BASIC KNIFE DEFENSE
By Master Earl Weiss
Published in the Taekwon-Do Times 1995

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If attacked with a knife, don’t expect any martial art to get you out of the situation unscathed. Prepare for an injury, and learn these simple principles of survival.

This article will not make the martial art student proficient at knife fighting on knife defense. Its purpose is to eliminate misconceptions and provide a basic understanding of the knife as a weapon. Simple principles from which students can develop defensive knife fighting techniques and strategy, using techniques from their art and other arts, are offered. Hopefully, this information facilitates surviving a knife attack.

Various instructors have shown me many interesting “Knife Defense” techniques. They work well in a controlled practice situation with a cooperative partner using a prearranged method of attack. In a spontaneous and controlled situation, however, many of their techniques prove to be impractical or unrealistic as will be evident in the outlined drills.

The basis of most knife fighting systems is four principles. I have added one more principle. Since I feel this principle is the most important, I will discuss this as principle number one, following the four principles found in most knife fighting systems. These principles are:

Expect to get cut.
Minimize the damage inflicted on you.
Maximize the damage that you inflict.
Use the environment.
BASIC KNIFE DEFENSE
By Master Earl Weiss
Published in the Taekwon-Do Times 1995

PRINCIPLE NUMBER ONE:

Don’t Get in a Knife Fight

My instructor, Dr. Greg Youstra, was fond of saying that if you want to make someone an instant black belt – solely from a fighting-survival standpoint – give him a knife.

The ability of a knife to do damage is well understood in the concrete jungles. A recent home box office program called “Life in The Big House” illustrated this when a guard remarked, “There are no fist fights in the big house.” When the reporter sought further explanation, the guard said that when a prisoner wants to hurt someone, he doesn’t waste time punching or kicking, he simply gets a knife and cuts his target.

Assume an attacker with a knife will kill you if needed. Consequently, your primary goal is to escape. If escape is not possible, or you must protect others from bodily harm, principles two through five can be used.

As many police officers have told me their solution to an offender with a knife is simple but effective. It’s called a gun. Unfortunately, most of us won’t have the luxury of using a gun as part of principle number five.

NUMBER TWO:

Expect to Get Cut

As you will see in some of the practice exercises described later, it is very easy to cut someone with a knife. Most people of average intelligence and physical ability will have no trouble inflicting a cut on anyone, even a trained martial artist.

NUMBERS THREE & FOUR:

Minimize and Maximize Damage

Targets are divided into two groups: Primary and secondary. Primary targets cause death or total incapacity in a short time. Secondary targets will take longer to cause death or total disability, and are very survivable through the application of basic first aid such as the use of tourniquets or pressure.

Primary targets are mostly contained in the neck and torso and secondary targets are contained in the extremities such as arms and legs. For example, a cut to the forehead would not be life threatening; however, blood running into the eyes would effect sight and the ability to fight effectively.

PROTECT PRIMARY TARGETS FIRST!

Try the following empty-hand exercise with a partner of similar size and experience. Face each other in a realistic fighting stance and distance. Take five turns each attempting to touch your partner in the head with our fingernails (for safety, do not aim for the eyes). The partner tries to block. Usually the success rate is zero to one time.

Next, do the same exercise, but try to touch your partner’s abdomen with your fingertips. The defender’s hands must start at chin level and not start down because he knows what’s coming. The success rate, or hitting the target, is three to five times.

Now you might say that a touch won’t cause much damage because there is no penetration. But, put a knife with a four-inch blade in your hand and you’ll find that your penetration extended one to two inches - enough to cause tremendous damage. The lesson to be learned is the need to modify your fighting stance by pulling your hips rearward to slightly bent forward from the waist. This moves the head slightly forward, but as you saw by the previous drill, is much easier to block the head than it is to block the abdomen. You should also turn the hands so that the palms are toward the face. This turns the back of the forearms towards your opponent to protect the arteries that run close to the underside of the wrist.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Knife fighting styles are of two basic types. These are the strong side forward (if right handed this is your right side forward with the knife in that hand and vise versa), or strong side to the rear. Some esoteric styles may shift the knife from hand to hand. The two basic types are each divided into two categories: knife held in saber grip, or knife held in ice pick grip.

To learn the pros and cons of each type or category, use a point sparing format. For each drill, follow these safety rules:

1. USE RUBBER KNIVES. Never use real knives. Sometimes water-soluble markers are used.
2. No techniques allowed above the shoulders. Even safety goggles won’t provide adequate protection because the blade can slip underneath, or they can come off. Students may wish to experiment with full-face motorcycle helmets having securely fastened face shields.
3. Use hand, foot and head protective sparring gear for added protection.
4. Execute all exercises with caution and under adequate supervision.

FORMAT # 1

Any touch with the knife to any part of the partner’s body wins. If your partner touches you first, you must acknowledge the point. You can the continue for the next encounter using this format. Experiment with this format by having each partner use one of the fighting types and categories mentioned above. Experiment by using identical types and categories against each other, and then different ones against each other.

FORMAT # 2

Explore the various combinations of types and categories, but this time you can win if you give up one secondary target to score on a primary target. You can modify the rules to give up two secondary targets, etc., but it would not be realistic to give up ten secondary targets.

FORMAT # 3

Use both formats number one and two, but now use kicks, punches and various other martial arts techniques. Try to avoid, counter, grab and control the knife or knife hand.

FORMAT # 4

Experiment with empty hand techniques verses the various knife fighting styles after becoming acquainted with various types and categories.

FORMAT # 5

Have the opponent execute a knife blitz and do your best to sidestep, parry, evade, control and counterattack the knife.
REMEMBER . . .

It is easy to be slashed in a knife fight!

Strong side forward saber grip is effectively used for a reach advantage and to slice secondary targets on any incoming attack.

Strong side back saber grips keep the knife away from the opponent’s kicks and blocks. The lead hand can be used to give up the secondary target to create an opening in the opponent’s primary target.

Strong side forward with the ice pick grip, while used in many Filipino arts for slashing and hooking, does not use the reach advantage of the saber grip. When faced with someone using this method, you should realize that they either don’t know what they are doing, they are crazy, or they’re very good.

Strong side back ice pick grip is the least efficient, but the navive opponent may use this for a blitz.

USING THE ENVIRONMENT

Using the environment is somewhat difficult to practice in the dojang. To do so, the instructor needs to provide various items such as a broom or chair to neutralize the reach advantage and strike at the incoming knife or arm. Explore the use of other common items. For example, remove your belt and swing the buckle at the hand holding the knife or wrap your hand and arm in our jacket to block or parry the knife.

CONCLUSION

There is no 100% guarantee that any martial art knife defense will work in any given situation. But the more you learn and practice, the greater your chances for survival.