How To Defend Against A Knife - Don't Use The Stuff Taught In

By Paul Swift

Defences against Knife attacks, Firstly if at all possible getyourself and anyone else out of the potential dangerarea.....RUN AWAY.

Yes you heard right, run away. This is not a cowards way out,this is sensible. After all your potential assailant could be ondrugs or just plain crazy. Nobody needs a dead hero.

However if you can't get away or you are cornered, try to talkyour way out of the situation, tell the guy what he wants tohear or give him what he wants, if it's a mugging, but only ifyou think this will pacify him...

Let me explain. If it is apparent that your assailant is goingto stab you whether you give him all your money or not then youmust do something about the situation before this happens,either way you may get stabbed. Thats why this is a last resortand only attempted if YOU are certain he is going to attack youno matter what.

It's a judgement call that only you can make and if you ever doend up in that situation it won't be easy.

So, you're in that nightmare situation. How do you tackle him ?

Do you use the knife defences you learned in your martial artsclasses ? I hope not because you'll very soon be bleeding todeath if your assailant has any idea how to use the knife.

I tried an experiment about 5 years ago now with my trainingpartner who is very fast with his hands and can handle a knife.We used a dummy knife (Thankfully) with some red ink on the endof it and I wore



a white Gi.

I had at this time been training in the martial arts for about16 years and had learned many many knife defences from manydifferent styles so I was sure that whatever he came at me withI would be able to handle it.

He moved the knife very quickly from hand to hand and attackedfrom a variety of angles, slashing, lunging and really going forit. I successfully disarmed him several times, but each time hehad also stabbed me several times (This is why the Police andPrison service use riot shields and several officers whendealing with knife attackers).

We worked this scenario using all the knife defences we had bothlearned from many different styles over the years but the onefactor that kept coming up was the fact that this was simulatinga real situation, so the attacker wasn't in stance and didn'tcome with a single attack in a straight line, he'd attackseveral times from any angle very fast.

What we were looking for was something that kept your vitalorgans as far away from the knife as possible whilst allowingyou to attack the assailant.

Here's what we came up with: (This is just my opinion, based onover 20 years martial arts experience, and this one worked timeafter time. But remember only use as a last resort)

First you must take your attackers mind off what he's thinkingabout (I.e. stabbing you !) .........Spit in his face, not nicebut remember this guy wants to stab you !

This gives you a fraction of a second to move.

Next, drop to your side, fast ! (Side breakfall) As you do thishook one of your feet round the back of his front foot and withyour other foot, stamp hard onto the front of his knee. Thiswill either snap or dislocate it (Again not nice but this guysgoing to stab you !) It also doesn't matter too much if you misswith the hook as you can still get the stamp in on the knee.

Either disarm him while he's on the floor and wait for thePolice or just get out of there, he won't chase you.

The fall and hook take some practice to get fast but it's worthit as this is one well worth having in your arsenal.

Any comments or feedback would be welcomed

About the author:Paul Swift is a Martial Arts Coach from the UK with over 22years experience. His Passion for the arts has culminated in thewebsite:

http://www.make-your-martial-art-grow.com