Tomartyr Unless he's already considered that and has a mental 'shortlist' depending on where he is in the room. Of course, if all he's doing is deflecting blows until the cops arrive or the burglar runs away because they didn't know what they were getting themselves into, then whatever works will be fine.
Makes me imagine a HEMA practioneer turned robber tries to rob Matt's house and the two of them end up taking weapons from the wall and start having a sword fight. This is a sign that I need to stop watching anime.
I knew a very, we'll say *very* strange guy that had salt in his pockets. This wasn't likely the worst idea, since he was the kinda guy that would be extremely likely to be targeted. I dunno if sand is better than salt, because salt will burn worse, but the sand won't dissolve and will stay gritty. I guess salt if you're a fast runner, sand if you're slower?
@@mightyone3737 maybe salt wont permanently damage someone's eyes as it dissolves, but will make then disoriented enough to get away, sand will damage your eyes, period.
The problem with knife defence is, the majority of attacks happen from behind. Its very rare for you to be able to apply any technique. Awareness is the most important thing, when it comes to knife defence.
Yup. Technique alone is only marginally useful against a proper assassination attempt. What you can train against is people who just flip their shit, grab a knife and come at you. Those are usually also not experienced knife fighters, so whatever you're doing has a decent chance of working (even if you get cut in the process). But even in the worst case, situational awareness only gets you half of the way. You still need to know what to do after you've noticed the attacker. And while you're definitely in a rough spot in that case, pretty much anything has a better chance of working than just standing there. Also, if you're not a quick runner (I'm not) and far enough from help, you'll need to do _something_ - either disarm, or make sure the other guy can't run after you. The latter is usually less risky - or as one of my Ju Jutsu trainers said: "There are far more knife fighters than knife throwers out there."
Against said people who "flip their shit, grab a knife and come at you", I've found that the most basic of things work perfectly. They tend to grab something haphazardly and run at you with the knife held in an icepick grip, trying to come down on your head with a blatant disregard for anything you can do, so any kind of elementary block and disarm is pretty effective.
James deGuzman My cousin who fought in Afghanistan taught me a few things. I think these two are the most helpful and easy to remember: 1) If you get stabbed, grab the knife and try to yank it from his grip. You don't want him to pull the knife out and stab you again, plus it stops him in his place. 2) If you have a knife, slash and swing short quick strokes at his arms and hands, don't stab (because if you stab, you can lose the knife, you leave yourself vulnerable to also getting stabbed, and it's a lot slower). He had me and my brother knife fight to test this and it was true, slashing was much more efficient. Pretty much every time any of us stabbed, we either also got stabbed, or were disarmed. I asked him "Well what do I do if I don't have a knife and he's slashing and not stabbing?" And he said "Kick him in the shins and run because that is literally the only thing you can do if he starts doing that." Basically no matter how quick you are, you'll still get cut everywhere trying to grab his knife hand and disarming him. These are two very simple things that make sense and are easy to remember. No wushu revenge of the dragon jason bourne "secret" techniques that will get you killed.
7 ปีที่แล้ว +18
All right. On a more serious note : Have sustained a lot of injuries in my life. Some of those made me unable to run away. I just physically can't. Of course, in that situation, it is impossible for me "not doing anything". I respect Matt's last advice about that where he talks about using anything as a weapon, anything, because you have to find something to be on equal ground or at least not naked against a blade. I think a lot of people don't understand that they will not always be able to run. You can't run with your children at your side. You can't run if you are mildly disabled. You can't run if you are too old. And running implies overrunning your adversary. If he is athletic and wants something from you, running is probably the bad thing to do.
Not to mention that if a person wants to injure or hurt you with a knife, they aren't going to confront you like in a comic book or movie. They're going to ambush you in some fashion, whether rushing you or acting discretely until they're in an appropriate position; maybe even from an angle that prevents you from drawing anything you might have. Once you're stabbed, I'm guessing that you won't have the ability to create distance one way or the other.
7 ปีที่แล้ว +3
farmerboy916 true. Though I suppose that mainly, knife assault are starting from "I am sorry I have no money on me" said to a man threatening you when you actually have nothing on you. The thing is : to be pessimistic I think that if someone wants to kill you, hr will probably manage to do it without you even knowing it. Except if he is stupid. Some people are... But I won't count on it.
You'd be surprised how many people are incapable of that sort of thinking, though. It's not really a mark of stupidity, they're just incapable or deeply unwilling to; in my experience the majority of people have that issue. If you sit down and frankly explain how an intelligent and clever person would murder others, they'll just sit there horrified and uncomprehending. A lack of learned empathy in the classical sense. When discussing terrorism like that, a common response is "Why would you even say that?" Reading a lot of the better replies in the comments, I have to wonder why neck armor never became popular for sentries and similarly at-risk people, considering how the neck is what is usually targeted by those wishing to quickly and silently kill by knife.
+David Tiganila -- You don't need self defence when you can chug some Sunny-D, and you can also praise the Sun so that the invader feels bad and goes back home.
Obsolete? Are you implying that if a guy pulls a knife on me and I pull out a saber, it's not going to be effective? Because that would discourage pretty much anyone from attacking. "You call that a knife? THIS is a kni-oh, wait, actually it's a sword. My bad."
I like Silvers quote "if two people are of equal skill - grab a longer weapon then the other guy" so then if outside grab a great sword. If inside probably a smallsword
IF one cannot run away, give him/her the money. IF you can't neither run away or apease the attacker, go all out. That is what i learned about knife combat
Peter Schmidt So what is your solution, genius? Obviously, if someone tries to mug my family, I will try to stop the guy. In that case the soon-to-be victim has an advatage, that is, distraction. A robber can't corner 3 or 4 or 5 people at the same time. Throw a shopping bag at him, and kick him in the nuts, shout for help, charge him, anything that works goes. But if you are alone, and someone tries to mug you, you are better off running. It isn.t worth the criminals time to run after you, unless you see his/her face.
osadock Well, then obviously, it is either him or you. You either try to run away, which is something... or you fight the guy. In which case agression is your best weapon. Mentally dominating your enemy is a risk, but as Matt said, even a risky action is better than waiting to get shanked.
