Block on your opponent's forearm from outside

[Wing Woo Gar]

Inside upper body block can permit the attacker to drop the elbow of the blocked arm straight down on the defender's chest if they're trained well enough. But I don't expect people to do that typically.

Defense is to block the attackers arm between their elbow and shoulder. This should also open their armpit nerve cluster to attack, among other fun things, perhaps osoto gari. The risk of an inside block is more commonly the attackers other hand of course.


One of our principles is "A person's unbalance is the same as a weight." Stealing their balance is one of life's pleasures. Grab, pull, push, trip, throw, etc.

Taking the space or balance is as gratifying as any successful strike IMO.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Would you agree that Baji is good for a takedown strike?

If you can cause a

- head-on collision, any punch can be a knock down punch.
- rear-end collision, most of the punching power can be cancelled out.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

If you have trained both the striking art and the throwing art, you will find out that it's much easier to develop your throwing skill than to develop your striking skill.

Not true for everyone. I've trained both and found striking wayy easier to develop.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Not true for everyone. I've trained both and found striking wayy easier to develop.

Interesting, I had the exact opposite experience. Striking the way I do now as opposed to how I did twenty five years ago has changed drastically. It me quite a long time to develop and evolve my striking. I’m still learning nuances from my students. Throwing, sweeping, and upending people comes rather naturally to me, (ground game grappling not so much) my main reason for gravitating toward striking was that it seemed the more daunting pursuit at the time. I was most impressed with Sifu Paul Gale and wanted to train with him, rather than in a particular style. What was your experience, and how did it differ?

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Interesting, I had the exact opposite experience. Striking the way I do now as opposed to how I did twenty five years ago has changed drastically. It me quite a long time to develop and evolve my striking. I’m still learning nuances from my students. Throwing, sweeping, and upending people comes rather naturally to me, (ground game grappling not so much) my main reason for gravitating toward striking was that it seemed the more daunting pursuit at the time. I was most impressed with Sifu Paul Gale and wanted to train with him, rather than in a particular style. What was your experience, and how did it differ?

The biggest thing is likely that I enjoy it more. But when I train grappling, whether throwing or ground grappling, I have a block. I'll know what to do, but my body and the 'opponents' body don't always do exactly what I want it to. Eventually, it will, and I learn, but it takes weeks for me to get something down where the equivalent in striking will take me half an hour (to a basic level, obviously). Then when it comes to variations and strategies, I can pick up both of those fairly quickly in striking-if someone tells me "no do this, instead of that", and I already know one variation or tactic, I can pick up the other rather easily. If I'm told to do the same with a variation for grappling, I have to learn the variation all the way from the beginning. And when it comes to tactics, I just can't wrap my head around them. It's not a matter of panicking when I'm grappling-if I'm allowed to strike, I can very easily figure out a way to use striking to either escape/disengage, or position myself how I need to. But if I can only grapple, it becomes immensely more difficult for me.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Not true for everyone. I've trained both and found striking way easier to develop

If you

- wrestle 15 rounds daily, you can take your opponent down 15 times. Next day your opponent will still wrestle with you.
- spar 15 rounds daily, you can knock your opponent down 15 times, He may not come back next day.

It's just too difficult to develop the striking skill.

Can I

- take this guy down? I think I can.
- knock this guy down? I'm not too sure.

The confidence in the striking art is always questionable.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

If you

- wrestle 15 rounds daily, you can take your opponent down 15 times. Next day your opponent will still wrestle with you.
- spar 15 rounds daily, you can knock your opponent down 15 times, He may not come back next day.

It's just too difficult to develop the striking skill.

Can I

- take this guy down? I think I can.
- knock this guy down? I'm not too sure.

The confidence in the striking art is always questionable.

I disagree. If you've knocked someone down once, you know the strength needed to do it. At that point, you can continue developing power and technique with mitts, and tactics/experience/skill in light-contact sparring.

 

[drop bear]

So why can't the person blocking throw the elbow?

And he would have the inside line

 

[Holmejr]

The possibilities are practically endless. “A” could do this or this and “B” could do this and that. The original picture is an action shot and we don’t know what happened just before and just after.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

So why can't the person blocking throw the elbow?

And he would have the inside line

When forearm contacts on forearm, both persons can bend his elbow.

