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Filipino Kali Blade Art

In my opinion, the use of the blade is the highest expression of the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). The one thing that separates blade fighting from stick fighting or empty hand fighting is that it requires a killing commitment.

I would say it is not for everyone as its study demands higher responsibility. Stripped of philosophy and spirituality, knife fighting is a killing art. The knife is the easiest to obtain of all deadly weapons, which is the reason why it is the implement used in most crimes. It is only for this reason that I agree on teaching knife fighting. I believe the public has the right to understand the most popular weapon used by criminals. The knife is a close range weapon and its use in combat demands more psychological preparation than that of a gun.

The movements of the blade may look beautiful in practice but they would spell bloody havoc when used for real. There are primarily two ways to inflict damage with a knife – to stab with its point or to slash with its edge. Potential students of knife fighting may be caught up with the artistry of the movements forgetting what the knife really is – a tool of maximum destruction! Serious practitioners of the blade arts have a working knowledge of surface anatomy. Roughly defined, “surface anatomy” is the knowledge of what vital organ lies underneath a certain body surface.

Stab wounds are deadlier than slash wounds as a 1-inch puncture wound is sometimes enough to kill. But with a practitioner who knows surface anatomy, knife cuts could be deadly too. On this, Jeff Imada’s “The Balisong Manual” offers some useful information, “A cut to the brachial artery will result in loss of consciousness in 13 to 15 seconds and death in one and a half minute. A cut to the radial artery will result in loss of consciousness in 30 seconds and death in two minutes.”

The Philippines has an enduring blade culture and Filipino men in earlier times considered themselves hardly dressed without their knives tucked in their waists. With this fact stated, I would say some people’s observations were correct that Filipino knife fighting is taught in a “duelling” mode, meaning in an encounter, it was assumed that both parties were armed with knives. From these observations sprouted arguments that since Filipino knife fighting is taught in “duelling” mode it is limited in application since not all people are willing to carry a knife plus the fact that most knife attacks are ambushes targeting unarmed individuals.

My take on the matter is that despite the fact that most styles of Filipino knife fighting were taught in a “duelling” mode, they offer one thing essential in defending against a knife regardless if you’re doing it armed or unarmed and that is it develops courage to be “at home” with the blade.

While technique is important, any seasoned fighter would attest that it is courage that would spell the difference between victory and defeat. Aldo Nadi, one of the greatest Western Fencing masters who had experienced fighting a real duel with real swords in his book “On Fencing” wrote, “Apart from the hazard and luck in one single pass of the arms, the explanation lies in the fact that “on the ground” the element of courage may prove to be more important than the element of skill – and you just cannot know how courageous you are until the duel starts.”.

As a practitioner of edged weapons myself, I opined that a thorough study of knife fighting is crucial if a martial artist hopes to defend himself realistically against the blade. Dan Inosanto, in another book “Absorb What is Useful” aptly said it with the following words, “If you are going to disarm a knife fighter you have to become a knife fighter yourself, otherwise you don’t stand a chance. Even understanding the knife might not be enough. As Richard Pryor once said: If someone comes at you with a knife run and if you can’t run fly.”.

While the principles and techniques of the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) are efficient and practical, they may not work in actual combat unless the fighter possessed the necessary physical and mental Attributes to apply them. The FMA have many aspects but for the purpose of this discourse, let’s just focus on stick and sword fighting.

The very first technique taught to most students of the FMA is the counter strike to the opponent’s weapon hand. The principle behind this technique is sound and simple – you take away your enemy’s ability to wield a weapon and you render him harmless. But this technique – better known as “defanging the snake” – is easier said than done. Scoring a solid hit on the weapon hand is easy if you’re practicing against a lifeless dummy but not when you’re fighting a live opponent who’s also trying to hit you.

The ability to score a hit on anatomical targets within striking distance requires highly developed combat attributes like speed, reflex, spatial judgment, accuracy, power and fighting spirit.