Pretty much in agreement, Matt. I'm a 45 year police vet. "Run away, run away" is simply not practical for many people, myself included. (knee replacement). I often recommend that people use ANY environmental weapon available. Trash can lid...Brick...Broom, chair....What have you. A chair is a combination weapon and shield. Everyone with a knife is NOT a trained escrimador, after all. Many thugs carry knives because they are afraid of them and think you will be as well. I have NEVER seen anything like a quality dagger or "tactical" knife in the hands of a criminal. They want something they can toss down a sewer opening if confronted by police. Usually, as you say, it's a ratty old kitchen knife or a stolen steak-house number. Gun-fu trumps all. If you can't carry a firearm, pepper spray is an excellent choice. Civilians only have to get away, after all... It's we police who have to take the individual into custody.....They may keep trying to fight. The bad guy isn't going to chase you if he can't see.... Impact weapons are problematic to carry, but a good "combat" cane will at least equal a knife. A sturdy 4 or 5 foot walking stick even more so but likely to attract attention.
CrateofStolenDirt Surprisingly, they're still fairly popular around here... Relatively critter-proof. Our local urbaan wildlife is pretty adept at getting into the plastic jobs.
I agree with you, Mark. One of the first things that I think many police personnel like yourself would suggest is that when you're out and about (outside of your home or 'safe zone') that you have to view your world in a different way. Not that people should feel paranoid but that we have to realize that the world is a dangerous place. We must pay more attention to our environment. Notice what and who is around you. Think unconventionally, i.e. using anything that can be as a weapon if the situation arises. Don't be 'the victim' as in don't behave in a way that makes you easy prey and all those things. I agree with you on the impact weapon, I myself keep that type of thing in my vehicle but I don't carry it while i'm walking. Cool stuff, I think police folks have a lot of knowledge on this subject and you all have seen a lot of what we other folks talk hypothetically about.
Really? As police officer you believe that gun-fu "trumps all"? Because in both simulation and practice, in close quarters guns don't work well against knifes. Even when you are quick to draw and have distance of few meters. The "stopping effect" is questionable (I saw lots of polemics about it, even military sources do not agree how strong or even real it is) and your chances to get the attacker down on first shot are low, on three shots it's I believe something around 70% (statistically you hit 1-2 on 3 shots in real situation). From what I know and tried, impact weapons are great, especially telescopic buttons. Problem is that many people underestimate the need to have at least some training in how to use them and they are illegal in some countries. But anything what has some reach - the walking cane you've mentioned would be great, unfortunately it went out of fashion some time ago, so for somebody young or middle age it is weird to have it. (Non-telescopic umbrellas, on the other hand...) Btw. the same with pepper sprays. I've tried them... and discarded them. They are not that reliable (well, some more expensive are, ok...) and they are not "magic" - it's not enough to just trigger them, you still need timing and some precision (a lot precision with gel-based)
As police vet, that means you can have a EDC RPG and exocet to call down from the heavens and yell "Ali Ali Akbarrr" at the person assaulting you with a weapon. Especially not wise to assault a person, the assaultee, who is more mentally driven than the person doing the assault, the assaulter, and carry a pommel to be sure. Is that right ? ;D
@Scrub Scribe guys the real answer is to stroll around like a pre christian German chieftan. Simply gather the strongest young men of your tribe and mob around with them. Everyone armed with shields and spears. Maybe some on horseback. No one will fuck with you.
I agree with you completely. One other point which is what I was taught referring to knife attacks is... "You're GOING to be cut." Now this can't be universal, but if you're even able to bring yourself to a mental position where you ARE able to examine the situation and consider your alternatives, this has to be one of the realities you would probably want to prepare for. Most of the time I would say, this situation is a highly charged moment of emotional and maybe irrrational reaction. In the case of robbery this could be different, but most examples would probably be encased in alcohol and / or emotional distress. The act, just blossoms from some other external situation. Such moments are horrifying and the ability to calm yourself and gain mental control of yourself is pretty much dependent on your own state, and possible training, if any. Anyway, thank you for the vids.
Great video, as a martial artists I have found that the best advice is to teach techniques within the system the student knows then get some protective eyewear and a plastic trainer knife. Let the person feel what a committed knife attack is like, and their responses will adjust as needed. Its easy to say nothing will work, better to give the person an idea of what might work, and have them pressure test it.
Excellent, logical video. Knife fighting/attack/defense requires first of all a philosophy, as do all forms of combat. My personal philosophy on knife fighting is, Don't Do It. It means that everything has gone completely wrong, and that I have no more projectiles to fire at you to maintain distance. 1. Try to keep your knife hidden until the last possible moment so your assailant is unaware of it. 2. Like the Japanese tradition of drawing the sword, make your first attack fatal. 3 Immediately create space and escape the situation.
Thank you for addressing this. I hate those videos that attempt to show that techniques "don't work". You know the ones. The first part of the video is an instructor showing someone a fairly practical looking block or disarm move or something against a knife, shown in a very obviously drill-work type way. The second half is the instructor coming at them and going crazy and the technique "not working at all". First off, I'm not entirely convinced that the "victim" in the second half of the video is really gonna try all that hard, since they know the point of the video they're making is to show that the technique doesn't work. My personal take on it is this: assume for the sake of the discussion that you've got a reasonably good technique taught by someone who has learned a practical system...perhaps something military. Perhaps this person has actually been in a war and had to use the techniques to some degree. It's sort of a straw-man to accuse people who teach these things of believing they will work EXACTLY as shown in the drills. If they are a good instructor they should also be explaining the REASON for certain positions in the technique. If you understand WHY you put your arm in X position or grab the other person in Y position, you'll understand the principles behind it. This is important because in an actual situation, even if "grab person here" part of the move doesn't work out exactly as expected because the person is coming at you in a way your instructor never did, you will hopefully understand maybe a DIFFERENT way to perform said move, making sure the same principle is used. I'm rambling a bit, but I 100% agree that this idea that "nothing will work" is stupid. Nonsense. Whether you like it or not, if you get attacked with a knife and you can't get away, your brain and your body are going to make you do SOMETHING. You may as well have some ingrained ideas about what to do. It may not work 100% as expected. You may come away with cuts or injuries, but it may also save your life, which is what matters.
