# scared of blocking a round-house-kick



## Wingsingh (Apr 22, 2013)

Before I start I'd like to apologize for not knowing some Wing Chun techniques names.

Today at training we had to block a round house kick with a parry and then guide the kick away and then move in, and do a move of our choice; I.E a elbow or a straight punch or whatever you've learnt.

Anyway, we kept swapping partners and i was fine with it, until I come up against a guy who's kicking was very strong. I panicked everytime and kept moving back and didn't even try to block his kicks. I couldn't even move in because I was so far away from him.


Any suggestions or tips would be much appreciated.


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## yak sao (Apr 22, 2013)

Wingsingh said:


> Before I start I'd like to apologize for not knowing some Wing Chun techniques names.
> 
> Today at training we had to block a round house kick with a parry and then guide the kick away and then move in, and do a move of our choice; I.E a elbow or a straight punch or whatever you've learnt.
> 
> ...




A good kicker is intimidating. If you stay back and give him room to kick, he's got you right where he wants you.
By exploding in, you are stopping the kick before it can gather steam.
Don't think block, instead think if yiour arms/legs guiding the kick away from you as you continue your step inward.

Here's a short clip of my old sifu showing some kick defenses.
http://youtu.be/tRETpdWWnNU


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## Cyriacus (Apr 23, 2013)

Heres some general information. If youre not stopping him from doing whatever hes going to do next, hes going to do something right after hes finished the current thing. Youre self-defeating. Id suggest letting someone kick you a few times, until you stop thinking theyre certain doom.


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## Touch Of Death (Apr 23, 2013)

Get inside that rotation and you will be fine. Stay back, and die. LOL


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## mook jong man (Apr 23, 2013)

Wingsingh said:


> Before I start I'd like to apologize for not knowing some Wing Chun techniques names.
> 
> Today at training we had to block a round house kick with a parry and then guide the kick away and then move in, and do a move of our choice; I.E a elbow or a straight punch or whatever you've learnt.
> 
> ...



When you say you are parrying a round house kick.
Do you mean that you are using your hand in a Pak Sau motion to slap away a kick ?
If that is the case , that is stupid and stop doing it now before you get seriously injured.

In most circumstances it  is best to use foot against foot and hand against hand.
Having said that , there are techniques in Wing Chun that only use the hands against a kick , but they don't use a small surface area like the hand , they spread the impact all the way up the forearm. , as with the double Garn Sau .

The best method in my opinion is to attack straight through the centerline with your own kick.
Next best is to do a leg raising deflection and then counter kick.
A very distant last is to use your arms only against a kick.

In these videos you will see the defences I am talking about.

Best one , attack with thrust kick and use Garn Sau to cover.

[video=youtube_share;fI4K64v257Q]http://youtu.be/fI4K64v257Q[/video]

Next best option

Leg raising deflection with stamp kick follow up.
[video=youtube_share;Hev6XRgCaX4]http://youtu.be/Hev6XRgCaX4[/video]

Last resort options , using arms only to redirect kick.

Double Garn Sau with hook kick follow up
[video=youtube_share;QlffkKTtbkQ]http://youtu.be/QlffkKTtbkQ[/video]

Double Garn Sau with follow up throw.
He should have did a palm strike also with his free hand , but he seems to have forgot.
[video=youtube_share;jy0clwmWlwI]http://youtu.be/jy0clwmWlwI[/video]


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## Wingsingh (Apr 23, 2013)

Thanks for the advice everyone. Mook I couldn't watch them videos because am on my cheap mobile phone.

Anyway, I text my friend who trains with me to ask him what the technique was called and he said it was a "Garn sao to block the kick."

I think I was a little scared that I might hurt my arm because the guy is very powerful and my arms ain't very conditioned.


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## yak sao (Apr 23, 2013)

Wingsingh said:


> Thanks for the advice everyone. Mook I couldn't watch them videos because am on my cheap mobile phone.
> 
> Anyway, I text my friend who trains with me to ask him what the technique was called and he said it was a "Garn sao to block the kick."
> 
> I think I was a little scared that I might hurt my arm because the guy is very powerful and my arms ain't very conditioned.



Very risky.

Don't pit your smaller arm against his larger leg and think you are going to come out on top.
Unless you are using this along with moving into his space.


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## mook jong man (Apr 23, 2013)

Wingsingh said:


> Thanks for the advice everyone. Mook I couldn't watch them videos because am on my cheap mobile phone.
> 
> Anyway, I text my friend who trains with me to ask him what the technique was called and he said it was a "Garn sao to block the kick."
> 
> I think I was a little scared that I might hurt my arm because the guy is very powerful and my arms ain't very conditioned.



Ok so it was Garn Sau then , when you said parry I had visions of you trying to Pak Sau a roundhouse kick.
Garn Sau doesn't depend on conditioned arms.
It depends on having your arms positioned correctly , proper angles so they don't collapse and perfect timing with the pivot .
There is also a slight rotation of the forearms upon contact , that is a lot of stuff you have to get right.

