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Self-defense Against a Knife: Myths, Fantasies and How to Stay Alive, Part Two
Self-defense Against a Knife: Myths, Fantasies and How to Stay Alive, Part TwoAuthor: Ari Kandel Dynamics of the Blade In training, no matter how "hard-core" and "alive," if you miss your pick-up of the knife arm or lose control of it as you grapple, you get poked, and you try again. In real life, that "poke" can end everything for you! If it penetrates a vital organ, you may have only minutes (or less) to get emergency medical care--and even then, they may not be able to save you. Even if no vital organs are hit, if you're cut well across the abdomen, it is unlikely you'll be able to prevent him from finishing the job as you trip over your own intestines. Blood loss from "non-lethal" cuts can make you dizzy and unbalanced very quickly, as well as complicating attempted grabs by making things very slippery. Cuts and stabs that happen to transect critical muscles and tendons (of which there are many) can render you incapable of using your hands or arms to protect yourself. And we haven't even gotten to the physical and psychological effects of cuts and stabs to the neck and above. . . But if you get very good at your grabbing and controlling techniques, you won't suffer such things, right? Let's examine the dynamics of how a knife in the hand of a determined or psychotic attacker moves and maims: Unarmed limbs require momentum and accuracy to cause damage. A punch or other strike will have little effect if it doesn't have umph behind it, and even with some umph behind it, it will be most effective only against certain target areas (i.e. the ones we're trained to attack in Guided Chaos--Ki Chuan Do [KCD] and Close Combat). The requirements of momentum and accuracy limit to a certain extent the ways unarmed limbs can damage you. For example, a hand that slaps lightly across your abdomen or a finger that swipes the inside of your arm would be of little consequence in a fight in terms of causing damage. On the other hand, a sharp implement requires relatively little momentum (almost none if it's very sharp) and accuracy to generate massive injury! Therefore, a blade can move in many more ways, far more deceptively and quickly (because it doesn't need to coordinate with the rest of the body), and still cause massive injury with virtually any contact with your body! Far less skill is required in moving the blade effectively, because far less accuracy and body unity are needed to cause damage. Of course, if you add accuracy and good body mechanics into the equation, things get even worse. . . A psychotic attacker's (i.e. one whose mind is not perceiving remotely the same reality as yours is--you may look to him like a devil about to eat his children) attack with a blade will be "predictable" only in two aspects: it will be fast and it will be furious. Adrenaline will cause his limbs to move as fast as they are physically capable of moving, which for most people is far faster than the eye can track at close range. He'll pounce on you like an animal, moving the blade every which way except for where you think. And the sane, but determined attacker's attack will be similar, only more efficient and calculated. Anyone want to reach into this fury to attempt to grab the blade arm--bearing in mind that the attacker's other limbs are likely doing everything in their power to disrupt and damage you as well? What the truly experienced close combat pioneers realized is that you cannot count on a) grabbing an attacker's knife arm out of the air in the midst of a violent attack, or b) preventing the blade from moving decisively even if you do get a good grip on the arm, unless perhaps you grab concurrent with or after doing serious damage to the attacker! Diminishing the attacker can possibly reduce blade movement potential. How to Stay Alive Because we see that we cannot count on controlling a blade being wielded violently, we must keep maximum distance between the blade and our vital organs, and/or keep something solid (preferably that's not a part of us) between the blade and our vital organs! All of the close combat methods discussed above, and all of those taught in Guided Chaos, support this priority. Here is a general (not exhaustive) outline of Guided Chaos tactics against an assailant trying to kill you (as opposed to scare you) with a sharp object (bearing in mind that everything depends on the specific situation): 1. If you can perceive the attack before the attacker gets within arms' reach, here are your best options, roughly in descending order of preference: A. Run to create a lot more distance! Use cover as you go! B. If you can't run (or you think he's faster), get something solid (e.g. chair, trash can) in between you and the blade! Hurt him with it and/or create time and space to run! C. Get something that can extend your destructive reach (e.g. a cane) and hurt him with it and/or create time and space to RUN! D. Drop kick like