A very difficult question, and I do absolutely agree with all of your points, even though I am one of the people who will tell other people to run away. Maybe the average context, in which I am asked this question, matters here too. The context usually is over a drink at a social event from someone that has just caught on that I have done a fair bit of martial arts in my day. The person asking is usually expecting some perfect, simple to execute, cure all technique that they can learn over drinks right there and then. So I give them the best advice I can give them: run away. These days I actually expand on it and also tell them that they should be able to run a fair bit for this to work, I'd say about 5km in half an hour. If you only manage to get around a single corner before having to stop it's not going to work. There absolutely are methods to defend against a knife attack, but the main problem is the large amount of advantage, you as the defender have to bridge with skill, that an attacker, wielding a knife, has. The techniques require a large amount of dedicated training, and upkeep in training, that very few "amateur" practitioners of martial arts have. Usually you see these techniques employed by professional practitioners, people in the security industry, soldiers or law enforcement, and most of those are actually trained to prefer non close quarter methods to neutralize the threat. If someone wants to learn how to do this, do your research, look at the martial arts styles that military and law enforcement practice. Find a reputable school that offers self defense courses that include knife defense and be prepared to put in the effort. Also find one of your friends that also wants to learn this, so you have a training partner to keep up your training after the course is done. Better yet keep on training in this system.
Hi Matt, I enjoy your vids very much... I have to say, now I have a great interest in historical weapons, their development and evolution. I agree with your point 100%. I have some experience over the years (not a lot) with martial arts and my most recent is with Filipino Martial Arts. Although I am no expert in any martial art and even if I was I wouldn't presume myself to be invincible in a knife fight, the philosophy I take is one of survival, do what must be done to survive an attack, whatever it may be. I think what we forget about in these discussions is the 'killer instinct' or the mindset that I feel one must develop for a situation of self defense. In the example of 'I'm being threatened and I can't escape or I'm with another person who isn't fast enough to flee...' I would rather take my chances and enter into combat with the aggressor rather than to rely on the hope that I can somehow reason with this person and convince them not to harm myself or one I might be with... In that regard, one must prepare himself mentally to deal with the prospect that a) they might sometime in their life be threatened with bodily harm other than a fist or foot, b) they may face someone who cannot be reasoned with or satisfied by handing over your valuables in the hope that they leave you unharmed, and c)that in a conflict that they might have to use deadly force to neutralize or incapacitate the aggressor. I don't ever want to be faced with an aggressor threatening my life with a knife or another edged weapon, however, if my life is to be threatened I'd rather face a knife rather than a firearm. Personal defense is just that, it's a personal issue but whatever our preference is, we have to be realistic. Lots of other things to consider in this subject but bottom line for me is if I feel i'm at a point where another has put me in a position where i'm in doubt of surviving then I'm going to do whatever I can, i.e. I'll take a slash to the arm if I can disarm the aggressor then be able to turn that weapon on them or answer with a weapon of my own. Anyway, keep up the vids and I enjoy seeing you on the various History Channel shows I catch!!!
tactical flashlights, as should be one of your edc items, is a great answer. most anywhere will allow you to carry one, and it's a simple distraction tactic while you run away or use it to disable the threat
Many years ago I can recall a friend telling me he'd read something in one of the old manuals (Italian maybe?) about what to do if threatened by someone armed with a knife in a public place - immediately stand up and raise both hands above your head. He was of the opinion that this wasn't to set up some fantastic move to disarm the assailant but instead to alert everyone who may be looking that you were being threatened and that you were unarmed. And you've now got your hands above your head.
Thank you! I've had the same thoughts regarding many of these videos. Self defense can be horribly complex. The best way to defend from any given attack it often only known after the attack was made. The very basic as taught by systems like "Model Mugging" and other one or a few days self defense courses teach some of the very most important aspects of self defense. But it takes a life dedicated to martial arts to be able to truly defense yourself in just the majority of common situations. But no matter what, in all situations, awareness is key. A mind that can also accept the fact that you may need to defend yourself, and running may be the best defense, but you also may need to defend yourself physically. And that may result in the injury or death of your attacker is also very important.
Great video! I love your down-to-earth attitude on this, btw can you tell us more about your FAR T-shirt and that absolutely gorgeous hand and a half on your wall behind you
Matt, please make a vid where you show how to use a modern 4-legged chair as a defense against knives. I mean, it's a 4-pronged staff AND a shield all in one, quite a brilliant if somewhat cumbersome tool to defend against a blade! Most places indoors with people usually have chairs.
A little over 20 years ago in California a man armed with a gun broke into a meeting room at a hotel. I think he planned to rob people. Everyone in the room was an unarmed police officer---the robber was beaten to death with chairs!
It is said that the ultimate self defense is 400m running. However, I think that only applies if you are faster than attacker. Being overweight and having chronic back disease, I feel much better about my chances of fending off the assailant than I do about outrunning him. I think you are making a good point here.
Well, some kitchen knives are pretty big (like the one Matt used as an example) which makes them comparable to some combat blades. Or take some butchers knives with long slender blades as an example. They are comparable to daggers or stilettos.
One of the things going for us in HEMA is that we tend to all do drilling and sparring so we know whether what we teach can work against a determined attacker.Many(not all) martial artists may drill knife defense but will never try and apply it in sparring against people trying to hit them. Obviously if we were to train for self-defense we'd likely need to take some bits from other martial arts(due to the differences in weapons and contexts in which they were meant to be used) but the way we train could be of use for someone training for self-defense,as long as they train other aspects of self-defense aside from fighting as well.
It's a bit pointless to talk about HEMA here, since it includes hell of a lot of styles - it's kind of like talking about kung fu. If I take Fiore as an example, some of his dagger techniques aren't all that relevant to short blades (first play of first master), but many are (entire third master, for one) - and let's not forget that all unarmed stuff works pretty well, too. Also, a sometimes overlooked fact is that medieval folks did actually have small knives, just about the size of modern pocket knives. Any complete system (so, Fiore, Lichtenauer, but not I.33) of that time had to be able to deal with them. Let's not also forget that many medieval manuscripts deal with medieval law, and mostly medieval law for noblemen. I doubt you could get away with using "how to rob a commoner" technique (yes, that is a real thing) in modern court of law. One final point is that a lot of the drills you see, or technique demonstrations, don't work when you try to apply them all willy-nilly, most of them rely on Fuhlen (that is, information about pressure you get when hands connect, kinda like contact silk reeling in kung fu), distance, timing and so on, and if you do wrong thing at the wrong time, you get shanked.
