The Power Inside
The "best" way to block depends on the best way you have of finding power inside of the moves. Developing both speed and power is a matter of the focus inside a block and depends, in a great deal, on each person's physique and physical differences.
Rather than tell you which focus is best and then encourage you to use that focus, I am going to tell you about the different focuses available to you and will encourage you to try them all. This article is meant to be read and practiced with while you think about it.
For purposes of illustration I will use what is commonly called "up block" and will describe how to use each focus while doing the block.
The Block as a Punch
Monkey, Isshinryu and a substantial group of British Shotokan martial artists all generate power in their blocks by thinking of the block as a punch. With "up block" that starts with the right hand at the right hip. Jab the hand (palm towards your chest) to your left ear. Now, continue the punch to the final position of the block.
Isshinryu (with the thumb placed to the side rather than underneath the fist, and with no rotation on any of their punches) actually just keeps the jab going and punches out at a 45 degree angle. The arm rotates about a quarter turn as the punch continues. Try it a few times (with the thumb in the "wrong" place).
Now, put the thumb back where you and your instructor will want to see it in a normal fist. Jab to the ear and from the ear punch straight up, snapping the wrist and hand. The arm will finish with a bend, the fist and knuckles pointing up and stopping about six to ten inches away from your head. Do it several times, not from the hip, but from the hand next to the ear and then short punching up as if hitting at a low ceiling. You will get a strong snap out of the punch. The forearm will keep the same angle it has from beginning (fist at left ear) to end (fist punching). This is the Monkey Pau Ku style of blocking.
Finally, relax, shake everything out, and do a few "normal" up blocks (your normal way of doing them). Then, finish them with a punch (knuckles facing about 45 degrees out, not straight up) to firm up your focus. This gets you to the British Shotokan innovation -- not quite as obviously a punch as Monkey, not quite as down right innovative as Isshinryu (the Isshinryu guys are too tough to call them anything else. Now, if their method of blocking didn't work ... but it does work for them).
Finish up with some normal straight punches to the front from horse stance. You have just taught yourself how to find focus in your blocks by thinking of them as punches. Try it on and off for the next couple weeks to see if it helps you and if it fits your body style. You may find your up blocks much more powerful and faster, you may find it just makes you uncomfortable. Take whatever is useful from this method -- and definitely abandon anything that doesn't work for you.
The block as a hammer.
This next drill consists of thinking of your blocks as hammers. Just as the first series gave you several ways to think of your block as a punch, this drill is designed to help you think of your block as a hammer or a hammer fist.
To warm up, start by doing hammer fist strikes from horse (or side) stance, alternating sides and arms used. Start slowly, and visualize the fist as it travels the full length from your ear or chest all the way to the final strike. Hold on each strike (do hammer fist, not back fist). If you have a partner or a bag, hit a bag or a target with the hammer portion of your hand.
Now, back to practicing blocks. Bring your right hand from the right hip to the left shoulder. (The punch block drills all seem to work best from the left ear, the hammer fist drills work better from the left shoulder). Slightly in front of the shoulder, your knuckles in line with your arm pit. Move to this position five or six times until it becomes a natural movement.
From the shoulder, swing the arm out and hammer fist at a spot about two feet above your right shoulder. If you can get in a low stance and have a high bag, try hitting the bag with the hammer fist.
You've just executed jodan barai (high sweeping block), one of the "old fashioned" up blocks. It tends to be a little "too much" of a block for most modern martial artists (it blocks a very large area, which takes time), but it is a good practice to get a feel for what some martial artists did a hundred to five hundred years ago.
Once you've got the feel for that technique, modernize it by hitting with the hammer fist to a spot about ten to twelve inches above the left shoulder. Repeat this strike, from the left shoulder to above it, several times. Then adjust the distance until you are striking far enough to block, but not too far. You should be able to feel a substantial amount of power when blocking this way.
For a variant, hammer with the knuckles of the hand (palm down) rather that with the hammer fist. That should help you make sense of pictures you may have seen of old martial artists blocking "wrong" (without fully turning their arms) that may have left you wondering if their blocks really worked or not.
The block as a hammer fist is what many old fashioned martial artists seem to have been trying to express when they spoke of hitting with the block. If your blocks have seemed too weak, this is a great way to add power to them without changing much of the way you do your blocks.
If you do your blocks open handed, you can use a chop the same way you would use the hammer fist. This is an excellent way to focus more power into open handed blocks.
The block as a forearm strike.
Pro football players learn to hit very, very hard with their forearms. Some martial artists who learn to strike with their forearms bounce baseball bats off of them and break two by fours with them. There is a lot of power in a forearm strike. Nakayama, the head instructor of the JKA appears to be striking with his forearms in many of his blocks. He hit hard enough that he once won a tournament by defending and attacking with just his midlevel block.
Begin to focus on your forearm strike by starting with the hand, palm down, thumb on the left nipple of your chest (for men, slightly higher for most women). Stand in front stance (or in a natural stance, with your body turned 45 degrees). Strike forward with the forearm. A heavy bag will help here as you practice hitting with the forearm.
The forearm smash turns from palm down to palm towards your chest as it hits. It is a very broad or sweeping strike (your forearm is a lot longer than your fist). After you have gotten a good feel for it (or remembered how to do it if you used to play football), it is time to practice the block.
The right hand comes from the right hip to the left nipple several times to get the feel of the motion. Then, from the left nipple, (your hand may be either palm towards you or palm down -- this will teach you the difference between a five animals style block and others -- practice both), smash upwards.
Try five with the block coming from the "top" of your forearm (the part of the forearm that is on the same side as your knuckles) and five from the "side" of your forearm (the part of the forearm that is on the side of your hammer fist and that is traditionally used for blocking).
You will find, depending on your body type, that one feels stronger to you than the other. You will also find that if you hurt part of your arm, you can rotate into the other part of your arm and keep blocking without aggravating the injury. The various iterations of the forearm smash are good to practice if your forearms get injured a lot in your workouts and you are not allowed to use forearm pads or can't afford them (I practiced for a long time before I could afford a gi, so you have my sympathy). You will find that using a good forearm smash with the part of your arm that isn't hurt allows you to continue on when others would have to quit.
The block as an elbow strike.
This is the last set of drills and visualizations. The fist comes from the hip to the middle of the chin. (You have probably noticed that depending on how the power focuses inside of the block, the fist starts the final part of the block in different places. As you decide how you want to visualize and focus your power, you will need to adjust the rest of your block to fit).
From the starting place at the middle of the chin, the forearm as vertical as possible, the elbow strikes upwards until it is directly over the right shoulder with the right biceps fairly close to the right ear. Your block pits the power of your elbow strike at right angles to the attacker's punch.
Try this several times. Now, visualize an ax kick coming down at your head and your block elbow striking through the kicking leg's ankle. Repeat the block for your left side, and then practice the block with the fist coming all the way from the hip rather than just from the chin.
Afterword
Each of these methods should help you visualize power in your blocks and to feel the motion of the power that makes the block work. Once you have familiarized yourself with the method that works best for you in up block you can begin to work with other blocks.
Try down block with your hand punching out or as a hammer fist. Try your mid-level blocks as forearm smashes or elbow strikes. Work through what generates power for your techniques and what makes your blocks faster and stronger. Fit the material here to your body type, build and the dictates of your martial arts style.
Steve Marsh
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