Adjusting space before and after a latex beamer block

[To get this off the unanswered list]

There is no 'better' way, as there is no hook built into beamer for adjusting the distance here. However, what is not clear is why you want to do this in this way.

Maybe

\addtobeamertemplate{block begin}{\vskip -\bigskipamount}{}
\addtobeamertemplate{block end}{}{\vskip -\bigskipamount}

is slightly better solution.