There is a huge difference between proactive blocking and reactive blocking. Many people believe that any block is a reaction/response to an attack, however this isn’t – and shouldn’t – be the case. Every block should be seen as an attack, that creates an opportunity, and something that is proactive, rather that reactive. There are of course times when we may be taken completely by surprise, however these should be exceptional circumstances, rather than the norm. Most social violence happens face-to-face, with an abundance of warning signs that allow us to recognize when an aggressor is getting ready to initiate a physical attack; if we can recognize these signals, a block can be used proactively to increase our survival chances, rather than reactively, as a response and catch-up to an attack. To use a block this way, we must first be able to identify when somebody is preparing to throw a punch, stab us etc. We want to be responding to an attack, in the moments before it has been made. Unfortunately, much Krav Maga training, is done from the perspective of being 100% caught off-guard or surprised, and blocking as seen as something reactive/responsive rather than as something proactive.

Just because we have a level of preparedness doesn’t mean that our natural reflexes and responses aren’t important or shouldn’t form the basis of our blocking system i.e. even though I may be “prepared” for a potential attack, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to override my body’s natural reflex/response to the movement of the attack; even if I am mentally prepared that an aggressor is going to punch at me, when they swing/throw their strike/punch in, my flinch reflex will be stimulated, and rather than fight against this impulse I should work with it (this is the basis of Krav Maga’s 360 blocking system). However, if I am prepared for a potential attack, I can start my body defense, as soon as I am aware that my assailant has started punching, and my hand defense can be added to it e.g. moving forward, or to the side, depending on the system of Krav Maga you practice, etc. If you are caught by complete surprise, your body movement will have to be added to your hand defense; your flinch/startle reflex will be triggered first, and then your body will move as a response to this.

A clear indication that someone is about to punch you, and with which hand, is the way that they shift and load their weight, before they make the punch; most skilled boxers and ring/cage fighters try to disguise their setups, however in real-life scenarios, the ways that people do this aren’t subtle, and are relatively easy to identify and pick up on. When somebody wants to generate power in a punch, they will shift and load their weight on to their back leg, in preparation for transferring their weight forward as they make their strike/punch. If somebody who is in your face, arguing, and making threats, takes a step back, there is more than a good chance that they are loading their bodyweight in preparation for striking with the same hand. At this point, you may not know if they are going to be swinging their arm in a circular fashion, or delivering their punch straight at you (few “straight” punches in real-life, even when delivered by trained people, are as straight as those you experience in a training environment; when adrenalized, even a trained person will fight the body’s natural urge to swing and make circular strikes – this is how we naturally generate more power). However, if you hold your hands up – in a placating, non-aggressive manner – in front of you, you will make it difficult for an aggressor to make effective straight strikes; your hands will be in a position to block anything coming directly at you. With your hands in front of you, your assailant will be forced/directed into making circular strikes, therefore when you see them shift their weight back, you will know which hand will be making the punch, as well as the nature of the attack.

Perhaps the clearest signal that somebody gives that they are about to make an attack, during a verbal confrontation, is when they glance/look away. If they go silent when they do this, you can be fairly sure that their next action will be to make some form of physical assault. If they combine this with stepping back to load their weight, they are almost giving you a guarantee that they are going to be punching you. This action of turning the head away, is normally preceded by staring/focusing on your face in a concentrated fashion (this can be a subtle cue to pick up on but it is usually there). This short process contains the following component; when an attacker goes silent during a verbal confrontation, they have emotionally shifted into full fight or flight mode – the time for talking is over. When they focus on your face, they are mentally marking their target (when they turn away, you should change position so that the “target” is no longer where they are expecting it to be). Turning their head away from you, achieves several things. Primarily, it is done to make you think that the confrontation is over i.e. they no longer want to engage/interact with you, etc. This is done to get you to lower your guard. An attacker may also do this to scan their environment and check for the presence of security, witnesses who might be observing the altercation, etc. They may combine this act of looking away, with shifting their weight back, or even taking a step back. Usually, there is a pause, a moment of silence, and then the punch comes swinging in.

On a related note, I once witnessed a knife attack, where the assailant approached their target/victim with their head turned away, and their knife in their rear hand (hidden by their bladed body). They walked up, with their body almost side-on to their victim, who saw them coming and tried to verbally engage with them. All of the victim’s effort went into trying to get the attention of the assailant, and engage/communicate with him, which was fairly fruitless because they couldn’t make eye-contact with him. When somebody isn’t looking at you, they don’t want to communicate with you, and the question then has to be, why are they moving towards me if they don’t want to communicate with me? The attacker almost made contact with their shoulder, with their victim still asking him questions and trying to make eye-contact with him – they were then grabbed behind the neck, and repeatedly shanked. When people look away from you, when they should be communicating with you, prepare yourself for violence.

When we understand that most social violence, is preceded by a verbal confrontation or verbal ambush, and that we can identify the signals that show an attack is being setup, we can prepare ourselves to better deal with it, either by making a pre-emptive attack, or a proactive block (obviously if disengagement, de-escalation are options we should attempt these first, or in parallel with our physical preparations). The advantage of proactive blocking, is that you can set ourselves up to attack much earlier than if you are blocking reactively e.g. trying to simultaneously block, move, and strike effectively, when you are truly reacting to an attack is next to impossible – it may be something you do in the training environment, however it is worth pointing out that the moment you enter a training environment, you are switched on, and true, real surprise is hard to replicate. In most instances where you are blocking reactively, your instinct is defensive, not offensive. If you can prepare yourself by understanding/predicting the pre-violence indicators that identify somebody is about to hit you, every movement you make can be an offensive one.