HEMA dagger systems tend to focus on an icepick grip and close range grappling and powerful downward strikes to the head and upper body to deal with potentially armored opponents. I think that historical knife systems like American bowie knife, Spanish navajah etc that are more modern would be more useful as they tend to focus more on keeping a safe distance and sniping hands when your opponent lunges. I know people go on about "determined, crazed attacker" scenarios but 99% of people aren't suicidal. A knife wielder might use that strategy if you are unarmed, but if you pull your own knife it's going to make them a lot more circumspect which will enable that strategy. It's the same with swords - you can't stop someone from killing you with a sword if they are determined to do so at the cost of their own life, in which case you will both die. All self defense relies on the attacker having some sense of self-preservation to work. All of that being said, some training in anything is better than no training at all, so you will be better off using a medieval dagger system if that is what you've been trained in than making something up on the fly.
Used to train a lot of knife fighting, the best advice I ever heard apart from running away if you can was to shout 'fire!' to draw attention. Most folk would be attracted whereas shouting, 'help!' tends to scare folk away tbh.
Good overview. You could add that one can find out, practice, drill, etc., the best knife defences with practice (e.g. rubber, plastic, wooden, etc.) knives. Have you made a video for defense against poles, staffs, sticks, baseball bats, etc.?
I got attacked by a man with a knife on New Years Eve 2017. The only reason I think I didn't get cut was a mix of dumb luck and my attacker being drunk. The guy just bull rushed in. No time for me to think "Fiore said..."
From a law enforcement background, one thing we were taught is that your first weapon to use is YOUR VOICE-- a forcefully yelled (screamed?) order "DON'T DO THAT" and/or "PUT THE KNIFE DOWN" can often buy you time to defuse or delay the situation or to prepare yourself by wrapping a coat or shirt or something around your arm to defend yourself, or grab whatever you have to hand to use as a weapon. Thankfully I never had to put that to the test (plus I was licensed for concealed carry, though I never ever had reason to draw my gun ! )
Hello. Thank you for that. Great that you did bring up the use of your voice. Do you have that in your HEMA training? Is it ok to make sounds in competitions?
The problem is that even if someone is taught the proper technique to defend against a knife if that person isn't skilled, or is up against a practiced opponent, the confidence/bravado their knowledge gives them could put them in more dangerous situations. So in my view most of the dismissals of knife defense techniques are centered less around the technique and more around the fact that 99% of people that learn the technique aren't going to practice it enough to practically use it. And a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing.
Which does tie into Matt's complaint about MA/selfdefence teachers etc dismissing knife-defense techniques - they want to avoid being in any way responsible for your injuries (or possible death) if you try some fancy move and get cut. In my MP group back when doing my mandatory military service a somewhat experienced martial artist showed me a couple nice disarm moves but also told me they're not even allowed to call them "knife defense" in his club. Someone who practiced them a lot would have a chance, I'll probably look for an improvised weapon instead.
well as messer basically means knife in german. I guess it depends on the size of the messer. As messer has nothing to do with size. A small knife is a messer and a Kriegsmesser is a messer to
Doreen Green well then it is same as being attacked with a sword, not a knife The fact it is called knife (messer) dont change anything. It is still a sword in any practical sense. What things are called is not always important or even correct. I can call my dog a rocket launcher but it is till just a dog :) But if i would get attacked by someone with a grosse messer i think i would follow same advice as the one being given when attacked with a knife. i would run if i could :)
Yeah its rubbish to just stick with always run away..Ive been in multiple knife attacks..One with a steak knife and the other with a box cutter razor knife..Both times have been ambush style attacks where if I just curled up in a ball its highly likely that I would've died. I HAD to get more aggressive and take the fight to them. I wasn't able to have time to really think of techniques to use. It was more of bumbling around while trying to get control of the blade arm while throwing strikes and elbows, while taking cuts and pokes. Somebody who has had the experience of even throwing on pads and training HEMA and feeling what its gonna be like to have the violence come at you, is gonna be much better off over all. Keep training guys
Bog Phantom I do now..Yes we can open carry in this state. At the time The first one happened I was too young to carry. Second one he only scratched and cut my face with the box cutter..Dummy used the kind that break off as you push the blade up so it didnt last long...But yeah now I carry both everyday. Haven't had trouble since thankfully...Yeah you did the right thing. If your able to get the hell out of there then do it. It's not worth your wallet or over an arguement. take care
I took a page from the older days on how to defend myself from a knife attack. Carry a larger knife then what is commonly carried. Reach is king in martial weapon combat. Also think about getting some body armor if you live in or pass by dangerous areas chain mail is still to this day one of the best defenses against a blade.
At school as part of PE we got a lady who runs to come in, and her advice if we can't run away was "Once they thrust you most likely be hit so if you can't dodge twist so they won't hit a vital place"
It's always good to have that kind of information just in case. Obviously, if you're smart, you'll avoid putting yourself into dangerous situations as best you can. As we saw just the other day with that OSU attacker who rammed some people with his car and then got out and tried to attack them with a knife, you're not always able to avoid those confrontations. Fortunately, in that attack, a campus police officer showed up within a minute and was able to take out the attacker.
Well said. Whenever I have studied martial arts (of a few different traditions) I was always taught to do my best to avoid or escape a potentially deadly situation if possible (and even had specific training dedicated to it). But, after that we spent most of the time training for the time it might not be possible. The "always run or you're screwed" argument entirely misses the point that knowing when you really must commit to a fight or not is part of a good martial education, along with preparing the student for when they have no choice but to fight despite a disadvantage. Heck, I was even trained in some unarmed against sword techniques. Not horribly practical these days, but could carry over to an assailant with a pipe or similarly shaped weapon.
Matt, wow I didn't know that I had no choice other than to die when that young giant stuck a knife in me in Panama. Would it be proper form to go back to his grave and apologize? Seriously, I was wearing a pack and carrying an aide bag, I could not've run. I will say that I am happy those two infantry soldiers were in earshot. Thank-you, Dante.
Not sure how often you check posts on older videos, but could you tell me about the long sword directly behind you in this video, where it's from, manufacturer, etc.? It's absolutely beautiful.
I once told a coworker about the HEMA-Style Dagger Fighting and he totally disagree to this overhead stand. He argued, that while a Dagger threatens him from above, he would rather stab in the belly. This whole thing has A LOT to do with intelligence. And I would listen to a Master with techniques from a time, where you could REALLY be threatened by those things at any time. Many people think, that people from the Middle Ages were dumb in general. Some of them learned the Art of blades for a whole life! Who am I in comparison?
If you have to use force, It´s Speed, Agression snd Suprice that is going to save you. the Attacker Thinks that you are going to fear the knife. I got a flashligt, looks like one of those big Maglites. If I brake it i can get Another one. If i survive.
