Blocking - Open or Closed Hand?

Withers M.A.A. · Brown Belt

Both work equally as well. Closed hand works good at stiking you opponents arm as you block. Open hand blocks do the same except allow better hand positioning to grab his arm.

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2nd Degree black belt in Kenpo Karate and Tae Kwon Do. 1997 NASKA competitor-2nd place Nationally in Blackbelt American Forms. Firearms activist!

shotochem · Pre-Black Belt

With the closed fist block you are blocking with your forearm. The closed fist keeps tension in the forearm muscle. With an open hand block you generally are using the hand itself. The forearm is stronger than the hand yet is is slower.

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Pain is only temporary, the memory of that pain lasts a lifetime.

Morgray · Yellow Belt

I think the best form of "blocking" are open hand blocks but when you start blocking kicks it's better with closed fist because you can got a broken finger.
The reason for an open handed block? Easy:
1) You don't block but parry the opponent' strikes.
2) Closed fist blocks doesn't work in reality... Have you seen a bare knuckle full-contact bout?

Bitseach · Green Belt

I'm with SaiFight and others who suggest that beginners should perhaps use closed hands to protect the fingers and learn the open-handed blocks a bit later on. Speaking as someone who fractured, dislocated and maimed a finger trying to block with fist not properly closed when I was a beginner I'd definitely not recommend the experience!

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My karma will run over your dogma
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G95champ · Black Belt

I always teach new students closed hand blocks so they will not hurt their fingers. However as they slowly go up in rank I begin to open their hands and teach them how to grab the attackers leg or arm and work throws and takedowns.

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(General George S. Patton Jr.) "It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory."

ckdstudent · Green Belt

Withers M.A.A. · Brown Belt

Most of the blocks I do towards kicks are open handed perry blocks. I try not to do bone on bone blocks against kicks.

Pete

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2nd Degree black belt in Kenpo Karate and Tae Kwon Do. 1997 NASKA competitor-2nd place Nationally in Blackbelt American Forms. Firearms activist!

Taikudo-ka · Green Belt

This is all good- thanks guys.

As far as bone on bone blocks, I was taught the close fist, palm in middle block as using the more "padded" side of the arm to block. Palm open, face out, its more bone on bone...
(if you block with the arm, rather than the actual palm).

The only full contact, bare knuckle fight I've seen (apart from kids in schoolyard scuffles) was two men in a streetfight (literally... fighting on the asphalt just outside my house)
Little technique was involved. Both guys waded in, faces red, throwing a barrage of punches, then after a few seconds one guy goes down, and the other guy proceeds to kick the crud out of him until he's 'done'. This was around 20 years ago now, when I was living in what we call a "public housing estate". (council house, government yard, housing commission, government subsidized housing, whatever you want to call it)

What is the precise difference between a block and a parry? I would think that most unarmed blocks incorporate an element of both, in that the blow is generally deflected away from the body, not just stopped. Am I right in assuming "parry" means to deflect a blow away, not just stop it (a block)? In that case most moves would be parries as it would be unlikely to "block" a strike the same way you could "block" a sword slash, stopping it directly rather than deflecting...
A thrust, like a straight punch, would have to be parried, rather than blocked...
(Or is my definition wrong)

ckdstudent · Green Belt

All of our bone on bone blocks are taught with the flat of the arm, so that the impact is spread across both bones rather than one. Makes it less painful when you're trying to block kicks.

Parries are deflections or redirections of the force of punches. Technically blocks are physically stopping the punch but all of ours are parries anyway, the distinction blurs most of the time between the two.

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Pil Sung
Jimmy B

Blade13 · Purple Belt

I like to do open handed blocks so I can do some trapping if the opportunity arises.

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