Concepts

Dangers of the knife

• Steel beats flesh – blocking the sharp edge of a blade can result in serious and deep cuts, permanent damage to tendons, damage to internal organs and life-threatening blood loss.

• You are likely to be cut – a knife is a huge advantage to the attacker. There is a significant chance that even if you succeed in defending yourself you will still sustain cuts. You would have to be extremely lucky to encounter a knife attack and emerge unscathed.

• Try not to expose your neck, the inside of your wrists – these areas carry large blood vessels and are primary targets. Even if you manage to grab an attacker’s knife hand, they can still turn the knife to cut your wrists. A cut to your neck could render you unconscious within ten seconds.

Live hand - rear guard

• Try to protect your heart – a stab to the heart is fatal – the use of your “live” hand covering your heart and neck is good habit to get into.

Tips to remember

• If you can – run. Given the huge advantage a person with a knife has over a person without a knife, the amount of damage that can be inflicted so easily and the likelihood of you being injured, your first option should be to run away as quickly as you can. The moment you have the opportunity to run – do so. Of course this may not be an option if your family or loved ones are at risk.

• Don't look at the snake - A common mistake with beginners in knife defence is to concentrate too closely on the knife. Looking at the person’s body or face is much better – use your peripheral vision to track the movement of the knife.

• Talk to the attacker – talking to the attacker humanises the conflict – makes them realise you are a living, breathing, feeling individual – tell them you don’t want trouble. Keep telling them there are other alternatives, they have other choices, they don’t have to keep going to make their point, hurting someone with a knife is a serious offence that will lead to time in jail, tell them to consider the consequence of their actions. Also the attacker may lunge at you while you are talking so you need to be able to defend yourself properly while talking – so practice this during class.

Directions of attack

For Level One we limit the attacks to:

• 45 degree arc - right high to left low

• 45 degree arc – high left to right low

• Horizontal arc - right to left

• Horizontal arc - left to right

• Thrust to the stomach (does not stay out there)

Of course there are many other ways of attacking - once you can handle these simpler angles it will be easier to deal with other more complex attacks.

Different Knife Grips

There are two basic grips for the knife:

• Normal Grip (like when cutting food on your plate)

• Reverse Grip (like when chipping away ice with an ice pick) – can have the blade facing inwards or outwards. Fist can be used to punch.

Attack positions

There are two basic positions for the attacker:

• Knife hand in front

• Knife hand at the back

Remember – you cannot control how the attacker chooses to stand or which hand they choose to hold the knife in. They may even hide the knife up their sleeve or behind their back.

Left handed vs right handed attacks and defences

Knife attacks can be left-handed or right-handed – also the attacker may have two knives. Practicing for only a right-handed attack with a normal grip with the knife hand in front does not prepare you sufficiently.

You also need to be able to use either hand or leg in your defence as you cannot control which foot you will have in front when a knife attack presents itself. So vary the attack from left-handed to right-handed and the grip from normal to ice-pick.

Distance

An attacker is unlikely to start the attack at a distance that requires them to make a huge step in (like the attacks seen in classical knife defence demonstrations). They will be staying just beyond range and so they only need to take a small step in to reach you with the knife.

The attacker could be very close to you, hold you in position with one hand, while they repeatedly stab you with the other hand (like commonly seen in films about knife attacks in prison). If you always practice against attacks that originate at a long distance, then you will not be prepared if someone attacks you from a closer distance. So vary the distance of the attack.

Keep hips ready to shoot back

Try to lean your body slightly forwards and the hips back – be prepared to shoot the hips back if a low attacks comes in – this will move your stomach back out of range.

Knife Drill 1 – Tapi Tapi

Purpose

• To develop an ability to detect the attack as early as possible and start moving the hand and the feet in the right direction.

• Makes defender aware of their space, how attacks will enter that space and how to meet the attack.

How to do it

• Attacker has two knives and attacks with any hand to the stomach at random - gradually increasing in speed and attacking other areas

• Defender looks straight ahead and just taps the attacker's wrist

• Start stationary then progress to moving and using footwork

• Start with attacks to the stomach then progress to any part of the body and any angle

• Just tap the wrist - no need to block hard or defend properly – don’t look at the snake

• Can also vary the drill by kneeling and moving around and using different knife grips.

Footwork

A knife attack is normally very quick – so big steps in your defence will normally take too long. The purpose of your footwork is two-fold:

• To move the target (a part of your body) out of the way or at least in a safer position.

• To allow you to have a weapon (your hands, elbows, feet, knees, head) closer to the target (a part of the attacker’s body).

Good footwork can allow you achieve both of these. A simple form of the footwork that you can practice is to consider your space being divided into the following 4 quadrants:

• Front right – step right foot out at 45⁰, left foot drags across 

• Front left – step left foot out at 45⁰, right foot drags across

• Rear right – step back left foot at 45⁰

• Rear left – step back right foot at 45⁰

Try to incorporate this footwork in all the drills that follow – soon you will find yourself instinctively doing the footwork in response to the direction of the attack.

