Learned some knife defense techniques in Jiu Jitsu last night.
The best and safest defense, bar none, is to run out of effective knife distance as quickly as possible. Highly recommended.
All other defenses are less effective and more last resort options due to being unable to run away or create distance to break away or bring a firearm to bear. It is highly likely you're going to get tagged when you're in close against a determined attacker armed with a knife.
The good news: If they're coming at you with an ice-pick type grip, the close in defenses are pretty straightforward, work really well, let you establish control, and really reduce the likelihood you're going to get tagged in a fatal area.
The bad news: Even doing the ice-pick defenses perfectly, the likelihood you're still going to get cut at least on the outside of your arm is still pretty high. The nice thing is even executing them at full speed and less than textbook execution against someone trying really hard to stick you, they still work pretty darn well.
The ugly news: About 60%+ of knife attacks aren't using ice pick holds, they're instead using hammer or saber type holds and they grab and keep you in close with their off-hand while they use the knife in a sewing-machine like motion with your stomach and vital areas as the cloth getting perforated by said sewing machine.
This doth suck.
There is a defense to it that works, but the likelihood of getting seriously tagged even when you do it right can be pretty high.
We started doing these techniques slowly and then picked up the pace. Slowly to learn the technique and then go faster to actual attack speeds using rubber knives.
Defenses from ice pick type attacks did work really well, but yes some outside arm hits were felt.
Hammer/saber grip attacks while they hold you in close with the other hand generally meant at least one if not more solid hits to the body. This was especially the case when for example Spence, who is a head taller than me and built like a mac truck came in on me with full speed and power, while I eventually got control but I certainly took a solid and only slightly deflected initial hit more often than not - that type of attack is hard to stop. With my other bubble partner who is a head shorter than me but basically built of muscle and reflexes, I could mostly stop the initial attack with the technique but not always.
Oh, and doing all this while wearing a mask truly sucks. Talk about breathing hard and really sucking in the O2 while the CO2 doesn't get dispersed.
In short, you're always best off getting out of range of a knife attack when possible.
All these defensive techniques, while they can and do work, are the not-as-good options for when you can't get out of knife range as opposed to running away to a safe distance.
3 comments:
Hey Aaron;
I remember in high school *cough hack* long time ago (Early 80's in Reagans America) we had an "A-team of Special forces come to our school and talk about careers and they did question and answers and the soldiers made a point of showing a couple of defensive moves and then "run as fast as you can move". They stressed that, incapacitate and run...don't hang around. I still remember this today. Not bad for an old guy, LOL
Made this comment on different sites.
There is a old saying about knife fights, it goes something like this:
"the loser of a knife fight dies at the scene, the winner dies in the hospital."
First thing I learned in Defense against Knife" class was: "Accept that you're going to get cut." That put it all in perspective right there.
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