whats an 'elbow block'?

[southpawed]

i was reading through a instructional and i came upon this term.

Hourglass stance -

This is a dangerous but necessary position in hitting. It happens at the tail end of your cross. Be ready to duck and cover. Your cross will put you in a bob position. You should be ready to stay low and elbow block, weave under, or jab to correct your posture. DO NOT just stand there fully extended with nowhere to go.

so i was just wondering what an elbow block in boxing is, and if i could get an example. via youtube.

[Chris Nagel]

Hey that's from the old stickgrappler page.

Anyways, there's a bunch of ways you can block with your elbow, in what Frank Benn was describing there, you raise your elbow almost parallel to the ground. This is to block hooks or crosses to your head. The problem with this particular block is under most circumstances you leave everything else open, especially your body.

Now the other elbow block is to keep your elbows tight against your sides, and if your opponent is hooking to the body you can drop it on them. Blocking should one of your last lines of defense.

The most important aspect of defense is controlling the range and setting your opponent up to counter.

Are you going to a gym yet? You find yourself a decent trainer that really knows defense and you'll be in good shape.

[southpawed]

im planning to take boxing at a community center. I dont know if thats the same thing as joining a bonafide boxing gym, but at least it'll teach me to throw some punches. and yah that passage was out of stickgrappler. its sucha godamn informative site.

[Chris Nagel]

I should also add that you shouldn't become dependant on blocking. Sure, everything has a time and a place, but if you become dependant on one set thing, it'll work against you.

With most blocking, you defend against one thing only to expose something else.

One problem I see with alotta amateur fighters today is that they do things the same way over and over. Now if you're the opponent and you see that he keeps blocking when you throw a certain punch, you could try to set him up. So you make him think you're going here-- then boom you hit him somewhere he doesn't expect it.

[Chris Nagel]

and yah that passage was out of stickgrappler. its sucha godamn informative site.

It's okay, there's a lot of nonsense there too, which comes from guys that haven't been around boxing much.

Anyways, let us know how that community center is.

[Tito BHB]

Ive used my elbow to block punches when ive got my left arm down and playing around with rolling the shoulder...
Mainly just rolling the shoulder, some side to side movement and pushing away the odd jabb with the elbow really