit you with a foam covered bat. First have them strike your front, then back, then lower torso then down onto your head in that order. When you get good at that have them hit you anywhere they want while you stay relaxed and try to move as little as possible while blocking all of the strikes. Then when you are good at that have your partner throw kicks and punches at you while you practice just blocking.
This blocking method is very effective but there are many other skills that are important to learn in order to not get hit. It is important to know how to look at your opponent, how to read his telegraphs, how to jam a technique, how to evade, climb, parry, and dodge an attack. The most important thing to remember when training is to understand what you are doing and why, in this way you can avoid techniques that do not work or are based on faulty logic and get the most out of viable, logical, powerful techniques.
RULES 1 AND 2 IN SPARRING: STAY SIDEWAYS AND KEEP YOUR HANDS UP.