You can always point out the carotid artery and ask them to avoid the nerves. After that explain that the insane sometimes have super strength with a huge grin.
I didn't read the comment section to see if this was mentioned, but there's one good answer to the practicality of knife defences: Training in a "live" fashion, with a practice knife that won't harm you if you get slashed or stabbed with it. If you just can't make your technique work against someone determined to poke you with a piece of rubber hose or blunt plastic, you might be better off learning something else to defend yourself against honed steel.
in terms of using what is available makes having a heavy cane/stick with you--whether it is a stout hickory/ash/oak cane or one of Cold Steel polypropylene sticks which are certainly strong enough to be effective
I train traditional Scottish dirk and almost everything is based on sudden knife attacks. it was very common to suddenly be attacked and in the material I'm using there's a section on quick draw /"assassination" drills. this has proven useful in other forms of martial training for me.
Good point Matt! It is better to do something rather than nothing. I don't know if you know about this guy called Nick Drossos- he makes exactly the same points: 1) If you can run away, do so. 2) If you can't then trap the knife and make the opportunity to run away. 3) If you defeat yourself mentally before it has even begun, you have 0 chance of winning. Great video. :)
What are the brand and model of the folder shown at 5:36? Thanks for the awesome video with great points (ha) as always! Nothing is guaranteed in a "real life situation" - there is no "if A, then always B". Something to keep in mind is that, just because you comply, that doesn't mean they won't harm you. If they leave you alive, they leave a witness. Clearly not all criminals will harm you if you comply, but you can't take it for granted that they won't. Context!
Remember that rapier self defense treaty which said that when you were attacked by multiple opponents you should throw your sword at them and run in the opposite direction?
Confusing principles with applications usually gets one into a major misunderstanding: my student always ask me, "when am I going to use all of these Physics calculations in life?", without understanding that the calculations are there to emphasize certain principles. For example, much maligned knife taking techniques in Aikido are designed to teach you some general principles of movement, which, sometimes, could be applied, to, say, knife taking. The application of principles is a responsibility of a learner, in my opinion, it incredibly difficult to address all possible situations..
Matt, could you make a video talking about sabres and armour. Even disregarding European military sabres, which came into fashion during a time when muskets and cannons had made armour more or less irrelevant, sabres have been around for a long time. They were around since the 7th century, and a lot of eastern nations favoured the style. The chinese dao, mongol swords, arabian scimitars etc. etc. These were used by people who wore a fair amount of armour. The advantage of a straight, narrow, stiff blade is obvious against armour, but how would you fight against say, a Mongol wearing full lamellar armour, if you're using a sabre? Seems to me like that would be an issue, yet as previously stated, sabres were around for a long time, so clearly there's some way around that problem.
I ran off a home invader once. I used a revolver. If someone breaks in it will probably be at night when I'm asleep. The kitchen knives are - not surprisingly - in the kitchen. Too far. My guns are safely stored in my gun safe. I'd have to find the key. Last week because of all the lefty festivities I went on Amazon and bought a Bowie knife for my bedside table. I don't know anything about knife fighting but I'm a quick learner in regards to life threatening stuff. I'll do something.
Just to give a law enforcement perspective... The overwhelming evidence of knife attacks show that a person armed with a knife at a close distance that is determined to hurt you probably will if you stand your ground. Even if you have a holstered weapon there is a great chance you are stabbed before you can even get it drawn depending on the distance between you and the attacker. As Mr. Easton says, the safest thing against a knife is to run, or at the very least do your best to create distance.
But as Mark says, under some circumstances at some point that stops being useful. If you're discouraging people from learning unarmed techniques from good teachers, then you're creating a law-abiding population purely composed of victims, which makes entry-level assault easy and profitable.
I agree with you, Matt. No combat system guarantees 100% chances of survival, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't try and save his own life and the life of his loved ones, if the escape option is precluded.
lol, I will say that the biggest thing I've picked up from various types of self defense training is that the first rule of knife fighting is "don't get into a knife fight!" Barring that, there are quite a number of different techniques and methods. Knowing my skill level (and the skill level of most people), most of those techniques involve probably getting cut
Well there's always the Paul Hogan approach from Crocodile Dundee." That's not a knife this is a knife." Kind of gets back to carrying a short sword inside umbrella or cane.
Agreed but you didn't mention a major point, most attacks aren't concerted, they are either posturing or attempts at robbery. Most people don't go full out to kill someone and most people aren't trained to use their knife against a defence. Assuming the attack is concerted and giving up stops you trying to defend against other attacks.
For those of you who understand german here is something about this topic. The person who shows this was a paratrooper in the french foregin legion. Search for "survival combat messerkampf". He shows good stuff but it is kind of important what is said.
Are weapons designed for HMB and IMCF suitable to be sharpened? Looking to get some polearms from historicum.pl to do some cutting. Also, what is the balance on HMB and IMCF swords like?
while teaching self defence techniques I have 3 basic methods. the first is simple basic techniques designed to get a feel for the movement safely (basically what you see in a lot of martial arts classes) the second is a bit more high speed usually with multiple attackers where one will attack randomly (so you don't know where the attack is coming from) to help build up reflexes, the final method is free sparing where one person has a knife and tries to stick it in the other person. no prescribed technique just random attacks, fast brutal, aggressive with attacks coming from all directions. (as would happen with a frenzied attacker) while the defender has to disarm them without getting cut (we use a rubber knife that leaves a nice black mark every time it strikes) it's very rare that anyone manages not to get cut at least once, which has coined a nice little saying "in a knife fight one person goes to the hospital the other the morgue" that aside outside the dojo I've been attacked a few times with a knife. one time it was an idiot who found one of my knives and was waving it around dangerously, slashing at people and laughing because they were "scared" I actually dove over the table when he refused to put it down, blocked the slash on the back of my left hand, used that hand to then restrain his wrist while slamming him against the wall with my other hand around his throat (actually lifting him off the floor) while I took the knife off him. another time I had some random idiot pull a knife on me, so I'm standing there leaning against a wall when this guy comes up to me pulls out a nice big "survival knife" and holds it to my throat. so I stood there with my hands up, while he's doing the whole "give me your wallet" thing. before he had a chance to finish I twisted out of the way of the knife restrained his wrist and twisted the knife right back on him while spinning him into the wall I had been leaning against. took the knife off him and was "nice knife" (actually it was one of those horrible cheep wall hanger knives) right before slamming it into a crack in the wall (old stone wall, with crumbled mortar leaving big open deep gaps) and snapped the blade, the look on his face when I handed him the hilt and walked off thankfully most of the other times I've had knifes drawn on me I've managed to defuse the situation without trouble
Of course, I think you can teach ways to defend yourself against a knife attack. The problem with many of these methods that I've come across is that they: 1) rarely deal with real life situations (in other words, are highly choreographed and artificial) 2) rarely discuss the difficulties and problems with knife attacks. The danger is that if you have practiced techniques against a knife attack, then you might do something really stupid in a real situation due to over confidence. What people don't like to talk about or acknowledge is that most knife attacks are quite sneaky. Situations, like in the movies, where someone from a distance clearly draws a knife and points it at you with a devious smirk before attacking are extremely rare. You are much more likely to be ambushed. There's a reason for why you often hear the phrase "he's got a knife" when you watch videos of actual knife fights. Because you rarely realize that it's knife fight before you are very close. I'm not saying you can't possibly prepare for a knife fight, but so far most techniques I've come across are complete bullshit. The best way to prepare for a knife fight is to wear body armor. Nowadays there's body armor that you can comfortably wear under normal clothes without anyone noticing. It's not even that expensive. That's a piece of advice I rarely hear self-proclaimed self-defense experts talk about. WEAR BODY ARMOR!