lightning (hopefully with solid boots) to keep him away and hurt him (while covering your vital organs--note possible reach disparity, if his arm plus the blade outreach your leg)! i. "Rockette" front and side kicks 2. If the attacker is already within arms' reach or is about to breach that distance: A. Dog-dig (Guided Chaos method of high speed, alternating circular parries with both hands) to keep the blade away from your vital organs while lunging away and offline to regain distance! B. Go to the ground (Modified Native American Groundfighting style) to gain more distance between the blade and your vital organs and destroy his legs and body! C. If you're forced into a close-range, face-to-face fight, i. Dog-dig to keep blade away from vital organs while attacking (destroy throat and neck, penetrate eye sockets, create traumatic brain injury) and while moving to get behind him! ii. If you happen to grab the blade arm concurrent with damaging him, congratulations-- but do not count on a grab to keep you safe-- you must end him or regain distance! This is a real test of your sensitivity, looseness, body unity and balance. Even if you get stabbed, your best bet for survival at this distance if you can't get away is to shut him down immediately so that he can't stab you anymore, not to wrestle with his knife arm as he cuts you anyway and rips your face off with his free hand. Train your awareness to pick up signs of possible attacks before they breach the critical distance. The further away you detect a possible threat, the more time and options you have to avoid it. Some may at this point bring up the issue of, "What if you don't know he has a weapon? Many stabbing victims say they did not see the weapon and didn't even realize they had been stabbed until they saw all the blood." It's true, you may not see the weapon . . . but can you see the palms of his hands? Assuming you are aware of the approach of a potential attacker at least a second before he's within range to strike, if you cannot see the palms of both of his hands, you must assume that he is holding a weapon! If you're not aware of his approach before he's in range to strike, well . . . good luck. . . "What if he has it concealed but is not holding it yet?" This is why close combat and Guided Chaos emphasize the need to shut down an attacker right away, before he has the chance to draw a weapon. Is it possible for an attacker to cut your leg while you kick him, standing or from the ground? Yes it is. Remember however that an attacker is not likely to expect kicks from you as he beelines towards your vital areas. You can further reduce your chances of getting injured by working diligently to improve you balance, speed and power in drop kicking and kicking from the ground (use wobble boards, heavy bags and groundfighting kicking exercises). Additionally, the boots (or at least sturdy shoes--right?) covering your feet are probably the least penetrable pieces of clothing you regularly wear, making your feet the most armored part of your body. Unless the femoral artery (which is accessible to a small blade only near the groin) is hit, cuts and stabs to the legs will generally be non-lethal, and will usually allow you to continue fighting, especially as the muscles and tendons in the legs are much bigger and tougher than those in the arms. Could other methods work? Certainly, they have and they will. It's a matter of luck and the specifics of the situations and adversaries faced. Not every knife-wielding attacker is a determined killer or murderous psychotic. However, a cornerstone principle of Guided Chaos and close combat is to train primarily for the worst-case scenario, so that you'll be as prepared as possible no matter how bad it gets. While going for a grapple and takedown could possibly work consistently for a large, athletic bouncer facing severely inebriated bums wielding broken beer bottles, that's hardly a scenario to base life-saving personal protection training on. Reality Ain't Fun Unfortunately for enrollment in Guided Chaos classes, training for the reality of an attack with a small sharp weapon is difficult and not as much fun as wrestling around or doing patterned drills. Fortunately for the students, though, having a serious idea about the reality of such attacks and the stakes involved goes a long way towards improving their awareness, thereby reducing the probability that they will ever have to physically deal with such an attack. And if someday they do have to deal with it, hopefully what they've learned and trained will help them. Ari Kandel is a 1st degree Black Belt in Guided Chaos (Ki Chuan Do), the adaptive, free-form internal art created by former forensic homicide investigator John Perkins. He also appears in the KCD Guided Chaos Groundfighting DVD. See http://attackproof.com/ More articles and DVDs can be found at http://www.attackproof.com/FREE-self-defense-NEWSLETTER.html More Martial Arts and Self Defense Articles
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