If one accepts the often-heard statement that most gunfights take place at a distance of about 5 feet, then most situations where you would need a gun can be adequately handled with a knife. Within its range (and, for a trained person who knows how to move, 5 feet is well within knife range), the edged weapon can actually be more destructive to the opponent than a gun. The knife never runs out of ammunition and it never jams.
I enjoy knife drills and can’t get enough of them. There’s something about practicing knife attack defenses that raises the hair on the back of my neck. They can be very stressful. Here are some drills we did earlier in the week.
Drill #1
Our partner held a tombstone pad, close to his body in various positions, and we stabbed the pad various angles with our practice knife.
Drill #2
Our partner remained stationary as we stabbed her with the knife from various angles. Recognizing how the knife is being gripped sometimes indicates what the angle of attack might be.
Drill #3
Moving around, our partner attacked us from various angles and we made the appropriate defenses without disarms. In some cases, if we were very close to our partner, he would grab us and pull us into his knife.
Drill #4
Our partner held the back of our head with one hand (single-collar tie [dirty-boxing clinch]) and attempted to stab us with the other hand from various angles.
Drill #5
Moving around, we tossed the knife to our partner and our partner tossed the knife back to us. At some point, one of us kept the knife and decided to attack.
Drill #6
The class was broken up into groups of four. Person #1 was defending against Level 1 attacks. Person #2 was attacking Person #1. Person #3 was a bystander. Person #4... armed with a knife... was allowed to attack any of the other persons. I had a lot of fun with this drill.
Common knife targets that have generally proven lethal or severely disabling include the heart, subclavian artery (behind the collarbone), stomach, brachial artery, radial artery, carotid artery, femoral artery, auxiliary artery and kidneys.
Cuts generally cause more bleeding while thrusts can cause more serious damage.
There is an old saying: ‘Leave one’s yard and find seven enemies.’ No matter how skilled one is in the martial arts, he will find himself unprepared if encountered off-guard. Ideally, then, one should constantly be in a state of preparedness.
A knife is a dangerous weapon. If you’re attacked and you have a choice, it’s better to run away. If you don’t have a choice, use an improvised weapon (stick, chair, etc.) to help you with your defense. Using your hands to defend yourself is an absolute last resort.
