Making the Lower Parry work

 

Hello, everyone.

It seems I had a case of writer's block that has kept me from writing posts lately.

When you practice martial arts every day, however, there are a lot of things about it to write about, but what you don't bother with, because you tend to reckon that it is too mundane or obvious to write about.

Well... maybe for experienced martial artists...

Then- I end up realising again that there is not only an entirely new generation to whom we can pass on much of this seemingly redundant knowledge, but also a record to set straight with a new generation of experts.

This post is about two old enemies. Some say they were never supposed to meet, but meet they did. The one was set on knocking the wind out of you, the other was... well... now its role is disputed, but everyone was sure at the time that it was his job to stop the other from achieving its goal.

These two are of course the Front Kick (Maegeri in Karate) and the Lower Parry (Gedan Barai to Karate people). Gedan Barai was taught as the go-to defense against a kick to the stomach and it worked well with one-step sparring- especially if you have stepped back far enough...

The problem came with free sparring and normal fighting. People who tried using this technique to block a kick got either their arms fractured, where an open-handed version got used fingers got sprained and in many cases the block just did not work...

So... martial arts bloggers set out on campaigns to educate us all by telling us that this block was actually a throw or a strike and that it is just plain silly to block any kick like that. Well... Not this blogger...

You see- long before people started saying online that blocking does not work I have spent most of my teens making my blocks work. The thing about a block is- you should not think about it while doing it. Trying to remember it when the kick is coming just slows it down and makes it useless in the end.

A block is really a reflex action. Now- if your reflex action is going to be bringing your guarding arm down on top of a rising shin you will be in for a lot of pain. A lower parry hits the side of the attacking leg. Not the top. To help you get this right you can learn to bring your elbow in line with the kicking leg. Doing this is a quick way to learn to do the block properly as you teach yourself to see your elbow as the thing to put between your opponent's foot and your stomach and- because your elbow cannot reach the foot in time- your body will do the rest by making sure the arm straightens.

It is notable that you won't find Kung Fu people practicing blocks without a corresponding stance or footwork. The reason is simple: Hand techniques are useless without footwork.

In the case of the lower parry, footwork and body movement can help you defend against a kick either by stopping it, passing it or by sidestepping. Let's look at some examples:

In this scenario I am passing the kick. If I stay where I am and just sweep down with my arm I will still be too far to counterpunch. So- as the kick comes I intercept it by moving past it and blocking with less force than would otherwise have been necessary. I also get to land a punch before my opponent is back on two legs again!

This kind of hip rotation is hard to do at first, but then you must remember- you always blink in time when you see someone's hand coming at your eyes. So- this defensive hip rotation can be developed as a similar reflex response. Kick to the groin? Just twist. Kick to the stomach? Just twist. The blocking arm again does not have to take so much punishment and can easily hit the leg from the side to make sure that it passes safely behind you. This kind of block is then usually followed up with a punch, but I have felt that crossing my legs like this has perfectly set me up for that hooking kick...

Side kicks are tricky... You hit the wrong side of the leg you still have a horizontal foot slipping through to deflate your lungs.

So- a different approach is needed. In the case of a side kick you should not connect your lower parry with the leg, but with the foot. You can also not afford to waste time, because catching the kick towards its end puts your arm in the way of a kick at its most powerful. That is not good news for your arm... Catch the kicking foot just as it is rising, however, immobilises the kick before it can gain power. I was going for a vertical back fist counter, but when I realised that my opponent's head was out of reach I moved in with the uppercut. If your step and stance is powerful enough when you block this way you might even push the opponent off balance. 

It pays to mention that while Karate seems to have developed doubts about the use of the lower parry against midsection kicks Kung Fu continues to teach the low hand sweep and low shield as methods for defending against low and midsection kicks. These techniques are the Chinese versions of the lower parry.

Hopefully this blog post will save a lot of arms and fingers in the years to come...