I have pretty much trained everything vs everything one time or another, like many here just to see what worked. Most of the good information about how an edged weapon attack will occur is gathered from prisons. You have violent, experienced, "trained", gladiators, with nothing to loose. The dynamic is also different for them because they don't want to rob their victims, they only want to kill them.
Last month I presented my Edged Weapons for Law Enforcement Class at the International Law Enforcement Education & Trainers Conference in Chicago. Next week I am in West Palm Beach doing the same thing at the American Law Firearms Trainers Association's conference. These classes are comprised of both corrections and police personnel. The reason I bring this up is because most of the time all corrections has is is maybe OC, law enforcement does not even have that when they are in booking/intake. These people deal with so many "could have happened" attacks because they make contact with offenders who are armed, have criminal records, and again likely to attack to get run away, or kill so they can walk away. Much to the chagrin of many bosses in LE, officers need to be able to deliver deadly force with open hand tactics, improvised weapons, and traditional weapons.
In my opinion here are the biggest problems associated with the majority of knife defense training are the following-
It is predicated on knowing that the attacker is armed, or actually seeing the knife. The flies in the face of what we know about the realities of edged weapon attacks. Victims report that they did not see the weapon at first, and actually thought they were being struck with open hand strikes. So if your training time is spent on training against something you can see, you are already behind the curve, especially with attacks coming from the flanks and rear.
Many of the training weapons that are used are about 2-3 times the size of size of what you are actually likely to face in real life. The more and more I speak to my vast corrections and law enforcement contacts the more I find that the average size of the weapons they actually take off offenders in and out of prison are sub three inches. This makes sense because the goal is to go about with a concealed weapon. I would narrow down the edged weapons that the average person is likely to face on the street are box cutters, screwdrivers, and steak/kitchen knives.
Just as police have a tendency to lock in on their fights being gun vs gun, many knife people lock in on the knife vs knife. In the same vein they also get locked onto the tool, and fail to consider that their attacker may not fixate on the weapon and use other things like open hand combatives, leg sweeps, vertical stuns, improvised weapons, and ground fighting. The emphasis has got to be on the attacker not the mechanism of the attack (weapon type).
There are three phases of an edged weapon attack-
Deploying- what police refer to as furtive movement. This is the best time to stifle and attack. For this to be possible you need to be within arms distance of the attacker.
Deployed- the worst time to defend since the attacker is not giving you anything to work with. Basically they are menacing you with the weapon. If you reach for it you will likely get a reaction cut, not unlike getting bitten by reaching for a dog's bone.
Attacking- the second best time to defend, they are giving you something to work with. This is the phase in which the majority of training takes place, and two often with the students exchanging cuts and attempting to gain distance. This may be OK if you are training for a "knife fight" but no if your job has a likelihood of putting you this situation often. The way I explain this is that it is no big deal to change the tires on your car with a lug wrench, but if you are doing it everyday as part of your job, you invest in an air wrench.
When I do a firearms course I have to make it over the hurdle that the best offense is a good defense in that if you use movement and angles to make it as hard as possible for the attacker to attack instead of focusing on trying your hand at the old 21 foot drill. Gun guys want to turn everything into a gun problem, knife guys want to turn it into a knife problem.
I have three basic targets- head (the fuse box), elbows (lynch pin of weapon attacks), and knees (lynch pin of locomotion).
IHMO it is just good common sense not to put all your eggs in one basket, whether it be open hand combatives, edged weapons, ground fighting, or whatever you are most drawn to. Train for what is most likely to happen more than what could happen. This is true of all things when it comes to personal protection and preparedness.
I do so appreciate, and find refreshing the civility of this conversation.- George
Last month I presented my Edged Weapons for Law Enforcement Class at the International Law Enforcement Education & Trainers Conference in Chicago. Next week I am in West Palm Beach doing the same thing at the American Law Firearms Trainers Association's conference. These classes are comprised of both corrections and police personnel. The reason I bring this up is because most of the time all corrections has is is maybe OC, law enforcement does not even have that when they are in booking/intake. These people deal with so many "could have happened" attacks because they make contact with offenders who are armed, have criminal records, and again likely to attack to get run away, or kill so they can walk away. Much to the chagrin of many bosses in LE, officers need to be able to deliver deadly force with open hand tactics, improvised weapons, and traditional weapons.
In my opinion here are the biggest problems associated with the majority of knife defense training are the following-
It is predicated on knowing that the attacker is armed, or actually seeing the knife. The flies in the face of what we know about the realities of edged weapon attacks. Victims report that they did not see the weapon at first, and actually thought they were being struck with open hand strikes. So if your training time is spent on training against something you can see, you are already behind the curve, especially with attacks coming from the flanks and rear.
Many of the training weapons that are used are about 2-3 times the size of size of what you are actually likely to face in real life. The more and more I speak to my vast corrections and law enforcement contacts the more I find that the average size of the weapons they actually take off offenders in and out of prison are sub three inches. This makes sense because the goal is to go about with a concealed weapon. I would narrow down the edged weapons that the average person is likely to face on the street are box cutters, screwdrivers, and steak/kitchen knives.
Just as police have a tendency to lock in on their fights being gun vs gun, many knife people lock in on the knife vs knife. In the same vein they also get locked onto the tool, and fail to consider that their attacker may not fixate on the weapon and use other things like open hand combatives, leg sweeps, vertical stuns, improvised weapons, and ground fighting. The emphasis has got to be on the attacker not the mechanism of the attack (weapon type).
There are three phases of an edged weapon attack-
Deploying- what police refer to as furtive movement. This is the best time to stifle and attack. For this to be possible you need to be within arms distance of the attacker.
Deployed- the worst time to defend since the attacker is not giving you anything to work with. Basically they are menacing you with the weapon. If you reach for it you will likely get a reaction cut, not unlike getting bitten by reaching for a dog's bone.
Attacking- the second best time to defend, they are giving you something to work with. This is the phase in which the majority of training takes place, and two often with the students exchanging cuts and attempting to gain distance. This may be OK if you are training for a "knife fight" but no if your job has a likelihood of putting you this situation often. The way I explain this is that it is no big deal to change the tires on your car with a lug wrench, but if you are doing it everyday as part of your job, you invest in an air wrench.
When I do a firearms course I have to make it over the hurdle that the best offense is a good defense in that if you use movement and angles to make it as hard as possible for the attacker to attack instead of focusing on trying your hand at the old 21 foot drill. Gun guys want to turn everything into a gun problem, knife guys want to turn it into a knife problem.
I have three basic targets- head (the fuse box), elbows (lynch pin of weapon attacks), and knees (lynch pin of locomotion).
IHMO it is just good common sense not to put all your eggs in one basket, whether it be open hand combatives, edged weapons, ground fighting, or whatever you are most drawn to. Train for what is most likely to happen more than what could happen. This is true of all things when it comes to personal protection and preparedness.
I do so appreciate, and find refreshing the civility of this conversation.- George