A target may present itself but with slow hand and footwork you will miss it. Same thing could happen if you miscalculate the distance between you and your target. If you lack power, your opponent can ignore your hits and press on with his attacks. And then you may have speed, power, good spatial judgment and a mousetrap reflex but if you lack courage or the heart to fight you may freeze in the middle of combat.

It is because of highly developed combat attributes that old-school masters can fight so well with so few techniques. Take for example the Cinco Teros (literally five strikes) style endemic in Luzon, anybody can learn those five strikes in one session but use them in a fight like a master does? No. At this point, it is good to compare FMA to Western Boxing. Western boxing has a small arsenal of techniques: the jab, the cross, the hook and the uppercut. Again, anybody can mimic the basic movements of these techniques but to apply them in a real boxing match like Manny Pacquiao does is an entirely different story.

I’m not saying that techniques are not important. They are important – in fact, proper and frequent practice of techniques will develop certain attributes. In the end, one would realize that it is not the number of techniques one knows but how well you can use the ones you know that matter.

There is nothing wrong with learning or developing many techniques so long as the practitioner knows the difference between practice and reality. The goal to strive for is to become functional not fancy. Needless to say, perfection of basics should precede experimentation.

Regardless of what kind of martial art one practices, chances are you would revert back to your perfected basics when fighting for real. On this, I want to quote Aldo Nadi (1899-1965), who ranks among the greatest fencers of all time, “In a duel, the fencer is compelled to execute an ultra-careful form of fencing which, indeed, is an almost unworthy expression of the vast science he knows. No matter how courageous and great, the all-out movements with which he nearly always scores in a bout would be unthinkable in a duel, because far too risky (On Fencing, 1943).”.

Physical attributes are easier to develop than mental and spiritual attributes. In the former, all you have to do is subject the body to progressive drills and the desired results would come without fail. Not so with the latter.

The development of fighting spirit is linked to deep spirituality, which is the reason why traditional FMA masters who have experienced mortal combat are often very religious. For in those days when dueling with swords and sticks were still legal, a fighter must regularly confront the possibility of taking another person’s life as well as his eventual demise. This is particularly true in knife fights when only one of the combatants would get out of the encounter alive. It is for this reason that I consider fighting with the blade the highest expression of the FMA and something that is not for mass consumption. To me, teaching knife fighting without spirituality is creating potential criminals...

Knife Fighting

Knife fighting is serious, especially when it is for real. We often see Hollywood movies glorify it and make it a gory affair. However, the truth is that Hollywood uses well orchestrated stunt scenes with highly trained knife specialists who develop the scenes. This is for a movie, not in real life.

The reality is that knife fights often end bloody and can result in either serious injury and most horrible of all death. Why would you even want to fight an armed opponent, especially if they have a knife? Why would you want to duel with an opponent with knife because you also have a knife? Is a knife required to fight another knife? The answer is usually NO, but people often make the wrong decision.

FMA specializes in knife fighting techniques. Just because you have mastered it does not mean you can go out and start using it on anyone. The masters will tell you that the FMA drills on knife fighting is to condition you for the real thing, but that does not necessarily mean you will use it for the real thing. We train with rubber or aluminum knives so we don’t get hurt in the process. Once you understand just what a knife can do you would really want to avoid it.

In a knife fight the best defense is to avoid it all together. Run away, forget about being called a coward. You will live or avoid injury by staying out of a knife fight. If you have no choice and your life depended on it, then you will have to defend against a knife attack using your knowledge of FMA. Then and only then will you be required to use it. It will not be a simple affair and will often lead to a someone getting injured or even dying. When you are a faced with a situation where you can avoid fighting then you take that option. At knife point a robber asks for your wallet, give it to them. When an attackers intention is to kill you with a knife, then you either defend or find a way to get out of that situation.

