Take karate for instance, there are no blocks in karate, when Itosu introduced karate to the Okinawan school syllabus he taught children certain movements where "blocks" becasue he knew the real techniques were too dangerous to teach to children. Unfortunately, it was the children version of karate that becasue popular, now walk into (almost) any karate club into he world and the instructor will teach you a "block" becasue that's what their instructor told them it was for.
As we all know blocks do not work, or rather they only work in the dojo when a) you know what attack is coming and b) your opponent is far enough away from you. in the street where you don't know what is coming and your opponent is much closer (sucker punch range) blocks do not work.
the blocks taught in sport sparing only work on the block without any power behind them (that's why in full contact fighting they are called checks) if you want to block a full force punch you need to use the hard block. In this case you will be trying to break the persons arm. You might not break it but it will deflect to punch. I hope this helps
If you have to think about your block as you've figured out it's too late.
You need to develop good blocks by practice. And you need to develop good instincts by working with a partner.
Don't expect to be good at blocking if you're new to martial arts. In fact, it often takes awhile until folks get good at it. And many never do before they quit.
When I work with my students I begin by having them do things slowly. I get them to learn the technique right. Then I have them develop speed. Initially, I'll throw "slow" punches for them to block. And as they develop I'll increase the speed. And of course, I'll vary the speed when I work with them. The idea is for them to learn how to block, then how to block quickly. It takes time but eventually they're able to block punches coming at them will full force and speed. And that helps them develop a ton of confidence knowing that they can handle hard fast punches.
There are a couple of things here that probably have not happened for you yet because you are not far enough along in your training. First is knowing or having a good idea what your opponent is going to throw. This comes with good training and experience and takes time to develop and learn. When I would spar with amateurs or novice and intermediate students I would sometimes tell them what they were going to throw or thinking of throwing just by how they were starting to stand, shift their weight, and the distance between us. That can be really frustrating for them but I did that to demonstrate to them why they have to be careful not to telegraph their intentions and what they were going to throw. With well trained, experienced students and fighters this is much harder to do and they will deliberately avoid telegraphing things or do things in such a way as to not telegraph them near as much.
Secondly is the speed with which you can see things and react. This also only comes after time, practice, good training, and experience. Eventually you want to be able to also perceive and see things and react to them faster than your opponent is executing them. Then you can actually wait a fraction of a second before reacting and avoid reacting incorrectly sometimes as well but yet catch up with the attacking action of your opponent and defend against it or negate it more easily.
Your problem is not new and sometimes those training focus on offensive attacks and combinations so much that they neglect working on and developing their defensive skills. They then later discover that offensive skills while important are themselves not always enough like you have recently discovered. To help resolve this problem I usually do two things. First I slow the sparring down to half or three quarters speed so that they are more easily able to see and react to things. Then they develop their ability to see and recognize them rather than it always just being a blur or something they miss because of the anxiety of getting hit or taking a shot. Your partner and you should slow your sparring down some and then you can pay closer attention to things and how your opponents are setting things up and from what distance when and watch how they stand, and shift their weight or balance to do so. You will eventually also want to work on your speed and reactions so also consider adding some of those drills to your workouts to enhance your ability to react and catch up to the attackers actions once you can see and recognize things better.
The other thing I would do is I would during my sparring go totally defense or spar and be defensive only while your partner is offense. You might want to let him know this so that he does not just become a machine gun here and overwhelm you with the shear volume of things he throws. Here the intent is for you to work on and develop those defensive skills that you have been neglecting because you were working on those offensive skills so much. Offensive skills are easier to learn and what everyone wants to rush into learning and so many make this mistake. Defensive skills are harder to learn and develop and many disregard learning and developing them to the extent that they should in their training which also leads them to problems like what you are experiencing. Enjoy.
I think you have dodging and blocking confused. Blocking is when you interfere with the punch somehow. Either make him hit your gloves, your elbows or whatever the case. Different martial arts have different tactics. Dodging is when you follow Mr Miyagis advice: "Best defense, no be there". You simply get out of the way. Easier said than done. After you've trained for a while you get like a 6th sense about these things and you can anticipate the punches better and you can dodge, bob and weave out of the way. But it takes a lot of practice. Not something I would recommend unless you know what you are doing.
Put more space between you and your opponent, and anticipate it. You're in a fight, you know they're gonna punch. It shouldn't be a surprise. And keep looking at their body to predict.
Just jump to the side but be light on your feet
jay is correct!
When sparing it seems like after the punch comes its usually to late to block to so that they dont make contact. Usually the only way would be looking at chest or wherever to see the body turning while they set it up. Usually the best i can do is stepping in and snuffing it from the inside, anyone have the same problems or know anything about how to block more proficiently?
Im in vacation, away from the dojo and was wondering this. I will of course inquire when i get back, just wanted to see what you guys had to say.
