Okay, just to clear a couple of things up with our blocks. When we talk about blocking in Choi Kwang Do we are not talking about the blocks you find in many arts (linear, straight line blocks designed to strike the offending limb as much as stop it hitting you by sheer brute force), we're talking about circular motions designed to redirect the attack. In a lot of arts these would be called deflections, we call them blocks. We also shift over to distance ourselves from the attack when we block, and also to allow a shift back with the counter. Hope this clears a few things up with my posts in various blocking threads.
In Wing Chun (Kung Fu) - The blocks are linear/ straight line, but work in the way you describe yours. Its a "soft" style of Kung Fu, which means attacks aren't stopped in a brute force or "hard" way. There always deflected/re-directed etc. I prefer this style of martial arts, although I do also study hard kung fu styles which are arguable more effective in certain areas. Depending on how your opponent fights.
I've found to date that hard styles rely a lot more on strength, pure physical force, whereas soft styles are more adaptable to any bodytype. Just my opinion.
Yes true I agree hard styles rely a lot more on physical strength, some people would say as much technique though, although strength is more important in many techniques. But there lies the strength of the hard style. Fighting a weaker opponent that is more skilful than yourself. Some hard styles I’ve seen are brutally effective against even skilful techniques. Thats why I like to learn both
Off the top of my head I can think of at least one hard block that does not rely on muscular strength - it relies on correct alignment! I have described its use against round punches on this forum before. There is a saying in karate that you should strike a soft target with a hard weapon and a hard target with a soft weapon. I think it can be useful to apply a similar idea to blocking - block a weak attack strongly and block a strong attack 'weakly'. Mike
Theres very similar theories in Kung Fu as well. Go with a hard attack and crush a weak one etc. With the whole Yin yang soft/hard philosophies. So would you agree as a fighter its important to understand both techniques and use them likewise in a fight. True that hard style doesn't strictly mean brute force, I know many of mine don't. I just said that as a generalisation.