Most martial arts teach against knife attacks. Having this knowledge is useful, but you won’t want to use your knife fighting skills to fight back unless your life is in danger. Thus, avoid knife attacks and don’t be foolish to engage in knife duels. If you carry a knife for self defense, only use it when you are in danger. Be prepared to explain yourself if you ever have to use a knife on someone because there are legal implications when you use a weapon against someone. There is a saying among old masters “The more you know how to use a knife, the less you will want to use it.”. Knife fighting tournament style is probably better for showcasing your knife fighting skills, but be wise not to go out looking for trouble to use it.

Defanging The Snake

"Defanging the snake" is a common term regarding a variety of defensive techniques versus an armed opponent, in which said opponent is forced to drop his weapon due to massive tissue disruption, thereby rendering the weapon hand useless — sometimes permanently.

The original phrase is translated from Indonesian, and is familiar to practitioners of the martial art Silat, which is primarily blade orientated; however, similar techniques exist in all fighting systems which incorporate edged weapons — from Filipino Kali to Western Fencing.

The most common method utilized to "defang the snake" is to deliver a deep slash or stab wound to the inside of the armed opponent's wrist, thereby damaging tendons, muscles, blood vessels, and possibly nerves. If a nerve is severed, a flail limb can result, which is typically unrepairable and generally amputated by surgeons. Less common methods include attacking other vulnerable points of the hand and arm, particularly the thumb and the inside of the elbow. If delivered with speed, accuracy, and force (provided the blade is sharp), the opponent's weapon is typically lost.

Although the blade is the traditional and preferred means to disarm an opponent via this method, the term has also (and perhaps incorrectly) been used regarding any disarming technique which results in serious injury to the weapon arm. Such alternative techniques may include injuring the arm with: a club, a gunshot, or a joint-breaking hyperextension of the elbow (a move frequently employed in Ju jitsu). A move in which the weapon arm was not seriously injured (i.e., a pain compliance hold) would not apply, as per this term.

Although "defanging the snake" always results in serious injury, possibly resulting in hospitalization or even loss of limb, it is seldom (in itself) life threatening. In theory the psychological effect of "defanging the snake" could avoid a more serious confrontation by demonstrating one's proficiency and or willingness to defend oneself. Indeed, the very act of "defanging the snake" can be considered a humanitarian act, in that the goal is to preserve life, rather than terminate it.

Essential Principles of Knife Fighting

1. One of the most important teachings of the Filipino martial arts is defanging the snake. Also known as attacking your opponent's weapon hand, it's designed to destroy his ability to hold his knife.

2. When you attack your opponent's weapon hand, you eliminate the threat posed by the weapon. It's relatively simple to do, fingers are easily damaged.

3. Often, the opponent's hand is the easiest part of his body to reach. After all, when he's holding the knife, chances are he's extending it towards you.

4. In a life or death struggle, it's a perfectly valid strategy to cut the inside of the adversary's arms. In fact, it's the most effective cut you can do. Eliminate the flexors, and your opponent has no ability to hold anything, including a weapon.

5. To guarantee the effectiveness of a cut to the outside of the arm, slice up to the biceps or down to the thumb.

6. Adhesion makes cutting effective. Cut and stick to the cut. Steel seeks flesh.

7. Lead with the edge of your weapon; thrust and rip with the tip. Keep the edge on the opponent.

8. Disengage by cutting through the enemy. Retreat with your body, not with your steel.

9. Strive to eliminate your adversary's mobility. If you hamper his ability to maneuver, you remove the danger.

10. Aim once, cut twice. Now cut again. Cut one more time just to be safe.

11. Shoulders, especially the deltoid muscles, make easy targets. No deltoid means no arm mobility.

12. If the opponent's blade is high, your blade is high. If his blade is low, your blade is low. In Jeet Kune Do, it's the intercepting fist; in knife fighting, it's the intercepting blade.

13. Stabbing is for screwdrivers, shanks, and ice picks. Knives are for cutting and thrusting.

14. Cutting takes no strength. Always cut with fluidity and intent. The longer the edge is in contact, the deeper the cut.

