Lesson 4: White Belt
Page 6 of 16
High Outer Forearm Block. The high outer forearm block protects the front of the body from the shoulders upward.
- Stand in a front stance with arms held in the basic guard.
- Trailing arm will perform the block.
- Chamber non-blocking arm by extending leading arm straight forward as if you were performing a punch, but without the speed or power. Drop trailing fist to its hip with the palm facing upward. Step forward into a front stance.
- Just as foot touches the floor, the fist on the hip moves diagonally toward the opposite shoulder with the palm facing the body. The shoulders and hips twist with the arm movement. As the fist reaches shoulder height, it moves vertically until it stops with the forearm angled downward at 45 degrees.
- Just as stepping foot touches the floor, the arm snap-twists its fist inward so palm is forward at the point of focus and the shoulders and hips snap back to the front adding power to the block.
- All this occurs using hand-foot timing.
- Arm stops its upward motion with the fist higher than the head and over and forward of the shoulder. Forearm will be about a fist distance from the top of the forehead.
- Point of impact of an outer forearm block is the outer edge of the forearm.
- As the blocking arm is moving upward, the other arm chambers to its hip with the palm side upward. The uncrossing action of the arms creates a push-pull action to increase the power of the block.
- As blocking arm moves to opposite shoulder and upward, it catches any incoming attack and carries it upward over the head. If the attack is coming downward, the downward sloping position of the forearm will permit the strike to slide down the forearm and away from the body. If the forearm were level, it would take the full impact of the attack. For example, if the attacking weapon was a baseball bat, the arm may be broken; however, with the arm angled downward, the bat will hit with a glancing blow and slide away from the head and body. It will hurt, but you will not be incapacitated.