These Are Not The Blocks You're Looking For...

General note: It's preferable to learn to not block with your fists (punch blocking) because some swings can actually hurt you quite badly even when you're wearing gloves

Unbeknownst to the general fighting population there are actually a multitude of ways to execute a block. I’m not talking about just blocking to the left or right; I’m talking about what I want each block to accomplish, and the mechanics that will do that.In order to do that however...

Rock solid

The basic block that most people will learn I'll vaguely define as a "strong block". The proper mechanics for this block involve:

• Trying to catch the incoming weapon just above your pommel/hilt in order to get the best leverage from your hand. 
• Turning your body into the strike so that the force of the blow is transmitted through your arms and into your core rather than from your weapon directly into your wrist.
• Having some bend or give in your knees which allows you to transfer that force from your weapon into the ground after it's passed through your core rather than eventually having whatever force is left over run directly into your hip or knee joints. 

When executed properly this allows you to absorb relatively heavy swings with little to no discomfort. Poor mechanics will result in either a failed block or part of the force hitting your body rather than getting transferred into the ground.

Flow like water

This block does not attempt to stop a swing in progress, but rather focuses on making sure that it just doesn't land where it's intended to. This method is what I'll call a deflection block.

Let's start this scenario by thinking of two right-handed fighters engaging in single blue combat. Fighter A will be on offense and Fighter B, starting on defense, prepares to execute the deflection block. There are 3 basic strikes that fighter A can throw relative to the height of fighter B:

1. high on the person's body, aiming either for their shoulder or arm.
2. low on the person's body, aiming either for their hips or legs
3. dead center of mass. 

It is very rare for someone to throw a shot to an opponents dead center of mass because for most people that's also exactly where their arm is resting in guard. In all cases that I will discuss it's important to make sure you catch the initial block out in FRONT of your body rather than close to your body. The farther out you block it, the lower the angle of deflection necessary so that the deflected shot doesn’t hit you. In other words, this let’s geometry be your friend.

In the following scenarios, pretend you are fighter B.

From the top

If fighter A throws a shot to the arm or shoulder section of fighter B, fighter B can then do a deflection block that redirects the weapon up and over them. In a standard strong block their goal would be to make the weapons meet at a perpendicular angles. With this block, you’ll tilt it slightly in the direction that the weapon is going. If fighter A swings into fighter B's left side then fighter B will tilt the tip of their weapon just slightly to their right, thereby causing fighter A's weapon to keep going so that it ramps up and over fighter B. Executing this properly means that fighter A will over swing as their weapon also clears from the right side of their body to the left, leaving them immediately vulnerable to a slash from fighter B.

Down under

If fighter A attempts to throw a shot for the hips or legs to fighter B's left side then they can execute a similar maneuver. In order to deflect downward, they tilt their weapon to your left instead. Catch the weapon out in front of your body with the sword at 10 or 11 o’clock. This will cause the strike to skate down your sword and pass by harmlessly. Ideally, this will mean their weapon ends up hitting the air in front of your thighs or kneecaps.

For those who were curious the reason why this actually works is because relative to the arm of the person in a neutral stance in the threat range that is generated by the your opponents reach the more distance they have to move their shot up or down relative to their intended target the more reach they lose.  So a strike that had enough distance to land at a person's torso doesn't necessarily also have the enough distance to successfully strike at a person's hip or shoulder.

Why you should care

You will not always be in match ups that are favorable to you. Another fighter can have more muscle mass or more reach than you do and you'll need to find a way to make those attributes work to their disadvantage. If you are fighting a person who has more reach on you, either as a result of their physical characteristics (tall, lanky people) or because of the gear in hand (red weapon that's being swung) the geometry of these deflections will have a much more dramatic effect on the fight. A red weapon swing that is countered with a deflection rather than a strong block may often cause the red to drive their swing into the ground, making it very difficult for them to recover in a reasonable amount of time. A red weapon swing that's deflected up tends to be less problematic for that fighter as they can than just bring it down. I generally recommend against doing an upwards deflection unless you're fighting 1v1 and immediately closing on that red fighter. Against a tall, lanky fighter getting their arm to over extend will give you lots of arm to swing at, even if they're still far away for you to kill them outright with a shot to the torso. The reason why you'd care about being able to use a deflection swing against an opponent who is stronger than you is because it means you don't have to try to do a strong block. Often attempting to do a strong block against an opponent who out masses you leads to either an insufficient block where the weapon still inflicts a wound, or going for that block is successful but causes you to harm your hand/wrist because you did not do a good enough job of transferring the force of the swing through your body. In some cases, both happen.

Move along

If you manage to master the above come find me or prod me until I talk about these other alternate blocks not discussed here:

• Over blocking: knocking your opponent’s weapon around (adding momentum) 
• Catching block: maintaining contact with your opponent’s and manipulating it (reducing momentum)