and I think, even antiquated techniques teach very important aspects: estimating the range and better reflexes. Even if I just train medieval dagger fighting, I can better guess the reach of a modern attacker and so my escape will have a better success.
Very good mat I always say doing something will increase your chances , , you have talked about people taking a stab and still fighting on , I know people that have been stabbed over 5 times and still bear off the knife man with punches , , i have 2 old friends I know from different thing 1 x boxer and and blade man the blade man attacked the boxer from behind on the way out of a pub ( let's take this out side ) stabbing the boxer in the back side chest and face , the boxer punched for his life broke the jour of the blade man laying him out , ko in just a couple of hits , after a frenzied knife attack ,
You need to publish a book and title it something like "The Anachronistic Gentleman's Modern Self-Defense Tract" and have it seriously discuss things like "Fighting against a butcher's knife with a Stillson Wrench", "Subduing an interloper using a chair" "Defending against a jack-knife using a Mag-Lite" and "Overcoming attacker armed with a stun-gun using a Millwall Brick" . The illustrations should all be in the goofy medieval style with completely wrong facial expressions and everything.
I totally agree I taught karate for 10 years and yes you should run but if you can't than anything is better than nothing. I even served with the US army and my instructor said the same thing. It comes down to the "fight or flight" that is ingrained into our mentality
the most important thing in knife fighting martial art is the technique. sure it is important, but not the most. whot you get from knife fighting training is the mentality. if you are trained, you'll get a better mentality againts knife attack. it means you don't get panic. second thing is the awareness. all martial art, train you to be more aware of your sorrounding. thjird is the reflexes. when someone attck you with knife, your reflex will take over. you know what to do. I hate when someone says "this technique is not effective." They say that because they only judge based on the technique alone.
I work in an industry where I have had more than a few knives pulled on me. The thing that I will bring up is that most people who carry a knife have never done any training on how to use it. While the advise to run away if possible is good, remember that even something as simple as shouting and screaming at them can throw the attacker off. Many are also on various drugs that slow their speed and reaction times. I have the advantages of size and training and experience on my side, which means that I have taken the knives off all but two of the people that have tried to attack me with a knife. The other two outran me when I fought back. So run if you can, if not, do whatever you can to hurt them and keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
As someone who has been jumped by a dude with a knife I can only say that there is alot of stuff you can do to save your life. However, saving your life does not mean that you'll avoid getting hurt... if you know what I mean. Whatever happens, you will most likely end up getting cut or stabbed to some extent. Keep up the great vids. Cheers!
In one instance I was mugged by five men who jabbed me with a crude shiv made from a wrought iron fence spike. They got my phone and money, but it was a cold night so my layered clothing left me little more than bruised and sore. Now, I carry a pocket knife so I am better prepared. Gun carry is not a legal option.
I completely agree, an improvised weapon can be very effective against a knife. For me a 2 Iron works better at defending against a knife attack than hitting a golf ball! Some other options, light bulb replacement pole, flag pole, Coffee pot, hockey stick, light poles, hiking poles, baseball bat, large kitchens knifes, firearms even if unloaded can work with a bayonet even better, axe, tomahawk, hatchet, chainsaw. There are so many improvised weapons that will work against a knife. The type of knife is also important the folding EDC knife you were showing can cause some damage, but the attacker has to get extremely close to use it and the odds of it causing a fatal injury is not very high, most kitchen knifes would have a significant advantage over the small folding EDC knife. In summary most knifes make below average weapons (most knifes are designed to be a tool not a weapon) and can be defended against most of the time by either running or defending yourself with some sort of superior defensive weapon.
Could you make a video or several about the history of weaponslaws by country? I have the feeling that regarding this more or less history is repeating itself (e.g. the parisian apaches because from what i get there was a time when civilians could legally carry weapons before that escalated and they then could do that again to an extend. London likely the same.).
I really think your best bet now days is to carry some form of pepper spray. It's extremely effective in hindering an attacker, which gives you the opening you need to get away. In some cases it could completely incapacitate your attacker. Look into them a decent amount before buying though. You need to know how to use it properly and also what kind of projectile characteristics it has in order to use it most effectively.
Hearing you say to use anything around you to defend yourself with, while standing in a room full of swords is quite amusing.
I feel if a robber broke into his house he would have to spend time finding the least excessive weapon.
Tomartyr Unless he's already considered that and has a mental 'shortlist' depending on where he is in the room. Of course, if all he's doing is deflecting blows until the cops arrive or the burglar runs away because they didn't know what they were getting themselves into, then whatever works will be fine.
@@GeekGamer666 surly his chose will be determind by the context
There's only one criteria: the pommel unscrewability.
Makes me imagine a HEMA practioneer turned robber tries to rob Matt's house and the two of them end up taking weapons from the wall and start having a sword fight.
This is a sign that I need to stop watching anime.
So what you're saying is that the appropriate defense against a knife attack depends on the context?
nice
Jesus, Siesta! You can't just go around using C word!
Oh, man, the C bomb! lol Fair play to Matt for having a calm & rational discussion on such a serious topic.
