Smith Academy

Beginning Karate Blocks

Every novice is taught several things as they first start studying the martial arts and self-defense. They are taught stances, blocks, and how to fall without hurting themselves. These moves are drilled into students repeatedly until they become familiar with them, and are a necessary part of initial training. You are being taught to walk and chew gum at the same time. In this article, we will cover the basic blocks as they are taught to a beginner. But before we get into that, I want to give a little information on just what blocking is.

If you have looked at the article on Japanese Terminology, you will see that "uke" is translated into English to mean the word "block". As you go through the motions of "age-uke", "ude-uke", and etc., you are performing moves that in English we call "upward block", "forearm block," and etc. However, the literal translation of "uke" is "recieve". It can refer to the act of recieving a strike or to the person who recieves a technique that is being demonstrated.

So just what are you doing when you learn to block? As a beginner, you are learning a technique - a movement that you initiate to "receive" an incoming strike. You will continue to practice these moves through kata. Eventually, as you become more proficient and study further, you will come to understand that you never really just "block". A block is just the beginning of a counterattack, or it can be a strike in and of itself. And inside block can be used to dislocate an elbow or strike at various pressure points to disable your opponent. A kinder, gentler approach would be to grasp your opponent's arm as you finish off an inside block and pull them off balance as you retract your own arm. Once you have the basic technique down, you will be able to explore the many applications of that basic movement.

Inside Blocks

An inside block deflects a strike away against the inside of your opponent's arm. So to visualize, if a punch is coming towards you, you would aim an inside block to meet the inside forearm of your opponent and push their arm outward and away from their body. When you execute this block, you end up face to face with your opponent.

Outside blocks

An outside block deflects a strike by connecting with the outside of your opponent's arm and pushing the attack in and across the attacker. There is often a sidestep involved, and when you execute this block, you end up with your opponent turned slightly away from you by about a 45° angle.

The Upward Blocks

An upper block is used to deflect or counter an overhead attack, either a strike or an attack using a weapon like a knife or club. In this block, you should always keep your elbow lower than your forearm to allow a blow to hit it can slide off. It needs to be high enough so that you can see your attacker from underneath your upraised arm and far enough away from your head to keep a weapon from hitting your skull. It needs to be slightly in front of your face to guard your face if you fail to deflect the blow.

The Lower Blocks

Lower blocks are used against a kick. If you were using your right hand to make the block, the right fist would first move to the left shoulder and then sweep sharply in a semi-circular motion to clear the area in front of you and end with the fist and forearm just to the right side of the right thigh. The elbow should always be kept slightly bent to prevent the chance of hyper extending it and the back of the hand and forearm are kept in a straight line. You do not want to bend the wrist.