When learning how to use their martial arts for fighting, students are tempted to find their best method of landing their strikes. To actually disable your opponent, you must eventually throw an offensive technique.
My theory on fighting is to begin by learning how to block effectively. Learn how to defend all angles. Learn how to react to different types of strikes and different types of opponents. Learn how to block so effectively that you do not have to think while doing it. If you are able to hold your position in a fight and block everything your opponent is throwing without panic or thought, you are able to free your mind to look for openings that come up. An offensive technique usually will leave an opening but defenders are so busy worrying about blocking techniques that they often do not have the presence of mind to also look for an opening to reverse the momentum. Imagine how easy fighting could be if you did not have to worry about being attacked but just had to throw an appropriate technique when an opportunity presents itself. This is exactly what good blocking will provide for you.
I would like to encourage students of all forms of Martial Arts to spend time focused on the blocking techniques within their styles and how to execute them properly. I believe it is important to spend time seeing a variety of attacks and identifying which attacks give you a problem Once you know your own weaknesses you are able to work on techniques that will cover up those areas. When your blocking is automatic, I guarantee that you will see openings quicker and feel comfortable attacking them.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Very helpful, practical post. Do you think you could post a list of the 12 blocks? I've never forgotten the first six, but my memory of the second six is a little cloudier.
Post a Comment