Muerto said:
Neither. I have 7 yrs of TKD experience. Not as much as you. I'm not trolling or lying. Whenever I sparred I never used the traditional blocks and neither do kickboxers, so I'm just wondering why.
You say... "you compact them".
So from TKDer to TKDer... for example... The outside block to block oncoming punches? If I "compacted" those types of blocks and used them, they would work but look like a regular parry?
Sorry.. I don' t have much boxing experience. Explain a parry and how it relates to "compacting" traditional blcks.
A parry is directing your opponent's blow away from you.
When fighting, you do not cross your hands, take a step forward, and then execute the wide, large block. You do a similar motion, but the preparation and the execution length are exactly as large as they need to be. It leads to very quick, compact movements, which fit the situation you're in.
The thing TMA blocks are meant to teach you is the proper use of the hip rotation, the proper tension/relaxation and the proper use of both arms to generate power, and the proper twist of the wrists to fend off a blow.
All of these things should be present when you actually do a block while fighting. You just don't do it in the large, slow, stylised way. You compact the block, make it quicker, more efficient.
The outside middle block, for example. In a traditional way, you prepare your hands by having the blocking hand behind you, and the other one next to your shoulder. Then you step forward and rotate your hips so that the blocking hand is in front of you and the other one is chambered at the hip.
In a fight, you don't prepare the hands in such an exquisite fashion. You block from your guard. You block together with a (very very small) step out at an angle. It is a short block. The other hand doesn't go to your hip, it stays close to the guard.
All the elements are still there, but you've made it quicker and more compact, and are ready to continue to strike instead of standing there and admiring your block.
That's the TMA way of teaching. They teach you extravagant motions with exaggerated basics from which you then distill your own fighting style through practice and experience. Arts like boxing simply show you how it should look and you learn like that.
But you never stand there in a back stance and do a traditional block, other then for demonstration purposes. These blocks are not meant to teach you what a block should look like, they're meant to teach you all the basic elements that should be in a block, and from this, you develop the fighting techniques.