Fun with knives and shrubs (And the ever popular "I Would Have Done This" Syndrome)

Let me first state, that I have been on both the giving, and receiving end of knives. So all that I ask here, is that you suspend your disbelief for a moment, and accept the fact that I may have some idea what I am talking about. With that said, we can begin........

Now, something I have noticed recently, is that even with the proliferation of decent information out there concerning the realities of knife attacks (and knife fighting in general), that there are still a ton of people out there (mainly in Martial Arts Schools) that are teaching a load of crap in regards to defense relative to knife attacks.

Not too long ago, I had an urge for a late night snack, so I went down to the local convienience store. When I got there, the clerk (a young guy about 19 - 21) was outside waving a knife around in the air. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me that, "the best way to learn to defend yourself from a knife is to learn to use one." This is something I have heard countless times, even from some of my own instructors when I was younger.

I stood back and observed his movements for a couple minutes. Nice smooth strokes turning into backhand slashes. Altogether pretty cool looking stuff. Apparently he had invested a lot of time into what he was doing, and money evident by the $400 Cold Steel knife he was using.

I decided to ask him exactly how he would go about defending himself from a knife attack. The first words out of his mouth were, "If someone comes at me with a knife." followed by a demonstration of his tactical stance complete with thumbs tucked in and palms facing inward. He went on to explain that he would much rather take a cut to the back of the hand or arm, and of course that you should expect to get cut so it doesn't come as a shock to you. He then went further handing me his knife and showing me move by move how he would gain control of the weapon hand and immobilize me.

I asked him to hold on for a moment and went inside to grab a candy bar. I then told him, this is my knife, and I am going to attack you. I even let him get into his ready stance..

What happened from there, looked a lot like this.



(no this is not me in the video, in fact I don't even know these people. I would usually use some prison footage for this, but this was ready and at hand.)

Now, this is done, while the defender is ready, and knows what's coming. Now imagine this attack done while your back is turned, or your attention is elsewhere. It happens.

This isn't the best footage, or the best demonstration, but it is fair enough to illustrate my point.

This is the note attached to this video:

READ ALL OF THIS BEFORE COMMENTING!!!

How a knife fight really looks. There are 4 different classes of observing a violent incident. Two of them identify with the Victim. The other two identify with the knife man. Read below and recognize the danger in observing this video the way you do (and judging from the comments you've probably failed already and are seeing it from class III)

IV: The socialized individual that identifies with the victim. This observation is focused completely on the realization that a man has been stabbed 13+ times... and it could easily be them. This is a common perspective, held by most people. It is exploitable, and precisely the reason that people succumb to intimidation.

III: The socially-trained fighter that recognizes the failure on the victim's part. This observation is hallmarked by comments such as "I would have done this.." or "He totally could have blocked that if he knew...".
This level of observation focuses on 'training to not be victimized'. This viewpoint is less common, but starts with self-evident failure and then tries to rectify it.

II: The socio- or psychopath. This person identifies with the knife man. They recognize success (e.g. killing a man), and will use footage or anecdotes as data to improve their own performance. As an example: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jAjB43duq4A
Stabs Blackmon 67 times. The Medical Examiner stated that 2 of those injuries were fatal. The violence-minded would watch that and see themselves as Troy Kell. Thankfully, a jury would watch that and see themselves being savaged by Kell. The sports combatant might see that and see themselves fending off Kell's accomplice and taking the knife from Kell.

I: Goal-oriented... identifying the successful person in this incident (read: stabber, not stabbee), and looking to improve upon their performance. Your goal is to see the video on the left (or in the link) and see yourself as the knife man. How can you best accomplish what they did. How can you do it better? Can you beat a 32.5:1 ratio of lethal injuries. How would you go about that? What is the goal? What is superfluous? Observing in this manner makes footage from prison riots and the nightly news informative. It provides concrete examples of successful violence, and provides a foundation to work from— a foundation that focuses on successfully using violence as a tool.


Take note first of #3 there. This is the, "I would have done this or that" guy. And we all know this guy. It's real easy to analyze something and see all the flaws when you are not the one in the situation. This is the same guy who does one of three things when confronted with a real situation: (these are just my personal observations on the matter, and I have sen it many times)

1. Stands there confidently (Because running away would mean he is a pussy, and after all he is a highly trained fighting machine) then panics when what he was trained to do doesn't work the way it was supposed to. This may lead to wild flailing of the arms, and usually results in massive blood loss, disfigurement, and possible death.
2. Immediate freeze up. Sometimes it takes a moment to comprehend exactly what is happening, other times, the shock of seeing this coming at you is enough to make you shit yourself. This may or may not result in wild flailing of arms, or falling into a fetal position. But, it usually does lead to massive blood loss, disfigurement, and possible death.
   
3. Fight or Flight response. Sometimes these people can do an amazing amount of damage, but even so, it usually leads to massive blood loss, disfigurement, and possible death. Unless of course they run, which changes the whole situation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight-or-flight_response

Now, more than one guy has responded with this: "If you run you leave your back exposed and they could throw a knife at you."
This is fantasy, it's not easy to make a knife stick into someone who is moving in an unpredictable pattern, at a variable rate of speed, and well, it's not easy. I am sure you can dig up someone who can in fact do this, but the chance of running into that guy is slim. This is such a low percentage shot that the chance of the blade sinking in the full length like in the movies is way less then 50%.
And not that people aren't stupid, but it would be stupid of the guy to throw his major advantage away, more so with the possibility of you picking it up. I can go on and on about this, but you should be able to grasp the idea here. Lets just say that this applies to pretty much everyone, including those of you out there who fancy yourselves being super ninja blade throwers.

