There are lots of different martial arts styles out there. In 4S Ranch alone, you have BJJ, Krav Maga, Karate, Shotokan, Muay Thai, Kempo, the list goes on. One thing I have never quite heard of before, however, is the idea of not blocking. One of my students sent me the video below from a seemingly police officer/military guy explaining that he would never block away from his body. He covers by using his arms to absorb the blow, but he never does a block away from his body. Check it out:
He explains in the video that you should be closing distance and getting to a dominate position on someone, that blocking wastes time and that professional fighters never block with their arm away from their body. I agree with a lot of this, getting a dominate position is smart. Closing the distance makes sense as long as you know what to do from there. But like everything in the martial arts, it is situational.
In Kajukenbo every block is treated as a strike. Most blocks happen as a result of the person throwing another punch, rather than wasting time trying to block everything like mentioned in the video, your training to respond with something that will cross the center line but also protect you if they turn. So that is one use for blocking that I would say is important to note, all blocks, other than parry’s are strikes. He also says parries aren’t useful, and yet the same professional fighters he notes before use them all the time.
Absorbing is a useful way of blocking. When someone throws a straight or a hook punch at me, if I am absorbing I consider it a block. It can be very dangerous to move in when absorbing depending on how that person knows how to swing generate power. Based on the video we are assuming there is going to be a fight, I am not going to assume this guy doesn’t know how to elbow me in the face like below.
I think absorbing and moving in is a great tool to have in your tool box, but I am not going to use it on everyone, that’s for sure. Stick with learning and growing and doing as much as you can.