[Aratar Mori'ithil]

"Alright," Max began, "Time for the three blocks. Upper Block, Lower Block and Middle Block. Inventive and original naming, I know," he chuckled, even as he fell into a Forward Stance. "The first one is the Low Block."

This time his left leg was forwards, he brought his left hand upwards so that the back of the hand was about a centimeter from touching his right cheek. His right hand was slid downwards to help keep a better guard in place before pulling it back to his hip as he moved his left arm to complete the block. Hitting down quickly, it looked like more or a strike that a defensive technique in truth as his forearm moved to guard against attacks to the groin and stomach area.

"Simple in execution, but it can stop attacks to the lower body that can be pretty painful. Alright, now you try."

Ar stepped forward but this time he lead with his left leg. His left hand moved up to his jawline on the right side while his right hand guarded his lower abdomen before he drew the left arm down to the left hip in a clockwise type motion. He tried to move fast enough to make it look like a combination strike/block, rather then just a block. Max nodded slowly.

"Pretty good. Just add a little more snap to the motion and you'll be set. Remember that these can not only be a full-on block, but they can function as a simple deflection too. Let your enemy tire themselves out by exherting themselves while you use minimal effort. A very useful thing. Now, on to the Middle Block, which also goes by the name of Outer Forearm Block, or Outer Block."

Stepping forwards again so that this time his right leg was forwards as before, his left arm moved into a guard position as he brought his right arm so that it looked like he was flexing his biceps before smashing it in front of him to complete the guard.

"Again, a simple move, but effective. The Lower Block guarded your abdomen and groin, where the Middle block guards the rest of your chest." Max watched as Aratar made his own execution of the move.

Aratar again returned to his "right foot forward" stance, and the left arm protected the mid-section while he attempted to bring his right around to briefly look like a flex, before he swung it in front of him to form the guarding move. Max nodded and grinned.

"Great! Now, last block--the Upper Block, which also goes by the name of High Block." He took the forward stance again, this time leading with his right leg, and as his left arm pulled back to chamber under his shoulder to help add snap to the motion, his right arm came upwards. The move was almost identical in appearance to the Middle Block, but instead of making a vertical 'L' shape with the arm, the forearm perpendicular like in the Middle Block, it was instead a horizontal 'L' shape with the forearm parallel to the ground, and the forearm was raised up to his hairline.

Aratar watched with interest, and when he received the nod from Max, he attempted it himself. His left arm snapped back and under at the same time that his arm snapped upwards, flexing his bicep as he felt his fist tighten, also flexing the muscles along the outside of his arm that was intended to block the incoming attack. Max watched curiously, and when he finished he smiled politely.

"Not bad. The blocks are simple, yes, but they can do you a world of good. Now, interestingly enough, blocks can be used as a form of attacks too and aI encourage you to use blocks to hit back or even to unbalance an opponent." He glanced at the dummy and chuckled.

"Blocks obviously won't work well on a dummy, but I want you to spend until mid-brightening practicing your blocks in the different stances. Twenty repetitions of each block in a stance before moving on to the next one. Do it over and over until I come back. Once you've done that, we'll take you for a spin and see how well your skills hold up. I'm going to do a test spar against you." At Ar's worried look, Max chuckled softly.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you, I just wanna test how your skills are doing." Atratar nodded and Max grinned, heading out as Aratar got to his practice until mid-brightening.