By shifting, you diminish the force of the blow by not meeting it head on, but also allow your obliques (the muscles on the sides of your torso), to absorb the force as well.
Exercise caution with this block; poor timing or placement could lead to a debilitating blow.
Keep your stance tight, your neck muscles tensed, and your hand as close to your head as possible. Deflecting the blow in this way can still cause a transfer of force that may knock your own hand into your head, leaving you dazed and poorly protected.
A parry can take the form of a jab, hook, or a close quarters strike. The parry you employ will be decided by circumstance and reflex, though most will be short distance strikes to a vulnerable part of your opponent’s attacking extremity, making use his oncoming force to do damage.
Which foot is leading and following, as a punch is usually thrown from the same side as the back foot. The rotation of the body, as it has a tendency of rotating in the direction from which the attack is coming. Any tensing, especially clenching of the fists, as this will be a good indicator that a blow is soon to come.
An excellent, and debilitating target, is the bicep muscle. Too often in combat, opponents regard the head as the main target, but the limbs are very susceptible to damage, and a strike to the bicep can leave your assailant’s arm crippled for the rest of the fight. The inside of the elbow joint will also be vulnerable when your aggressor extends his arm to try and land his blow.
Once you have the motions and your strike targets well practiced, you can speed up this drill, but be sure to do so with restraint. Neither you, nor your partner, should come into contact in such a way that you harm each other. To improve reflex time, try training on a speed bag or double end bag, pick up a reflex oriented ball sport, like racquetball, and train with a reflex ball. [8] X Research source
After you take the punch on your arm, you can shift your weight to your back foot, rotate your body hard and execute a counter punch.
Though not technically a block, by evading the blow, you achieve the same purpose and, in some cases, leave yourself in a more fortunate situation/condition. Some opponents will be much stronger or larger; in this case, blocking the punch could be dangerous.
