What Block would you

[Brandon Fisher]

Inexperienced hook punch I would use mawashi uke more than likely. A more experienced fighter I think it would depend on the situation.

[GATES]

This is done by basically performing a left Age-Empi (rising elbow). If you step in enough, their fist will extend past you and the centre arm (much less powerful) will colide with your arm which is protecting your head. You are then in range to counter with a right Mawashi-Empi (roundhouse elbow)

this what i was thinking pluss you could counter with a hammer fist to the collar bone

thanks for all the replys

[Jiffy]

Shuto to incoming elbow crease

DO NOT do that!!

Might work on a straight punch, but definately not a swinging punch!! If you do that, the elbow stops, but the fist keeps going, ultimately stopping when it contacts your head.

If you want stop a punch coming in this manner, you need to block below the elbow.

A shuto lower down the arm, perhaps to the radial nerve might be a better option.

I suspect you misunderstand me Jiffy. Although I said shuto I did not imply the 'traditional' 45/45 degree angles of the upper and lower arm. This would indeed, as you say, get you clocked in the head. But if the angle at your own elbow is much shallower (lets say 140 rather than 90 degrees) the block will work just fine. Blocking this way has several strong points:

1. If you catch their elbow crease with your distal ulna and your elbow angle correct their punch cannot possibly swing round and hit you. All you need to do is to make sure that the distance from your distal ulna to your head is longer than the length of a forearm and a fist. Even on wildy divergently sized individuals the length of the forearm is not terribly different (so your elbow angle will require little adjustment).

2. If you miss the elbow crease slightly, because of its shape your forearm will tend to be 'funnelled' in to the elbow crease anyway, then it catches there (ie. there is no tendency for your block to slide either up or down the arm). Catch the arm anywhere else and there is a rather greater possibility of your block sliding along the arm inappropriately. That said, I'm not totally averse to catch the incoming bicep, which has an impressive effect, but the elbow crease is safer.

3. It isn't really a block, you're just striking the incoming limb. The harder the attacker punches the more it hurts him, the less inclined he is to want to punch you with that arm again.

IMO this is a far safer option than trying to block the forearm and does much more to disrupt the attack rather than just parrying one incoming blow. As for catching the incoming radial nerve, well that can be fun, but not something I'd want to rely on in the heat of battle.

Mike

Sorry, still don't understand what you're getting at...

As for the radial nerve, I agree. Not something I would aim at as such, but any block in this area will likely affect that nerve cluster as it is quite large and exposed.

[ps1]

I had a crappy hook thrown at me today. I wasn't really expecting it so I used a quick, simple side block/grasping block. Strict grasping requires more precision and is easier to screw up; whereas, a strict side block requires a punch or sweep to prevent further attack (I don't like punching people and as an ATSA I worry about concussions).

I moved into an elbow lock from there.

Maybe not a textbook answer, but it happened.

In they dynamic world of fighting very few things are ever textbook. That's the only text you can depend on. Well done.

[Mike Flanagan]

Sorry, still don't understand what you're getting at...

Think of the final position of shuto - the blocking arm partially extended and hand held palm down.

This forms an upside down triangle. The base (upside-down) base forms a horizontal line from shoulder to hand, and the elbow is the vertex. If you keep the hand at shoulder height (so the base line is always horizontal) you can lengthen or shorten the shuto by moving the hand along that horizontal line - the internal elbow angle will increase/decrease as you do so.

What I'm suggesting is that you do a 'long' shuto. The horizontal base line will be quite long, rather longer than the length of your own forearm in fact. If you block the incoming elbow with that shuto then, in order for the person's fist to come round and hit you anyway, their forearm must be longer than your shoulder/hand baseline. So as long as keep that shoulder/hand baseline quite long their fist cannot hit you.

Does that explain it any better?

Another way to think about it, if I turned my hand palm-up rather than palm-down the movement would feel like I'm throwing a frisbee.

Mike

[wolfen]

what would be an english translation of shuto?

sorry for my ignorance... we use very little Japanese... Only sparring calls (Osu and the like) and kata names (which for some reason are named differently than all of the rest of the kata forums call them... but they are the same katas).

[bushido_man96]

what would be an english translation of shuto?

sorry for my ignorance... we use very little Japanese... Only sparring calls (Osu and the like) and kata names (which for some reason are named differently than all of the rest of the kata forums call them... but they are the same katas).

I think that shuto is an open handed block, like a knife or ridgehand block. I could be wrong, and the karate guys will have to correct me.

[Brandon Fisher]

Correct. knifehand block = shuto uke

[wolfen]

alright, thank you... I also used that after he tried to charge me into a wall... also mixed with a grasping block though...

I guess I must like arm locks a LOT more than I realised.

[bushido_man96]

Correct. knifehand block = shuto uke

YES!! HaHa, I am learning!!!