15. If your body is out of reach for your opponent, his weapon hand may be in range for you. Cut it.

16. Knife combat is never the same twice. To maximize your chances of prevailing, hone your attributes (the skills you need for self defense), your footwork (how you position and move your feet and legs), your timing (how you react within the motion of combat, using the full beat and half beat), your concept of distance and range (gauging how far away your opponent is and determining which tools and techniques are the best for that range) and defanging the snake.

17. The preferred way to develop all those attributes and abilities is to spar. Sparring with training weapons is the best way to safely practice combat.

18. Each sparring session should be 95% soft and 5% hard. If you go hard all the time, your attempts at attribute development will fade into chaos. Gross motor skills will prevail, and fine motor skills will be lost. In contrast, soft sparring locks in the fine motor skills you need so they can be used in the 5% of your sparring that's considered hard.

19. Using steel is very serious. You must be in fear for your life. You should never deploy and edged weapon to play around or threaten another person. It's a tool that can be wielded with deadly force.

20. In a knife fight, one person drips and the other gushes. That can quickly become one person gushes and the other sports a toe tag. In all likelihood, the confrontation you've scripted in your head will quickly get out of hand. Any encounter that involves a knife can turn deadly in an instant, and either party can wind up on the losing end.

Self Defense Against A Knife

Myths, Fantasies & How To Stay Alive

"Knife defense" (actually, "defense against weapons" in general, but let’s stick to knives/shanks/little pointy things for now), as trained these days in most martial arts/self-defense schools, and even in many (but not all) "Reality-Based" ones, is more entertainment than life-saving training.

The Artistic Method: What Does This Have To Do With Violence?
Let’s eliminate from consideration up front all the thousands of schools where the "armed attacker" brandishes a knife, cocks it at the hip, then lunges forward in a single, committed thrust… then waits or falls off balance while the "defender" performs (yes, it is a performance, as artistic and false as anything on Broadway) the prescribed technique. Of course, that’s Knife Attack #1. Knife Attack #2 would have a similar dynamic, only the knife is held in the ice pick grip, and the thrust comes down from waaaaay overhead to where the "defender" can best perform the counter technique. Wonderful performance, elegant, good fun.

Now, some schools, the ones that purport to take "knife fighting" seriously, expand the number of prescribed knife attacks or "angles". Instead of two, you may get five, or twelve, or over 100 (at least from what I’ve seen)! And of course, you must practice your techniques against every angle. While you start out practicing each angle and defense technique in isolation, with the knife attack freezing conspicuously at its apex to allow the counter to work, eventually things go a little faster, and the "feeder" (that’s actually an official designation of the "attacker" in this version of the drama) starts feeding the angles out of sequence, without telling the "defender"... Except in so far as the feeder cocks the blade in the prescribed starting position for each attack before launching it, even at high speed (can you say "pattern recognition"?). Especially when things start going fast, and the slapping sounds of parries and passes against the arms start sounding like a drum solo, this is REALLY fun!

Does anyone not see some of the problems inherent in this kind of martial choreography? At least insofar as training to protect yourself is concerned? The limited, pre-planned attacks, the "if he does A, you do B" memorization, the lobotomized attackers with no limbs save the knife-holding one, the lack of any context whatsoever for why you’re going toe-to-toe against someone ostensibly (but not demonstrably) trying to gut you... The list can go on much longer, but you get the idea.

Getting Warmer: The "Reality-Based" Method
Now, these days, many (but not all) of the "reality-based" camps have taken things a step beyond the foolishness described above and done away with a lot of the choreography and performance art. Armed aggression is not parsed so finely into discrete, prescribed "attacks," and the "feeder" now acts a bit more like an attacker, at least insofar as he is told to try to repeatedly stab or cut the defender with a training blade (albeit not so fast or hard as to cause injuries). At times, the attacker even remembers he has a free hand. The stances are relaxed, and movement is actually encouraged. Sometimes the action is preceded by some improvised dialogue, and a "scenario" is suggested. Students are told to expect to get cut, even while trying to avoid it. This is progress!

