Blocks As Attacks

A block should only really be used as a block, if you’re caught by surprise e.g. sucker punched – and if you are sucker punched, you should be aware of what that makes you i.e. a sucker; your situational awareness, threat recognition, and understanding of pre-violence indicators, should have alerted you to the potential danger you were in, and given you the time to create distance, control range, and prepare yourself for the attack, so that you’re not taken completely by surprise (if your de-escalation or disengagement strategies are unsuccessful or unworkable). It is worth remembering that most assaults happen face-to-face, and are usually preceded by some form of dialogue (the “interview”), so there is normally the opportunity to avoid being “suckered” - as long as you are able to accept the situation you are in, and don’t remain in a state of denial. This preparation will allow you to change your block, from being purely defensive, to something that is offensive i.e. an attack.

Changing the way you view blocking, from being a defensive tool, to an offensive one, is beneficial for a number of reasons. One of these is the shift in your mindset; you are no longer protecting yourself, rather you are attacking your assailant – every contact you make with them is an attack. If you are defending a circular strike with your forearm (as a 360 block), you are ramming the blade of your bone into their arm, as a strike. You are not looking to merely stop the attack, but to cause trauma to the attacking arm; to destroy a limb. Consequently, your assailant should start to associate every attack they make, with pain e.g. they throw a punch, they get hurt, they try to slash/stab you, they get hurt, etc. This is a very effective way of breaking up an attacker’s rhythm, and flow, causing them to be hesitant, and uncommitted in their attacks – something which is crucial when dealing with an assailant who is stabbing/slashing in a frenzied manner where the knife is being recoiled and returned quickly.

When an assailant is stabbing, attacking the arm is crucial, and without this approach, you may see your forearm being cut, if your attacker puts a circular motion to the stab, as they recoil the knife. Breaking and interrupting their recoil/timing by “attacking” their arm will prevent this from happening, and also create the time for you to move in.

All blocks, when using them as attacks, should be accompanied by movement. There are three basic reasons why you move: as part of an attack, to put you in a position where you can attack, or to move you away from danger. To end a fight quickly, our block, should facilitate movement that’s part of an attack upon the attacker i.e. our block should attack the arm which is striking/slashing us, and create the space, time and distance, that allows us to launch our own directed attack against our assailant – simultaneous block and strike (a fundamental principle of Krav Maga is the idea that attack should follow defense, at the earliest opportunity). A good example of this is seen when we defend straight strikes and punches. When strikes come out from an attacker’s silhouette/shape, they also act as an obstacle preventing us from moving forward, towards our assailant, where we can deliver our own strikes and punches etc. We may be able to move somewhat to the side and in, however in reality, when an attacker is punching with recoil, their hand movement will beat our body movement, and we will probably find ourselves in range to strike, but having to deal with a second punch etc. If we attack the punch aggressively, moving it across our assailant’s body, not only will we interrupt its recoil, but create the space for ourselves to move almost directly forward – not only beating the recoil, but moving to a position, where we are behind the punching arm. If we keep in mind that we are thinking about our block as a strike to the assailant’s arm, we are already in a “striking” mindset, with our next strike simply being delivered to another target e.g. the head, the throat etc.

To use blocks in this manner, we must be able to control range and distance – one of the core skills and attributes that must be developed. By controlling range i.e. being outside of an assailant’s strikes, we will give ourselves the time needed, to turn our blocks from something which is required to defend us (because we have no choice), to something that can be used as an attack. If we can force our assailant to have to move as part of their attack (in order for it to reach us) we will create an “early warning” signal that a punch/strike is on its way. It may be that this body movement alone, would be enough to defend us e.g. we could simply step back in response to our attacker’s movement in order to avoid being hit etc. The block, should therefore, be seen as a way to “join” ourselves to our attacker, so that we are moving towards them, closing down their distance and range, and putting them within ours.

Krav Maga is an attacking style, and this means everything has to be part of an attack/assault. Defense, as defense should not exist, it should always be part of an attack, or setting us up to attack. Blocks may protect us as a by-product of the attack, however this should not be their primary intent.