When this happens, it's always a good idea to put the other hand on your opponent's elbow joint. This can serve 2 purposes:

- Prevent your opponent's elbow strike.
- Guide his leading arm to jam his own back arm.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

The possibilities are practically endless. “A” could do this or this and “B” could do this and that.

This is why to prevent a problem from happening is much easier than to allow a problem to happen, you then try to fix it.

It's always a good idea to block on your opponent's elbow joint than to block on his forearm.

 

[Holmejr]

This is why to prevent a problem from happening is much easier than to allow a problem to happen, you then try to fix it.

It's always a good idea to block on your opponent's elbow joint than to block on his forearm.

Block the elbow - absolutely. We spend 100’s of hours on it. In sparring, oops happen. But ya gotta keep moving! As soon as there is contact, something else has to happen, whether you get the elbow, forearm, bicep or even just wrist, you have to keep moving with no stopping until the attacker is nullified. In the original picture, the attackers momentum is going in the direction of his punch. He is clearly not balanced. The blocker simply diverts the attackers energy. This opens the door to a myriad of great techniques. If the attacker was in boxing mode, he wouldn’t be so weight forward. In that case the blocker is in a more dangerous position, because the attacker would be balanced and more mobile. Still, I agree that preventing the problem is optimal.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

The blocker simply diverts the attackers energy. This opens the door to a myriad of great techniques.

Agree with you 100% there. If the blocker's blocking arm moves toward his opponent, he won't have this issue. This way, he doesn't have to block on the elbow joint so precisely.

Your right arm punch me toward south. My left arm block toward northeast. Even if my left arm may block on your forearm, my forward force can prevent you from bending your arm.

All your block should have forward pushing force.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

The biggest thing is likely that I enjoy it more. But when I train grappling, whether throwing or ground grappling, I have a block. I'll know what to do, but my body and the 'opponents' body don't always do exactly what I want it to. Eventually, it will, and I learn, but it takes weeks for me to get something down where the equivalent in striking will take me half an hour (to a basic level, obviously). Then when it comes to variations and strategies, I can pick up both of those fairly quickly in striking-if someone tells me "no do this, instead of that", and I already know one variation or tactic, I can pick up the other rather easily. If I'm told to do the same with a variation for grappling, I have to learn the variation all the way from the beginning. And when it comes to tactics, I just can't wrap my head around them. It's not a matter of panicking when I'm grappling-if I'm allowed to strike, I can very easily figure out a way to use striking to either escape/disengage, or position myself how I need to. But if I can only grapple, it becomes immensely more difficult for me.

Ok I think I understand better, and oddly, I guess I didn’t realize how much I actually agree with this. If I am grappling on the ground and I am often looking for my opportunity to strike rather than focusing on how to grapple better. Thanks that’s good insight.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

If you

- wrestle 15 rounds daily, you can take your opponent down 15 times. Next day your opponent will still wrestle with you.
- spar 15 rounds daily, you can knock your opponent down 15 times, He may not come back next day.

It's just too difficult to develop the striking skill.

Can I

- take this guy down? I think I can.
- knock this guy down? I'm not too sure.

The confidence in the striking art is always questionable.

I disagree. I say, can I move on this guy and take advantage of any obvious inadequacies? If they are obvious, I know I can. Doubt is a little death I do not engage in when facing an opponent. “You should know and not believe” -Sir Robert Nesta Marley.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

So why can't the person blocking throw the elbow?

And he would have the inside line

True this, I only prefer the outside line when people shoot punches or block across the midline of their own body.

 

[JowGaWolf]

The ease at which someone learns and develops striking and grappling is highly dependent on the knowledge and teaching ability of the teacher.

One is not more difficult than the other. The thing that makes either one more difficult is the lack understanding of the application in terms of deploying it. Things become easier once that understanding is there.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

is highly dependent on the knowledge and teaching ability of the teacher.

Agree! your teacher need to understand elbow strike, he can then pass down that knowledge to you.

 

[Holmejr]

Agree! your teacher need to understand elbow strike, he can then pass down that knowledge to you.

Obviously, excellent teachers make all the difference in the world.
The example in the short video is not the same as the original post. The fellow using the elbow is in a balanced stance, whereas the original attacker is lunging and not balanced.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Obviously, excellent teachers make all the difference in the world.
The example in the short video is not the same as the original post. The fellow using the elbow is in a balanced stance, whereas the original attacker is lunging and not balanced.

Agree! The guy in the original post may not have elbow strike in mind.

The long fist system has an elbow form.