Blocking seems boring and is very often glanced over by most and considered a side note, but blocking and controls are extremely important. So important in fact, that they must be practiced until they are as natural as walking and take as little effort and thought as,, yes – ones uses when walking. So yes,, as usual we do drills to train the mind and body to perform the very important task of preventing flesh covered bones from disrupting the integrity of our facial (and bodily) structure. During a confrontation our stress levels will be very high and fear of getting hit may actually increase the likelhood that we get hit. So the first thing we must learn to do is to not drop our hands from a naturally protective position. Hands will be held in in front of the body, maintaining the natural position of strength for the elbows. The most easily damaged areas on our body are on the centerline from the throat down to the ,, well you know. The flesh covered ball of bone on the top of our shoulders is often the main target of an attack and we will of course use blocks to protect this area, but the vital areas of are the eyes, jaw, nose and weak points around the Maxillary sinus areas. The other liability is the big bag of mush that is contained within the ball of bone. Any serious jarring that is strong enough to create negative space ( what we refer to as the deforming of the natural structure or integrity of the body and/or the natural cavities) will cause serious damage. So we dont want anything hitting us in the head with any great force (not that YHC needed to explain this, but this is how it was layed out for YHC,,, because eventually this is what we will learn to do to others).
So, back to blocking. There are two basic types of strikes that will be coming at us from the attackers hands. The round punch and the straight punch. Round punches and or strikes are typically easiest to block. They move in an arc towards the intended target. The hardest part is determining what the target actually is. But with our hands in a good natural position, our elbows will protect the possible targets from the hips to the lower chest, and our hands,forearms and wrist will protect from that point all the way to the head. The wedge block is the first technique practiced. making sure we dont reach out for the strike, we place the block in the path of the incoming strike so as to take the impact on our forearm. Now YHC has talked much about sharpening bones. And anyone that has come to fightclub has experienced the pain created by a sharpened bone as it stops an incoming strike. Once the bones are sharpened we find that the blocking of a strike causes severe pain and damage to the attacking body part. The harder the person throws the punch the more damage they will receive while we block that punch. It seems counter intuitive,,, but yes, the fight can easily be stopped simply by perfoming the perfectly executed block. Wedge blocks can be used for both high and low round punches. Most people will throw round punches when attacking and the majority of these strikes will be aimed at the head and face. But when we encounter someone that uses straight punches we have two things to consider. First,, a person that uses straight punches is likely trained in some form of figting art, and second,, straight punches are much harder to defend against. So, defense against straight punches requires more training and the coordinated of movement of most of our body. We have been practicing the required movement since the beginning of fightclub but today we broke down the movements. First, we do not actually block or stop straight punches like we do for round punches. Straight punches are actually deflected or avoided. We use a lateral or medial movement of the wrist and elbow to attack the incoming strike. We must also learn to allow the body to rotate at the hips and knees. At first we use the blunt part of the arm to deflect the strike and eventually we apply Dim Mak using the wirst (end of the pipe) to cause pain and damage to the offending body part.
Now, just as we practice combinations for attacks,, we must practice mulitple block sequences. We do this by having our practice partner throw a series of strikes for us to block,, and we attempt to defend. And then we repeat the same attack and try again and again until we develop a series of movements that defeat the attack. Then we change the defense to the same attack to develop a variety of defenses for that attack.. And then the attack is changed,, and this goes on and on for years and years until the body learns to adjust to the position, movement and intent of the attacker.
YHC speaks of sharpening bones very often and the regular training does accomplish this task fairly well. But there is a drill,, the three point arm training drill, that specifically sharpens bones. In this drill two people face each other and swing their arms in a lower ark until their forearms meet in a painful clash, then the arms rotate up in a lateral blocking fashion until it meets the forearm of the training partner, and then the third move is a lower ark until once again the bones clash,,,,, it is painful,,, can be very painful. Causes bruises and very tender forearms,, but eventually (after years) the bones are sharpened and the pain disappears. This is not recommended but is offered as a training tool for those that want to increase the effectiveness of their blocks. And yes we did this drill for full effect.
YHC was a bit long winded in this BackBlast, so please forgive my enthusiaasm. This part of training is very important and became a favorite for YHC. YHC hopes that you fine men enjoy training in this system and that you each take away some knowledge and skill. Thank you for allowing YHC to share in the training. "The best defense against evil men are good men who are skilled at violence".