Yes. But the answer is usually a saber! XD
JF salles - you can use a sabre... i'll use rocket arty from a couple klicks away, granted may result in a little bit of collateral damage but meh
I love your balance, clarity, calm, and authoritative nature when you have the appropriate expertise.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS. YES
Pocket sand is always the answer.
I don't like sand
I knew a very, we'll say *very* strange guy that had salt in his pockets. This wasn't likely the worst idea, since he was the kinda guy that would be extremely likely to be targeted. I dunno if sand is better than salt, because salt will burn worse, but the sand won't dissolve and will stay gritty. I guess salt if you're a fast runner, sand if you're slower?
@@mightyone3737 maybe salt wont permanently damage someone's eyes as it dissolves, but will make then disoriented enough to get away, sand will damage your eyes, period.
Sha-sha.
Gun
The problem with knife defence is, the majority of attacks happen from behind. Its very rare for you to be able to apply any technique. Awareness is the most important thing, when it comes to knife defence.
Yup. Technique alone is only marginally useful against a proper assassination attempt. What you can train against is people who just flip their shit, grab a knife and come at you. Those are usually also not experienced knife fighters, so whatever you're doing has a decent chance of working (even if you get cut in the process).
But even in the worst case, situational awareness only gets you half of the way. You still need to know what to do after you've noticed the attacker. And while you're definitely in a rough spot in that case, pretty much anything has a better chance of working than just standing there.
Also, if you're not a quick runner (I'm not) and far enough from help, you'll need to do _something_ - either disarm, or make sure the other guy can't run after you. The latter is usually less risky - or as one of my Ju Jutsu trainers said:
"There are far more knife fighters than knife throwers out there."
Autolykos Yeah. If you have the chance to do something, anything is better than just standing there.
Against said people who "flip their shit, grab a knife and come at you", I've found that the most basic of things work perfectly. They tend to grab something haphazardly and run at you with the knife held in an icepick grip, trying to come down on your head with a blatant disregard for anything you can do, so any kind of elementary block and disarm is pretty effective.
James deGuzman My cousin who fought in Afghanistan taught me a few things. I think these two are the most helpful and easy to remember: 1) If you get stabbed, grab the knife and try to yank it from his grip. You don't want him to pull the knife out and stab you again, plus it stops him in his place. 2) If you have a knife, slash and swing short quick strokes at his arms and hands, don't stab (because if you stab, you can lose the knife, you leave yourself vulnerable to also getting stabbed, and it's a lot slower). He had me and my brother knife fight to test this and it was true, slashing was much more efficient. Pretty much every time any of us stabbed, we either also got stabbed, or were disarmed. I asked him "Well what do I do if I don't have a knife and he's slashing and not stabbing?" And he said "Kick him in the shins and run because that is literally the only thing you can do if he starts doing that." Basically no matter how quick you are, you'll still get cut everywhere trying to grab his knife hand and disarming him.
These are two very simple things that make sense and are easy to remember. No wushu revenge of the dragon jason bourne "secret" techniques that will get you killed.
All right. On a more serious note : Have sustained a lot of injuries in my life. Some of those made me unable to run away. I just physically can't.
Of course, in that situation, it is impossible for me "not doing anything". I respect Matt's last advice about that where he talks about using anything as a weapon, anything, because you have to find something to be on equal ground or at least not naked against a blade.
I think a lot of people don't understand that they will not always be able to run. You can't run with your children at your side. You can't run if you are mildly disabled. You can't run if you are too old.
And running implies overrunning your adversary. If he is athletic and wants something from you, running is probably the bad thing to do.
Not to mention that if a person wants to injure or hurt you with a knife, they aren't going to confront you like in a comic book or movie. They're going to ambush you in some fashion, whether rushing you or acting discretely until they're in an appropriate position; maybe even from an angle that prevents you from drawing anything you might have. Once you're stabbed, I'm guessing that you won't have the ability to create distance one way or the other.
farmerboy916 true. Though I suppose that mainly, knife assault are starting from "I am sorry I have no money on me" said to a man threatening you when you actually have nothing on you.
The thing is : to be pessimistic I think that if someone wants to kill you, hr will probably manage to do it without you even knowing it.
Except if he is stupid. Some people are... But I won't count on it.
You'd be surprised how many people are incapable of that sort of thinking, though. It's not really a mark of stupidity, they're just incapable or deeply unwilling to; in my experience the majority of people have that issue. If you sit down and frankly explain how an intelligent and clever person would murder others, they'll just sit there horrified and uncomprehending. A lack of learned empathy in the classical sense. When discussing terrorism like that, a common response is "Why would you even say that?"
Reading a lot of the better replies in the comments, I have to wonder why neck armor never became popular for sentries and similarly at-risk people, considering how the neck is what is usually targeted by those wishing to quickly and silently kill by knife.
Personally I would stand off and use my Olympic Freestyle Bow!
but what about self defence against, say, fresh fruit?
Just pull the lever and the 16-ton weight will fall on top of him. Duh.
David Tiganila I'm tired of fresh fruit. can't we do pointy sticks?
What about... Bannanas...?
+David Tiganila -- You don't need self defence when you can chug some Sunny-D, and you can also praise the Sun so that the invader feels bad and goes back home.
"Pointy sticks, eh? Fresh fruit not good enough for you, eh?" "In with the raspberries!"
Obsolete? Are you implying that if a guy pulls a knife on me and I pull out a saber, it's not going to be effective? Because that would discourage pretty much anyone from attacking.
"You call that a knife? THIS is a kni-oh, wait, actually it's a sword. My bad."
*Pulls out kriegsmesser* "Never mind it is"
Technically correct is the best kind of correct.
Crocodile Dundee: "now that's a knife!"
Swords certainly are far from obsolete at least as deterant. No filthy peasant wants to mess with a knight.
I like Silvers quote "if two people are of equal skill - grab a longer weapon then the other guy" so then if outside grab a great sword. If inside probably a smallsword
IF one cannot run away, give him/her the money. IF you can't neither run away or apease the attacker, go all out.
That is what i learned about knife combat
Peter Schmidt So what is your solution, genius? Obviously, if someone tries to mug my family, I will try to stop the guy. In that case the soon-to-be victim has an advatage, that is, distraction. A robber can't corner 3 or 4 or 5 people at the same time. Throw a shopping bag at him, and kick him in the nuts, shout for help, charge him, anything that works goes. But if you are alone, and someone tries to mug you, you are better off running. It isn.t worth the criminals time to run after you, unless you see his/her face.
