Martial Mania:
All Blocks Suck
By George Donahue
In our group of karate practitioners, we have a saying (almost a mantra): “All blocks suck.” We repeat this frequently, especially to beginners and to people who have converted from other ways to our way of training. We don’t mean that all blocks are worthless, though we do mean that blocks done the wrong way are less than optimal and some truly indeed are worthless. What we’re really getting at, however, is that blocks should draw the opponent’s attack toward the defender, deflecting the path of attack only by from 5 to 15 degrees, if at all (in the latter case, you must remove the attacker’s target). Blocks should suck in the attacker’s limb or weapon and maybe even the attacker’s whole body.
The natural impulse is to block outward in order to push away the attack. This seems reasonable, at first look, and it often succeeds in momentarily averting immediate danger. After all, the more distance you maintain from the attacker’s weapon—whether fist, foot, or hardware—the safer you feel. However, a skilled attacker will use the pushing motion of this sort of block to power the next attack. Your block is actually loading the attacker with additional kinetic energy that may well be applied upside your head. And in the meantime, you’ve only bought very little time and the safe space you’ve created for yourself is not really that safe at all.
In short, if you push or force your block outward, then you:
• Provide your attacker with extra energy to use against you
• Buy too little time
• Waste explosive energy that could be saved for a counterattack
• Commit your center of gravity to a single direction
• Commit yourself to a predictable block, then counter, rhythm
If you execute your blocks more optimally by sucking, then you:
• Avoid giving your attacker any of your energy to turn against you, while taking advantage of your attacker’s energy and turning it against the attacker
• Buy no time whatsoever, but waste no time either, as it is now possible to block and attack simultaneously and efficiently
• Reserve your explosive energy for your own attacks
• Preserve your center of gravity in the center, where it should be, so you can deal with any and all directions
• Make no commitment to a specific technique or series of techniques
• And, maybe most important, you are able to flow your block into a trap or throw at the same time that you forcefully, as the late Bruce Lee put it, “chastise” the attacker
George Donahue
George has been on the board of FightingArts.com since its inception and is also a Contributing Editor.
George is a retired book editor, with a career spanning four decades, among his positions have been editorial stints at Random House; Tuttle Publishing, where he was the executive editor, martial arts editor, and Asian culture editor; and Lyons Press, where he was the senior acquisitions editor and where he established a martial arts publishing program. At Tuttle, he was the in-house editor for the Bruce Lee Library. Throughout his career he also edited, acquired, or reissued a wide array of military history, martial arts, and Asia-centric titles.
He was born in Japan in 1951 and originally named Fujita Tojo, with the Buddhist name KanZan. He was renamed George Donahue when he was several months old. After living part of his early childhood in the U.S. and France, he returned to Japan when he was seven years old and immediately was put (involuntarily) into intense training in traditional Japanese martial arts. His childhood training in Japan was focused on judo and jujutsu, primarily with Ando Shunnosuke, who blended keisatsujutsu (often referred to as police judo) and Olympic style judo in his teaching. He also studied kyujutsu (archery), sojutsu (spear), and kenjutsu (swordsmanship), with several teachers under the direction of his uncle, Tomita Yutaka. Following his return to the U.S. when he was twelve years old, he continued to practice judo and jujutsu, as well as marksmanship with Western style compound bow and firearms, and began the study of Matsubayashi Ryu karate in his late teens. Subsequently, he has studied aikido and cross trained in Ying Jow Pai kung fu. He began studying tai chi chuan in 1973 and now teaches qi gong and tai chi for health and fitness, as well as Okinawa Taijiken, which blends the principals of Okinawan karate with tai chi.
After studying Okinawa Karatedo Matsubayashi Ryu for ten years, he changed his focus to the teaching of Kishaba Chokei. He has been a student of Shinzato Katsuhiko, the director of Okinawa Karatedo Shorin Ryu Kishaba Juku, which comprises karate and kobujutsu (including Yamane Ryu Bojutsu) since 1983. He was also a student of Nagamine Shoshin, Nagamine Takayoshi, Kishaba Chokei, and Nakamura Seigi until their deaths. A key teacher in the U.S. was Arthur Ng, with whom he trained and taught for several years in New York City. He currently teaches Kishaba Juku privately, along with special training in karate, weapons, and self-defense. He has taught seminars throughout the U.S. and in Israel.
He has been teaching martial arts almost continually for sixty years. His first class, at twelve years old, was in judo for a group of military dependents and airmen at Sioux City Air Base, Iowa, at a time when the Air Force Strategic Air Command was beginning to stress training in martial arts, particularly jujutsu.
He was introduced to Kundalini Yoga practice in Japan but didn’t begin serious practice of Kundalini and Hatha Yoga until he was in college. He practices yoga at least an hour a day and now teaches various approaches to yoga. He is also a cancer exercise specialist and a Livestrong at the YMCA instructor, helping cancer survivors regain and maintain their vitality.
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