Does size always matter in a street fight?

You don't block with the elbow - you replace the target (your face or head) with the elbow. This makes it easier to deal with a committed attack

 

That's the beauty of it. You're not trying to hit his fist with your elbow. You're trying to get your elbow between his attack and whatever he's trying to hit. It's no slower than slipping, weaving, or covering up. In fact, it essentially is covering up. If you DO miss the exact target (i.e., getting his knuckles on your elbow), you've still covered up, parried, etc.

But I'm not trying to convince you to use it. That would be ridiculous. I'm simply pointing out why your reasoning doesn't necessarily work.

 

please delete all posts

 

Trognitz, fair points made. But please remember that one of the things you agreed to when you joined MAP was to not use textspeak. "U R" should be "you are." Thanks.

 

sorry brother. my dumb. thanks for civil reprimand. i will surely strive to not do it again.

 

No worries Trognitz. No harm done. Just part of the job.

 

If someone tries to punch you and manage to bring in an elbow and he hits that instead of your face then you haven't broken anything.
HE has.

 

That's a great definition.

I am so gonna nick that.

And sage-like wisdom it into casual chats

 

It's always easier when they do the work for you

To me this is "use their energy against them"

 

It is sage-like wisdom because Hannibal doesn't tell you how to do it. The how is something you have to experience yourself. Hannibal tells you the underlying principle behind why it works.

Specifics would be the "devil in the details" like for a Muay Thai round kick to the body, you place your elbow where they are kicking but you move away in the direction the kick is going so that the kicker hits your elbow with his toes, not his shin.

For a straight right cross, you put your elbow where you would have it to elbow them in the chin, you then take your other hand and parry to guide the puncher's hand into your elbow so that their punch hits your elbow between their pinky and ring finger knuckles.

The list goes on, but who really cares about these details anyway? The principles are what are important. The details are what works for you.

 

You can also hold both of your hands into a big fist. Hide your head behind that big fist. When your opponent punches at your head, by leaning your head sideway, you can let his fist to meet your elbow.

 

That works against an opponent's head butt too.

However, let's keep to actual things we might use against a much larger opponent (or conversely, what you might use against a much smaller opponent). A very large opponent may be able to hit me (a smaller person) and hurt me anywhere they hit. I would not want them to hit me full force in my elbow or anywhere.

I suggest always bleeding off force by evasion and redirection as much as possible, and then when hit it is not 100% power. If possible, then guide that remaining force into a point where the opponent does not have the proper structure to absorb the force back into them so their structure collapses and breaks.

Also, always take into account that a punch could be with a knife or other weapon.

This is IMHO.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpYOUtJwIfI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpYOUtJwIfI[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBbjXM4Hmjg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBbjXM4Hmjg[/ame]

 

Elbow meets arm - metal principle.
Evasion and redirection - water principle.

It depends on whether your opponent's punch is committed (wood principle) or non-committed (fire principle). Of course you can use your arm to wrap your opponent's arm like an octopus wraps a shark. Not sure what kind of prininciple that may be called.

 

Yes, what you say I agree with in general. However, when I train with folks twice my size, even their light jabs could knock me out.

It matters not if the opponent is committed or not, it only matters what happens to me (or in a case where I'm protecting something or someone else, what happens to them). I do not want to take full force from their punch whether is it a light jab or a overhand power punch. Instead, I want them to believe I am taking full force, but I am not. Well hopefully not. I want them to be hitting a bunch of nothing.

Evasion is not large movements. Moving as little as half the width of your body will make the majority of strikes miss. Once this movement is developed, guiding a strike that is passed or inside its circle of power into something like an elbow makes a lot more sense against a lot larger opponent.

Recall that I personally view martial arts on a scale of "caveman" and from there to the more complex. I always go back to caveman as the foundation and build from there. The caveman martial art is that rock is harder than wood. Break their wood with your rock. There is nothing wrong with this, but at some point your rock breaks too... so now you might want to think there has to be a better way. Now you add in evasion and redirection to your caveman foundation.

Hope this makes sense.

 

Heya Hannibal.

Nice videos but that is not how I was taught exactly. This video is more how I was taught. Putting the elbow where it is strong (below chin height) and using the other hand to scissors/guide the punch into the elbow:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORcZD8qVuJ8"]Kali JKD Trapping-Paul Vunak - YouTube[/ame]

Not saying either is better, but personally I prefer the way it is done in the above video.

 

It change over the years - TC and Vu refined it somewhat.

Now for me I play both methods because that's how I learned it, but the video it was more to illustrate the target replacement concept than anything else. I tend to do rear elbow a lot simply because of how I move

Notice the young "Crafty Dog" in your vid?

 

Paul Vunak rules.

 

I rarely use the point of the elbow or knee for anything except to attack soft targets. One of the interpretations taught to me for hard and soft was hard weapon to soft target and soft weapon to hard target.

However, there is a lot of merit to what you are saying and thanks for the information.

Oh the other reason I don't like to bring my elbow up passed my chin at that distance is I don't want to leave my armpit vulnerable to a weapon like a knife. Just something to think about, given the distance.

 

I have attended many self defense seminars over many years. And one thing I cannot come to agreement of a workable method is when women in these seminars-classes are taught to elbow a opponent slightly taller. I do not see any power generated form these women especially since they have to go up to try and reach their intended target with said elbow strike.

Not withstanding, I am not concluding that a elbow strike is "never" a good method.

*BOLD* If you are already engaged in the altercation, the concern for a knife should have been noticed before implementing a defense. In other words, anything you do, no matter a elbow, etc., should never be a thought of something being countered by a knife. If a knife was not seen before engaging, and during engaging, someone in it with will either pull the knife before, or after a short break.

Only once in a real life scenario, did I witness someone pulling out a knife while in complete engagement, and there were seconds of pause while the person with the knife was pulling it out