However, problems again arise...

"Realistic Training"
The instructors want the students to feel like they’re training "realistically." After all, this is "RBSD" (Reality-Based Self-Defense)! One way to make them "feel" more "realistic" is to remove the need for them to "hold back" or move at less than full power. Unfortunately, good striking cannot be performed full-power in training without bulky, unrealistic protective gear. And even when the gear is used, the dynamic is changed considerably because strikes do not have a realistic effect. What is the only method of fighting that can be trained with nearly full intensity without a prohibitively dangerous risk of injury? Sportive Grappling!

Lo and behold, we now have on the market a bunch of "Reality-Based" (more accurately, "Training-Drill-Based") knife defense methods that are grappling-oriented. The common thread amongst them is that one must initiate one’s defense by grabbing the weapon-bearing arm or wrist through various methods and then control it while launching incidental strikes with the unoccupied limbs (e.g. knees, head butts) and/or taking down the attacker. The more sophisticated methods teach combinations of classic standing wrestling techniques and positions (e.g. the shoulder stop, arm drag, two-on-one, various takedowns, etc.) in dynamic Greco-Roman wrestling-like drills with a rubber knife added in.

So, the training is dynamic, forceful and uncooperative. What could be wrong?

How about the fact that even in the less intense drills, the students constantly get stabbed in vital areas?

Training To Die
You can view video clips of these kinds of drills on sites like YouΤube. Well, the instructors said the training would be realistic, and that you should expect to get cut while defending against a knife... So, by telling the student to put himself in positions where the knife is very near his own vital areas, the instructors are basically training the student to die...

But you know what? The training is fun! You sweat, it’s dynamic, it’s lightly competitive just like mixed martial arts training, and everyone cheers you on. I suppose the idea is that as you get better at it, you’ll get stabbed in the heart, liver and kidneys less often than when you started out, just like you eventually get punched less in your boxing training (unless of course the other guy is good or cranks up the intensity…).

Anyone see a problem with this supposedly "realistic" training? Sure, under adrenaline, you may not feel the pain of being stabbed (many people when stabbed say it felt like a light punch). But that does not mean that you’ll survive long with a hole in a vital organ!

The Root of the Problem
A major cause of this illogical training paradigm is that many of the programs were developed by instructors who attempted to replace their lack of real-world experience with "hard-core" drill experience. Many instructors have created systems based on thin or non-existent real-life experience with blades, but lots of experience in martial arts training. Some of the instructors may have lots of experience in high risk jobs (bouncing, police, military, etc.), but this does not necessarily equate to vast experience defending against deadly, committed, armed attacks. Even a situation where the opposing party is armed does not necessarily equate to a vicious attack if the armed party is not intent on using the blade to do more than intimidate.

As Lt. Col. Al Ridenhour USMC has repeatedly pointed out, no matter how "realistic" they may be, sport methods and training drills can never approach the multi-faceted reality of violent conflict! "Realism" is not reality! A real blade does not "tag" you, reminding you to improve your grappling clinch position. It penetrates flesh and bone and does real, disabling, possibly lethal damage. Your body instinctively knows this, and will naturally attempt to maximize distance from a real blade, provided you’re not trying to force it to do the opposite!

Untrained Instincts
Morgue reports show that a normal, untrained person, when mercilessly attacked by a determined killer or psychotic armed with a knife, typically reacts in one of two ways, depending on the individual’s mindset going into the situation:

1. The victim panics, curls up in a fetal position, cries out to God or whoever will listen, and generally puts up no significant resistance, so overwhelmed and horrified is he by the sheer brutality and violence of his fate. This is the reaction killers want to illicit when they attack with extreme speed, surprise and violence of action (factors it behooves us to utilize ourselves in violent conflict). It makes their task easier.