Now take a look at #2 and #1 from that note there. This is more like me, this is how I trained. After a specific point in my life, my sole purpose of training was aimed at the victimization of others. Everything I learned was subjected to predatory testing on the population around me. Maybe I should clarify that most o this population consisted of gangsters, wannabes, drunks, or in general anyone who has as bad an attitude as I had. I went out looking for trouble with the full intent of testing my skills, that being when I wasn't out to make a profit for myself.

Think about this or a moment. There is an ever growing population out there in prison with nothing but time on their hands, and chances are they are in prison or a reason. Even those non-violent offenders come out hardened and ready to fight or victimize at the drop of a hat. Many of them view life through a much different scope than you do. Many of them have grown up with the multifaceted influence of victimization (remind me to go more into this at some point) hanging over them, and have had no other example set for them other than to take advantage of any-one and any-thing. At some point, many these people get released back into society.

Let me make this absolutely clear. There are people out there who are training upwards of 7 days a week, 16 hrs a day with the aim of victimizing you in some way, and often times this includes a high degree of violence.

As for knives, the best way to learn to defend yourself from a knife attack is to have someone attack you with one every day for a few months, preferable someone who has spent a bit of time in prison. Obviously nobody wants to do that.

So what would be my advice?

It all comes down to a couple different things here, because obviously there are situations where, barring health reasons, running is not an option.

The first scenario you should be concerned with, has to do with protecting your loved ones. This is an ugly question, but it is a question you must ask yourself.

Are you willing to sacrifice your life to protect your loved ones?

Most people will instantly answer yes, but believe it or not, some people have a higher sense of self preservation than you, or even they would assume. I've seen guys leave their wives and kids standing there in the face of an attack while they hotfoot it out of there.

Another related scenario has to do with mothers and their children. And I have seen women fight with absolute ferocity or their kids.

The other classic scenario is where you are cornered and have nowhere to immediately run.

One tactic I have seen, and used where I was about to be attacked, meaning the knife was out, involves crossing your arms over your chest and tucking your chin down and running. You can try a feint here, but expect to plow through your attacker if necessary and keep running. This is not a pretty tactic, and you may trip. You will probably loose some blood, but if the guy isn't ready for it, you may just survive. Be careful not to trip. If this fails you fall back on Plan B.

Now, if someone is waving a knife in your face, and not in the process of actually stabbing you, you may be able to gain control of the weapon arm. However, this usually means a robbery, and it is probably just better to give them what they want rather than take an unnecessary risk. Some people advise carrying a money clip or decoy wallet and tossing it and running while they are distracted. I have had people do this to me, and I have taken action, and let me tell you something, it was a bloody and violent affair, and I could have easily died. I am not advising anyone to take a specific action in this situation, that is up to you to either live or die with. There is always a chance that even having given the attacker what they want, they still try to kill you, it happens..... Don't assume that just because they are waving a knife in your face that they have no intention or willingness to use it.

Another obvious, is, if you can arm yourself, then do so. It may even be enough to even things out, or even stop the attack and turn it into a duel where you can maneuver yourself into an opening to run. Weirder things have happened, but don't depend on it. All of this is assuming you have enough time decide on any kind of action.

There is also a lot to be said for staying off the attackers center line. This is where your body positioning comes in handy, and working on it can have a dramatic effect in just about any situation. In this case move around toe opposing side of the weapon. This may even open up a chance to run.

In some cases if an opening presents itself, you can use a full body mug to keep the attacker from getting a well leveraged thrust or slash in. But this will be bloody business in most cases. Part of the problem here, is the attacker may not be alone, if they are alone let's hope you can hang on long enough for someone to come and help you.

Now, this is about all I can say in a blog post without having to produce my own documentary on the subject.

Plan B

Plan B is the ugliest thing there is, mainly because there is no secret trick to it. This is where you fight with everything you have. You meet an attack with your own attack with full intent on doing as much damage as you can. You are literally trying to kill with your bear hands, this is how intense you have to make that attack. I know some of you think you are prepared for this, but you're not, even if you survive there is a price you pay that I can't even begin to explain to you. If by chance you see an opening to run you take it. You may win, you may lose, you may get away, you may die. These are the simple facts.

No amount of training can really prepare you for this. To be honest, even stress conditioning falls short.

This is all heavy on assumption and the hypothetical.

To be ultra-realistic here, if someone really wants to kill you, and has the means to do it, there is little you can do to stop them. What can you do when you don't see it coming? No amount of scenario based training is going to stop someone from stabbing you when your back is turned, or cutting you from ear to ear. No amount of training is going to help you if you are asleep. This is the ugly truth, if someone wants you dead, they can kill you and there isn't much you can do about it once the process has started.

There are some seriously warped people out there. And you never know what they are capable of.

Look what you know who did to Ron and Nicole.... And the forensic evidence said they did fight back. Ron was in pretty good shape too.

I use the word "win" in a rather loose way. It's about survival, and when your back is truly to the wall, the only way to increase your chances no matter how small, is to attack with everything you've got.