The footwork should be an instinctive response to the danger and should happen without too much deliberate thinking (eventually).

How footwork places your body in a safer position

If the knife attack is in an arc, then a step can place your torso outside of the arc or inside the arc – either way you are no longer where the knife is. Of course footwork alone is not enough – you still need to deal with the arm holding the knife, especially if your footwork placed you inside the arc.

If the attack is delivered in a straight line as a thrust, then a step can move your torso “off the line”. Again you need to deal with the arm or the attacker will just keep attacking or redirect the knife to you new location.

Talk during the drill - to engage the higher mind

In most traditional martial arts classes the student is told to be quiet and concentrate on the lesson so they can focus on the techniques.

This knife course is the opposite – we would like to encourage students to talk when they are doing the drills.

You have to be able to do knife defence without thinking – as a habit. Talking while you do the drills will help you develop the habit of doing knife defence without thinking. Your arms and feet will do what they need to without your full attention.

In a dangerous situation it is important that your mind is thinking about strategy. For example, how many are there, who is coming at me next, if I move this way then what will they do, should I run now, can I use that chair over there to help me, what about those stairs will they help, etc...

While your brain is working out what is the best strategy, your arms and feet still need to be defending and moving correctly to protect or counter – almost without thinking. We call this engaging the higher mind. Talking during class helps you develop this ability to react automatically while working out what to do next.

When doing the drills – once you have learnt the moves properly – try to engage your partner in a conversation – “Hi – my name is Bruce – I had a big lunch today – fish and chips – what about you? Really? Where did you eat that? Wow! I really like that restaurant”, etc..

Talk and listen properly. You will be surprised as to how well you can do both talking and defending at the same time.

You will also find this improves your general self defence and sparring – your body will be able to react automatically leaving your higher mind free to work out what to do to improve your situation or take advantage of a weakness in your opponent.

Basic Defences – Stop, pass or disengage

There are three basic defensive moves that can help you deal with the arm that is holding the knife:

• Pass – redirects the arm away from the target – is usually on the outside

• Stop – stops the arms – is usually on the inside

• Disengage – momentarily stops the arm but then redirects – allows a transition from inside to outside

Pass

Here are some tips for your pass technique:

• use your palm, not your fingers

• you can also use the rear of your hand

• use footwork to improve your position

• attack the wrist or forearm

• transition to your other arm if you need grab the wrist or control the elbow.

Stop

Here are some tips for your stop technique:

• use your arm like a shield

• use footwork to improve your position

• attack forearm or elbow

• can use two arms for stronger block

Baseball move

The baseball move is a type of stop movement that involves using two arms, at the same time as one arm stops, the other arm strikes to the face, neck, collar bone or solar plexus.

The movement starts like a baseball batting swing and adjust after it is launched to match the height and angle of the attack. It usually goes on the inside.

You must not hesitate or move back as you are blocking. The whole body must be launched forward to intercept the attack on its way in. Once the fist strike has been made, keep striking until the attacker has been neutralised, you could go into techniques to throw the attacker to the ground.

Disengage

Here are some tips for your disengage technique:

• starts like a stop then becomes a pass

• rotate your body and use footwork to improve your position

• use to get from the inside to the outside without exposing yourself to the knife blade

• transition to your other arm if you need grab the wrist or control the elbow.

Knife Drill 2 – Pass or Stop

Purpose

To learn how to neutralise an attack using the pass, stop or disengage movements, and to develop good footwork and mobility. These skills are practiced in the drill until they become habit.

How to do it

• Both have a knife – start off both in the right hand in the normal grip.

• Alternate attack and defence – take turns – one go each

Attacker

• Start with just one 45 degree arc from top right to low left

• Later add a thrust to stomach

Defender

• Defender either stops, passes, rolling blocks or disengages

• Add a rolling block where the knife hand comes back to block and left hand checks elbow

• Flow!! Don’t look at the snake!

Progression of difficulty

• Start stationary progress to moving and using footwork

• High Pass > High Pass > High Pass ........

• High Stop > High stop > High Stop ........

• High Pass > High Stop > High Pass > High Stop .....

• Low Pass > Low Pass > Low > Pass ......

• Low Stop > Low Stop > Low Stop .....

• Low Pass > Low Stop > Low Pass > Low Stop ....

• High Pass > High Stop > Low Pass > Low Stop ....

• High or low, pass or stop

• Occasionally add rolling block

• High disengage > High disengage .....

• Once you understand the moves try talking to your partner to practice engaging the higher mind.

• Do all Drills very slowly – speed up gradually. If you find yourself making mistakes then slow down to the point where you are doing the movement well again before you go any faster.

• Do the drill left-handed as well.