Using your hips to improve your defence

	If you are hit directly, a lot of the power goes into your body
	If you are hit at an angle, the power is deflected away

Hip rotation helps your defense in a number of valuable ways

When you block, you attempt to divert a strike away from your body with the blocking surface. However, should that block be unsuccessful, the less square you are to the target, the smaller the target area, so the harder you are to hit.

Also, if someone strikes you using a straight technique like a punch, or side kick, the nearer to a right angle your body is to the strike, the more force is transmitted into you. Thus, if you are square on when someone hits you, the maximum amount of force is delivered to your body. By turning, you increase the angle of deflection, and thus reduce the force that strikes you.

Furthermore, the mere action of turning increases the deflection effect upon a technique. Think of it like throwing rock at a spinning ball. If you hit the ball square on, the rock will bounce off back towards you more or less at the same angle. The faster the ball is spinning, the more acute the angle of deflection. If you hit the ball near to the edge in the direction it is spinning, the rock will continue more or less in the direction it was originally travelling. Apart from anything else, this is a desirable effect for a defender because it means that the attacker becomes unbalanced and vulnerable, obeying one of the fundamental principles of combat: destroy the opponent's base (foundation).