2. Even with no prior training, the defender’s body attempts to do everything in its power to keep the weapon away from vital areas. This appears to be to a certain degree instinctive. It typically takes the form of running away if possible, dodging, pulling back the abdomen to avoid thrusts and slashes, swatting the knife away with the hands at adrenaline speed, and kicking out with the legs if the victim falls to the floor. These actions are the cause of the "defensive wounds" frequently found on victims of knife attacks. In many cases where the untrained defender was eventually killed by thrusts and cuts to vital areas (typically chest and throat), dozens or even scores of cuts were taken first on the limbs as the attacker attempted to cut and stab past the defender’s fast, convulsive animal instincts for self-preservation. What prevents the defender from surviving is his inability (through lack of knowledge, experience and training) to damage the aggressor. However talented one may be at keeping the knife away or even controlling it, if no avenue of escape is available, the attacker must be damaged in order to end the attack.

Real World Experience
Contrast the experiences of the instructors we have discussed so far with the extensive experiences of the WWII-era close combat pioneers like William Fairbairn and his contemporaries. Then, look at the advice they gave. Late in his career, during an interview, Fairbairn was asked about defending against a knife while unarmed, he had only two suggestions:

A. “RUN!”.

B. "With a lighting-like kick of either foot, kick him in the testicles or stomach.".

Kill or Get Killed by Col. Rex Applegate, one of the most complete of the classic close combat manuals, discusses strategies such as using a chair, using a baton and kicking as preferred methods for defending against a blade. Other less preferred methods are also included for closer attacks or for controlling a less dangerous adversary.

Carl Cestari, one of the foremost modern authorities on WWII-era close combat and also an experienced police officer and veteran of all sorts of mayhem, taught several kicking methods to counter a knife-armed attacker, involving straight “savate” kicks to the midsection and low side kicks while stepping offline, all done with rapid-fire “lightning-like” execution that is enhanced by dropping and balance training.

Where’s the disconnect? Why are the methods advocated by veterans of real, desperate life-and-death combat so different from those advocated by masters of sport-based martial arts and “realistic” training drills?

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. 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 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, support this priority.

Here is a general (not exhaustive) 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)!

2. If the attacker is already within arms reach or is about to breach that distance:
A. Keep the blade away from your vital organs with alternating parries, while lunging away and offline to regain distance!
B. Fight! Destroy the throat and neck, penetrate the eye sockets, create traumatic brain injury!

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!

"What if he has it concealed but is not holding it yet?", this is why close combat 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 ground fighting kicking exercises). Additionally, the boots (or at least sturdy shoes) 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 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.

6 Martial Arts Myths Αbout Κnife Defense

Myth 1: The knifer will square off with you, giving you time to assess his style, plan your moves and just plain get ready.

Reality 1: An experienced knifer will not show his blade to you or anyone else before he tries to bury it in your gut. He is trying to murder you and will not advertise the fact. Most martial arts and military styles of knife work were developed in a lawless society or where the soldier was the law. Today's reality is that cutting someone is illegal and the knife work that has come out of the North American prisons reflects that reality. The ambush and the sucker strike are here to stay.

The person who waves his knife in your face wants something from you: your fear, your money or for you to leave him alone. In this situation you will have a martial arts response available, but if you like to wander on those parts of the map where it says "dragons be here" you'd better have a reflexive response ready for the ambush.

Myth 2: After he shows you his knife and his intent, the knifer will use the knife like a long-range weapon: i.e. he will hold it in his forward hand and lunge into a slash. Or, he will thrust with full body movement, extending his knife hand as he moves with a major body part as his target.

Reality 2: Let alone the fact that it is pretty hard for a knifer to keep his intentions to kill you a secret with a full driving lunge attack, none of the Oriental martial arts knife work I've been involved with have taught this approach to killing; they are notorious for slicing and dicing before they finish (this includes Chinese, Korean, and Japanese styles). Even the military styles are taught to cut their way in and to cut their way back out, taking all targets of opportunity on their way. American prison style of shanking with only the point (no edge) does not usually drive in this way either.

