The 3 components of successful knife defense.
Knife defence is a subject often covered by martial arts schools but all too often shown in an unrealistic, even dangerous way. Knife defence, for those who have really faced attackers with blades, is not a clean or pretty subject to tackle.
Before we even get to the physical intervention skills that are required we must understand the severity of the situation that presents itself. If a knife is in play when you are defending yourself, the situation, although already very serious, has escalated to critical levels. Unfortunately, we need to work as though a knife is always ready to be deployed by our attacker due to the reality of knife attacks being largely unseen.
Preparation for working with knives.
Firstly we need to mentally prepare ourselves for working against someone with a blade. The reality is that we should be working with the understanding that in this situation it is a ‘kill or be killed’ mindset that is required of us. There is no fancy locking, no control and restraint.
The reaction should be extreme, devastating and completely dominating of the opponent. This is certainly NOT to say that we become governed by rage or extreme emotional response, but that we accept and focus our mind on the job at hand.
Correct, progressive training will allow us to build an awareness of the mental and resulting physical stresses that become apparent when we are put under pressure. They range from working with blunt metal blades with the right finish, simple slapping drills, blindfold and noise training, breath control all the way to multiple opponent stress and pressure testing drills. Some of these will be covered in future posts.
So, the mental side of Knife work preparation is the first thing to deal with, without this the proceeding physical work will fall apart.
You do not ‘Rise to the occasion’ ... you fall down to the lowest level of your training.
Secondly we need to have a body, reinforced by the other aspects of combative training, that is ready to successfully apply the physical requirements of the combative encounter such as:
- Cardiovascular endurance
- Connected and strong structure
- Enhanced mobility both standing and on the ground
- Flexibility
- good listening skills
-Hard striking ability
With all of these criteria satisfied we will be in a position to apply the following 3 aspects of knife work.
The 3 components and how they fit together in the first moments of an encounter
These three components are mainly for saving your life in the split second that an encounter presents itself ... once these three have been used initially there are other ideas that need to come into play like, controlling the knife arm while attacking the opponent, lack of fixation, getting to the back gate. Etc.
Component 1: Move.
Obviously one of the primary ‘must haves’ when it comes to almost any combat is the ability to move smoothly and efficiently out of the way when something is coming towards you. This is amplified when a weapon is present however there is a twist with this component. The twist being that we do not want to move ‘away’ from an attacked when i knife is in play, but towards him. This may seem counter intuitive but really makes a lot of sense.
If you move out off or maintain your range when a knife is being slashed around or poked at you, the chances are you will catch the slashes in the hands and arms as you try to defend yourself. In order to minimise this situation, moving towards the opponents body into shoulder to shoulder range will mean that you are now out of their slashing range.
The trade off here is that you may not be able to see the knife arm but this is where listening skill comes into its own. And lets not forget the purpose of these initial 3 things are to save your life in the initial seconds.
So the definition of move is:
MOVE : get out the way of the blade and change the range to your advantage
Component 2: Check.
To check as we mean it here is to cover, or stop the knife arm. This should be done AT THE SAME TIME as your movement out of the way. It is important that although out of the way the opponent isn’t able to turn their knife to you in an instant.
The main idea here is that you are stopping the opponents ability to Change. Unlike some strikes, knives do not need a wind up to be effective, they simply need to be drawn across something, This means that a simple change of direction will allow the knife attacker to easily cut you.
The check is designed to stop this happening as you move out of the way.
Note: - The point of contact you check with is important. You shouldn’t be checking with areas of the body where a cut could be fatal, inside of the arms is a classic to watch for.
So the definition of Check is:
CHECK: Halt the ability of the blade to change its direction.
Component 2: STRIKE TO SHOCK
Every martial arts instructor that works with knives has seen it. A student becoming fixated on stopping the knife arm and forgetting all about the cause of the problem .... the person holding it!
A knife on the floor is not dangerous until a person picks it up. We need to deal with the source of the issue, and that is the attacker.
We have to consider the mental state of the attacker in this situation, they have made the decision to try to kill you. With this in mind our strike has to be very shocking to their system both mentally and physically. We need to take the fight out of the tiger!
The important aspect of this strike is that it should happen AT THE SAME TIME as the check and the move. This is psychologically not very easy for the attacker to deal with. They attack but are attacked in the same beat.
The strike can be anything that will shock the attacker, however one of the most effective methods i have found is a full palm slap to the face. This takes in all the opponents senses and will incite an immediate defensive reaction ... if only for a second while you follow up!
That said, shocks can be cause with arm strikes, striking the spine, the sternum or the eyes.
So the definition of Strike is:
STRIKE: Shock the attacker in the same beat as their attack.
If you are able to apply these three principles in the first seconds of a knife attack you will put yourself at less of a disadvantage. This is not to say you will succeed!
The reality of a knife situation is such that many factors depend on a successful outcome, including that most illusive of traits ... luck.
But we are able to train responses that can give us a chance. I will put up a video of some basic training ideas to develop these 3 attributes soon.
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