Knife Defence Highlight #7
Note: I wrote an entire book on knife defence called “Watch Out For The Pointy End” so these are snippets and highlights only.
#7 Summing up before moving on
Knife Highlight #1 was on the fact that the most dangerous knifings come up close with the bad guy grabbing you and using short repetitive sewing machine stabs; however, nothing is absolute, and knifings can come in other forms.
#2 was all about keeping it simple. If you have multiple techniques to use in response to a knifing, then your chance of survival drops.
#3 was all about knowing what you want to do by thinking things out ahead of any assault. I employ Rory Miller’s Goal – Strategy – Tactics – Techniques approach to aid in working what I want to do out.
#4 was about doing the work. You can learn things in a weekend seminar, but you cannot translate them into actual use without doing the work to train them and to operantly condition them.
#5 was all about operantly conditioning that first moment of the assault. It is my approach that if you can condition a movement to avoid being stabbed and gain a strategic position along with hands on the bad guy in that first instance then you have to opportunity to fix many things that might go badly from there.
#6 was about choosing the right training tool for drills. Every drill has a safety flaw. If they didn’t then, as Rory Miller says, every training you would be sending people to the hospital or the morgue. A rigid training knife such as hard plastic or metal or a shock knife is more realistic than something soft because they do not bend; however, the concern (conscious or unconscious) for your partner will mean you are not attacking with the intent to drive the knife in – if you drive a hard plastic training knife into your partner’s ribs they will be injured so if you’ve stabbed them and they are not – then you really didn’t stab them and the safety flaw is you are point sparring and not full contact fighting.