You have to spread the impact force over your forearms by pivoting 45 degrees as the kick comes in  , because of the timing issue it can be a very difficult technique to get right , not a technique I would recommend for beginners or even intermediate students.

It took me about a year before I could get the timing correct and be able to spread the impact over the whole of my forearm , up until that time I was going home with golf ball sized lumps up my arms every night I trained , but in hind sight I think it wasn't really worth the amount of time I put into perfecting the technique , there are easier ways to deal with kicks.

Which is why I recommend pairing the Garn Sau with an attacking technique like a thrust kick.
By using the thrust kick with the Garn Sau you mitigate the force he can generate in the kick , and even if his kick reaches your Garn Sau the amount of power in it will be minimal.
To be able to generate power in his kick he has to rotate his body , your thrust kick going down the centerline stops his rotation and affects his balance because he is on one leg.

When you see him going to kick , throw your Garn Sau up on the side he is attacking , and at the same time fire off your thrust kick with the leg on the opposite side , as you kick it will naturally pivot your body and bring your Garn Sau into the proper position to cover the side of your body.
Over time your kicking and reflexes will get better and his kick won't even get to hardly touch you.

 As I said before , best to use legs against kicks don't use just your arms alone  unless you have no other choice.


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## Argus (Apr 23, 2013)

I think quan-sau might offer a safer option against round kicks. Especially if they like to kick higher. Or better yet, just throw your own kick down the center, as mook mentioned. Another thing you can do is just move in - especially if you move in at an angle away from the kick, to lessen the impact.

The most important thing with a kick is that you try to absorb or redirect it. Legs are much stronger than arms, so don't go crashing your arm into the kick.


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## geezer (Apr 23, 2013)

The real thing about defending against a powerful roundhouse kick, ...or any really powerful technique is being able to avoid taking the full force of the attack. Evade, absorb, redirect... whatever, but don't oppose force with force. Not only is that bad Wing Chun, it's simply a bad idea in general. 

Look at how this guy deals with a roundhouse. It's not WC, but I saw a lot in here that I liked. Check the kick defense at around 3:41 for example.


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## Eric_H (Apr 23, 2013)

Wingsingh said:


> Before I start I'd like to apologize for not knowing some Wing Chun techniques names.
> 
> Today at training we had to block a round house kick with a parry and then guide the kick away and then move in, and do a move of our choice; I.E a elbow or a straight punch or whatever you've learnt.
> 
> ...




Was he kicking to the leg, ribs or head?


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## hunt1 (Apr 23, 2013)

3 families for methods to deal with kicks. Which family depends upon your speed,stamina comfort level etc. The arms always used in a covering fashion

1. Move into the kick. With a round kick you must get to the depth of the opponents knee. This requires the best awareness stamina and timing
 2. Kick vs kick. You are caught where you can not move in, kick is a  surprise, you are tired etc.
3 Move away from kick. In case of round kick power of kick must pass in front of you. You then spring forward into the attacker. This is safe but requires practice to do quickly. Training for this is found in the pole form and sword form.


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## Wingsingh (Apr 27, 2013)

Thanks everyone for your advice. Eric he was sometimes kicking to my ribs and sometimes to my head.


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## yak sao (Apr 27, 2013)

Wingsingh said:


> Thanks everyone for your advice. Eric he was sometimes kicking to my ribs and sometimes to my head.




Scissors gaun sau as you explode in past his foot and into his stance...continue with chain punching


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## Nabakatsu (Apr 27, 2013)

I tried to find a video of scissors gan to no avail!


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## Eric_H (Apr 30, 2013)

Wingsingh said:


> Thanks everyone for your advice. Eric he was sometimes kicking to my ribs and sometimes to my head.



Ok, so there have been a ton of technical answers given already, and while i agree/disagree with some i think the major part of your issue is mental rather than technical (backing up and scared of kicks).

First step to combat this is that you have to commit to not being a pu... uh, sissy, not running away, living and dying by your wing chun skill. When there is no option for retreat or surrender, your mind changes a bit.

Second is sunken elbow training and rib conditioning. Its hard for someone to kick your ribs if your elbow is sunk in (both thai and WC do this). And if you are used to contact on the ribs, and have built up sufficient muscle mass there you will not be damaged easily. Keep in mind I didn't say hurt, middle kicks will still hurt, but it is less likely you will be damaged. If you don't have a friend to kick you lightly, I suggest some of the iron body tools out there, I use what amounts to a grouping of small iron bars to smack my ribs daily. After a while you can ramp up and take a lot more punishment w/o injury. 

When you truly know your opponent will have a hard time hurting you, even with his good technique, you do not fear him.

As for your head, that's trickier, because landing head kicks are usually good for a KO, so there is more necessity to fear a head kick than a body kick. This one, I'd get used to blocking until your WC interception skill picks up more. You can usually eat a head kick with your forearm without too much damage. If your timing is right, you can set up some trapping/throws with it too. 

Look for san-da kick grabs which will give you some ideas. Similar to what's shown in clip below, but at head level:


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