Why is soft blocking so under rated?

Question

Why is "soft blocking" so under rated these days?

Answer 1

probably becasue they are more difficult to do and people can't do them and get instant training gratification and feeling of some level of success so they dont' train them.

if it goes against the mentality of the person they will never be able to change thier thinking and take a slightly different approach.

take boxing for example- I can learn in one afternoon the basic strikes and power generation techniques behind each punch in boxing- it might take a lifetime to master, but essentially I learn a base that I can keep practicing and improve and see immediate success that day and feel good-

odds are with soft blocking at full speed you will end up getting bruised and feel like an *** your first day of trianing it. so you will not get the same level of instant gratification and feeling of "success" you do with other techniques.

Answer 2

Redirection leading deflecting all elements of "soft" blocking

Slippin' and a slidin' peepin' and a hidin' oops wrong forum .

People have trouble with the word "soft" and try to use soft to turn a full power punch .Wont work my so called soft blocks leave welts and bruises  as did my sensei's .At 1st they show interest thinking that some soft brushing of the opponents arm will make it fly to the side .Then they discover it requires things like practice precision a cool head and guts and practice and practice and practice.

They are blazingly faster than power blocks that you wind up which are rarely true blocks anyway and more effective than cover up or absorbing type actions.

Next question .Are they neccesary to be a effective fighter?Not really in contests or any kind of square off fighting in or out of the ring.

But for sudden unexpected attacks soft(d**n I hate that term) blocks win the day as they are based on natural instinctive flinch reactions.Constant repetition gives them their power.

Answer 3

I would have to say that I agree with Scott, Stephen, Bluto, and Katana on this one. It is also something that I talk about with my old dojo group when we go out and watch the UFC matches. I just, for the life of me cannot understand why, not even half of the concepts I know and use daily are even looked at in the cage/ring.

All of their answers merged together create what I believe to be the right one.

Answer 4

Soft blocking against a striker is fine. Its the 'rules of the game' as they say. Soft blocking against a grappler lets him inside to where he's strongest. Since there's no way of knowing what your opponent will do, boxing style deflection and movement is best.

Answer 5

First off retroact claims to have had hundreds of street fights and won them all, so we know what he says is wrong.

I think the main reason is that the two most prevelant styles for striking, boxing and Muay thai, never use soft blocks. boxing uses avoiding, but Muay Thai generally turns into a war of attrition. Many of the guys who started out in MMA hav no concept of a soft block, and probably neither do their coaches.

Another factor is that soft blocking takes a longer time to learn, which goes against the MMA mentality of I want to be good at it now. It takes hard work to get to the point where a soft block works well.

I prefer soft blocking and not stopping his power, as it gives me a split second before he can throw anything else.

Unfortunatly most MMA's schools have thrown out anything not seen in the UFC, that take time to even grasp the concept, let alone be able to use it effectivly, and quite honestly many of the coaches have no idea of how to do it.

It goes against the I want it now mentality as Scott d suggested. not saying the MMA approach is wrong, especially with the aliveness training, but I think they miss something along the way, and don't even realize they miss it.

Answer 6

I know what you mean, unfortunately I have no idea as to an answer. It is another of the options that seems to just not be coached much in MMA. I much prefer it to just fully covering up to defend yourself from incoming shots. You keep a better field of vision and are in a better position for immediate follow ups. Unfortunately this question is sort of like asking why do so many fighter's seem to fight not to lose as opposed to fighting to win. I guess we will just have to catch a couple of coaches and examine their brains. LOL!!!

I wish I could give you a better answer man, but I don't honestly have one. If you happen to find one.....hook a brother up and pass it on to me!!!

Hey William, DO NOT apologize my man for asking questions that actually take a little thought and a little understanding to be able to answer. PLEASE!!! I'd rather answer 500 intelligent questions than have to suffer through another round of crazy questions that don't make sense or the push up idiot and his 50 screen names asking what we think about his diamond push up routine.

Keep the good questions coming bro, I'm all about it!!!

Yeah remember a few years agon they were saying that traditional martial arts had no place in MMA. I wonder what they think now with GSP originally coming from Kyo Koshin, Cung Le coming from traditional Chinese martial arts and San Shou, and now we have Lyoto Machida coming in with Shotokan. I'd like to see somebody tell these guys they their arts don't belong in MMA.

Answer 7

I didn't know it was

If referring to UFC style fighting I would say it is because of the percieved speed of the punches (although how Heath Herring din't see that right hand coming rom Lesnar idk) and kicks to cover and roll with the hit is probably the safest and quickest defense  

Answer 8

because that could be constrewed as "traditional martial arts" lol and we all know traditional arts have absolutely nothing worthwhile to teach right?

largely...because they don't know them. and as others have said it can take a while to get good at.

Answer 9

There are a lot of techniques and concepts that are under rated if even practiced at all. Both blocks and strikes.

In my opinion soft techniques are much harder to do than hard, muscled techniques. They take more work at less effort but involve greater technique. This idea alone scares half of the instant gratification people away.

The idea of "soft and hard" is getting to be misunderstood in martial arts because of half trained instructors and students who want everything "right now" How do you make a kid understand that years of hard work culminate in movements that look like they take no effort at all. No one wants to hear a champion fighter say "I barely hit him and he went down" They want muscles, rage, and stupid.