A blog that hopes to knock your block off OR is it truly better to receive than to give?

Whilst perusing the webs yesterday, I came across a video on the Tube of You that left me a little… disappointed.

Now I get that folks use YouTube now to market themselves and their stuff. And that’s cool and all. But one also gets to see the narrowmindedness of certain… ummm… factions,,, when they try to promote their way as the only way.

This individual, who I will admit had a mighty fine haircut, spoke of the uselessness of “blocking.” 

He proceeded to express why he thought blocking was useless. From a policing perspective, he indicated that officers did not have time to figure it all out on the fly.

Stop for a moment and think that officers, if they do not have time to figure out what is happening, probably aren’t paying attention. Or making good decisions. But whatever. Consider that one of the weapons that the police carry – batons (be they telescoping or PR24 variety) – have defensive (read blocking) capabilities. Hell, some departments even used nunchaku as utility weapons. They, too, have blocking capacity.

They are also effective as a trapping weapon, not just a twirl-and-catch weapon. But I digress.

He went on to say that if anyone could show him pictures of a professional fighter – from anywhere, any country, any fight – using a block, he would back off. You will not find one, he stated, because blocking is useless – and MMA fighters know it. Violence for money is equated to violence with intent to harm or kill. Nope, that’s a false equation.

If blocks are useless, so, too, are figure 4 armbars, the guard, the mount and almost any other MMA move – if you are saying they are effective for policing use or a street fight. Someone wraps their legs around me, nothing stops me from grabbing a handful of scrotum and squeezing really, really, really hard. Same for the inside of a leg.

I have lots of dirty tricks.

But let’s go back to his premise.

Wanna know why he figures blocks are useless? Really good answer is: he is looking at them the wrong way.  Lots of people are. And if you are, too, that’s OK. You are forgiven. But now is your chance to learn.

The Japanese word “uke” does not mean block. Or blocker. Or anything remotely like that.

請ける ukeru, most appropriately translated means to receive or accept something.

So you should consider receiving a punch in a different way than blocking a punch.

Take one of my favourite expressions from my misspent youth: pain is like Christmas – it is better to give than receive. There’s that word again!

Coincidence? I think not. Consider this – treat each strike at you as a present.

What do you do when you get a present?

You open it up.

You use the shit out of it

Then you discard it.

SO, why not receive a strike the same way:

-          Receive it: deflect it, stay just out of range, reposition yourself tactically, control or seize the attacking limb.

-          Use the shit out of it: sweep, strike, hit, smash or otherwise attack resolutely within the confines of your legal obligations.

-          Discard it: get the hell out of Dodge if and when it is safe to do so.

If you are backing up to block for anything other than learning how to move beyond a strike (or get the basic concepts of a technique down), you will fid that this is an unwise plan quite quickly.

Sometimes you have to move ahead into the attacker, as Iain Abernethy shows.

Or maybe you move offline as he shows here.

Or you can take the approach that the guys form Karate Culture show here and make blocks and strike pretty much the same thing. I also like some of the ways they apply “blocks” here and here, too. Bear in mind, these are just some of the ways uke can be applied – and only some of the points of manipulation to use (eg repositioning, etc)

Take the moves in Sanseru that Tamaki Sensei shows here. Watch where his right knee goes as he moves in. How would that feel, do you think? The legs/ postures are as much a part of “uke” as the hand movements are.

Paul Enfield Sensei has some good stuff here, too. Different language, same idea.

And what you see are uke. Receiving. Accepting. And then delivering of some of that good ol’ fashioned pain back to the attacking source.

I don’t know who the guy is beyond the video. His credentials are paraded out in the video background, but that means nothing to me. Names I do recognize that see a value in using the concept of uke are guys like Marc MacYoung and Rory Miller. Both seem to share the understanding that “blocking” has merit. It is how it is used that is important.

And therein lies that problem that many share.

Do I think blocks are useless? Depends on how you use them. What I do think is useless is people “battle-testing” concepts they do not explore or understand and then nullifying them based on their own martial cognitive bias. I don’t buy into echo chambers. And I do not swallow wholesale what folks tell me unless I have seen it work for myself… or if it works for me.

Not everything works for everyone. But that’s a blog post for another day.