The full body, lunging style of attack seems to be a movie style that was developed to be able to picture what was happening on the screen to the best advantage, and has been pictured a thousand times in the "Do it this way (and die)," rags (martial arts magazines).

Where you may see this is in the ambush or surprise attack, where the extra distance is seen by the attacker as a safety zone. This may be used by someone who is feeling secure that he is not going to be seen or who is too enraged to care. When the knifer combines the ambush with a lunge attack, using strongest-weapon-to-major-target principle, the victim (you) is surprised, caught off balance, not in fight mode and very vulnerable. Therefore, your training must include defenses from surprise lunge attacks. But, due to the fact that other types of attacks are possible and even more probable, especially if you are being confronted with a knifer who wants to hide his stuff, training against the other types of attacks must be learned and drilled.

Myth 3: The myth of the frozen hand. This is actually two myths because it can apply to both the knife hand and to the attacker's free hand. It means that once you have blocked his knife hand, he either leaves it out there for you to ju jitsu all over, or he does not involve his free hand at all.

Reality 3: The knife you block will cut its way back out of your reach as fast as it came in, it will twirl and cut up your forearm, it will "tip-rip" your forearm or his other hand will tear out an eye or give you a thought provoking shot in the throat.

I was taught three principles of oriental knife work:
* hypnotize with the blade, kill with the free hand
* flash the knife to get a defensive block up then cut it
* starting with the closest target, cut your way in, then cut your way back out, wait for blood loss and shock

As for the prison style attacks, it is much more direct with less flash and slash without the disadvantages of the lunge attack. It depends upon the proper use of the free hand to catch and pull the victim in close where the knife can be used "discretely."

Myth 4: "You get close to fight a knife;" or "You must rush a knife."

Reality 4: The knife is a short range weapon and if you choose to fight in its range the chances are you will lose, for sure you will get cut. Unless you must fight the knife, you should stay away and fight from long range with long-range weapons, like chairs, garbage cans and thrown objects. It doesn't matter if the bad guy is trained or not, he must get close to you to cut you, and once he is close, he can cut you.

There is no power needed for cutting, the knife has all the power. All the knifer provides is a delivery system and the knife can come in at incredibly high speed with erratic motions. Do you really want to walk into a blender?

Myth 5: "You can take a cut while you kill him," or, "While he's cutting me, I'll be killing him."

Reality 5: The one-shot kill is so hard to pull off on a fresh and committed opponent that you can't count on it, as the No Holds Barred fighting has proven. Of course it's available but if it fails you are in deep doo­doo while you are inside his range, cut and in shock. This is not where you want to be.

The problem of shock relates to the body's natural dismay at being invaded by a foreign object; it has nothing to do with how tough you are... a deep cut in a minor place like the forearm may stop you in your tracks due to physiological responses outside your control.

I have heard about a teacher who gets his students to relax, knocks the wind out of them and then forces them to defend themselves. That is a bit of what the shock will be like. The shock of the cut on your forearm may give him the opportunity to sink his putt in your gut.

Sacrificing an arm to avoid a kill shot to the throat is a smart move, but don't intentionally take a cut just to set up your own shot, no matter how many others have successfully done it.

Myth 6: If you are good at sparring, you are ready for fighting.

Reality 6: Sparring is a game that is safe and no matter how good you get, it isn't fighting. It will teach you balance, movement, range and openings, but it will not prepare you to face death, adrenaline dumps and brutality.

A criminal who is seriously trying to kill you with a knife will not spar or look for openings and fake you out, his psychology is totally different. He has no fear because he has made himself invincible with his weapon and previous successes, and he wants it over fast so he can escape the attention of the police. He charges in with no apparent regard for his own safety so as to overwhelm his victim.

If he starts waving his knife around and sparring, you are lucky. Now you have time to run to get a distance weapon, or just to get out!