And what if the attacker do not want your money just want to kill you?
or you give him the money and him try to kill you anyway.
osadock Well, then obviously, it is either him or you. You either try to run away, which is something... or you fight the guy. In which case agression is your best weapon. Mentally dominating your enemy is a risk, but as Matt said, even a risky action is better than waiting to get shanked.
Did you people actually READ what i said?
Apparently they did not.
Pretty much in agreement, Matt. I'm a 45 year police vet. "Run away, run away" is simply not practical for many people, myself included. (knee replacement). I often recommend that people use ANY environmental weapon available. Trash can lid...Brick...Broom, chair....What have you. A chair is a combination weapon and shield.
Everyone with a knife is NOT a trained escrimador, after all. Many thugs carry knives because they are afraid of them and think you will be as well. I have NEVER seen anything like a quality dagger or "tactical" knife in the hands of a criminal. They want something they can toss down a sewer opening if confronted by police. Usually, as you say, it's a ratty old kitchen knife or a stolen steak-house number.
Gun-fu trumps all. If you can't carry a firearm, pepper spray is an excellent choice. Civilians only have to get away, after all... It's we police who have to take the individual into custody.....They may keep trying to fight. The bad guy isn't going to chase you if he can't see....
Impact weapons are problematic to carry, but a good "combat" cane will at least equal a knife. A sturdy 4 or 5 foot walking stick even more so but likely to attract attention.
CrateofStolenDirt Surprisingly, they're still fairly popular around here... Relatively critter-proof. Our local urbaan wildlife is pretty adept at getting into the plastic jobs.
I agree with you, Mark. One of the first things that I think many police personnel like yourself would suggest is that when you're out and about (outside of your home or 'safe zone') that you have to view your world in a different way. Not that people should feel paranoid but that we have to realize that the world is a dangerous place. We must pay more attention to our environment. Notice what and who is around you. Think unconventionally, i.e. using anything that can be as a weapon if the situation arises. Don't be 'the victim' as in don't behave in a way that makes you easy prey and all those things. I agree with you on the impact weapon, I myself keep that type of thing in my vehicle but I don't carry it while i'm walking. Cool stuff, I think police folks have a lot of knowledge on this subject and you all have seen a lot of what we other folks talk hypothetically about.
Really? As police officer you believe that gun-fu "trumps all"? Because in both simulation and practice, in close quarters guns don't work well against knifes.
Even when you are quick to draw and have distance of few meters. The "stopping effect" is questionable (I saw lots of polemics about it, even military sources do not agree how strong or even real it is) and your chances to get the attacker down on first shot are low, on three shots it's I believe something around 70% (statistically you hit 1-2 on 3 shots in real situation).
From what I know and tried, impact weapons are great, especially telescopic buttons. Problem is that many people underestimate the need to have at least some training in how to use them and they are illegal in some countries. But anything what has some reach - the walking cane you've mentioned would be great, unfortunately it went out of fashion some time ago, so for somebody young or middle age it is weird to have it. (Non-telescopic umbrellas, on the other hand...)
Btw. the same with pepper sprays. I've tried them... and discarded them. They are not that reliable (well, some more expensive are, ok...) and they are not "magic" - it's not enough to just trigger them, you still need timing and some precision (a lot precision with gel-based)
As police vet, that means you can have a EDC RPG and exocet to call down from the heavens and yell "Ali Ali Akbarrr" at the person assaulting you with a weapon. Especially not wise to assault a person, the assaultee, who is more mentally driven than the person doing the assault, the assaulter, and carry a pommel to be sure. Is that right ? ;D
@Scrub Scribe guys the real answer is to stroll around like a pre christian German chieftan. Simply gather the strongest young men of your tribe and mob around with them. Everyone armed with shields and spears. Maybe some on horseback.
No one will fuck with you.
As always a voice of reason, well done.
I know BJJ stands for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu but that acronym still gives me an immature chuckle when Matt says it.
You should watch Matt's latest cutlass video if you haven't seen it yet.
Agreed, it's amazing
Same
@@Your_President_Kanye_East link
I agree with you completely. One other point which is what I was taught referring to knife attacks is... "You're GOING to be cut." Now this can't be universal, but if you're even able to bring yourself to a mental position where you ARE able to examine the situation and consider your alternatives, this has to be one of the realities you would probably want to prepare for. Most of the time I would say, this situation is a highly charged moment of emotional and maybe irrrational reaction. In the case of robbery this could be different, but most examples would probably be encased in alcohol and / or emotional distress. The act, just blossoms from some other external situation. Such moments are horrifying and the ability to calm yourself and gain mental control of yourself is pretty much dependent on your own state, and possible training, if any. Anyway, thank you for the vids.
Great video, as a martial artists I have found that the best advice is to teach techniques within the system the student knows then get some protective eyewear and a plastic trainer knife. Let the person feel what a committed knife attack is like, and their responses will adjust as needed. Its easy to say nothing will work, better to give the person an idea of what might work, and have them pressure test it.
Excellent, logical video. Knife fighting/attack/defense requires first of all a philosophy, as do all forms of combat. My personal philosophy on knife fighting is, Don't Do It. It means that everything has gone completely wrong, and that I have no more projectiles to fire at you to maintain distance. 1. Try to keep your knife hidden until the last possible moment so your assailant is unaware of it. 2. Like the Japanese tradition of drawing the sword, make your first attack fatal. 3 Immediately create space and escape the situation.
Thank you for addressing this. I hate those videos that attempt to show that techniques "don't work". You know the ones. The first part of the video is an instructor showing someone a fairly practical looking block or disarm move or something against a knife, shown in a very obviously drill-work type way. The second half is the instructor coming at them and going crazy and the technique "not working at all". First off, I'm not entirely convinced that the "victim" in the second half of the video is really gonna try all that hard, since they know the point of the video they're making is to show that the technique doesn't work. My personal take on it is this: assume for the sake of the discussion that you've got a reasonably good technique taught by someone who has learned a practical system...perhaps something military. Perhaps this person has actually been in a war and had to use the techniques to some degree. It's sort of a straw-man to accuse people who teach these things of believing they will work EXACTLY as shown in the drills. If they are a good instructor they should also be explaining the REASON for certain positions in the technique. If you understand WHY you put your arm in X position or grab the other person in Y position, you'll understand the principles behind it. This is important because in an actual situation, even if "grab person here" part of the move doesn't work out exactly as expected because the person is coming at you in a way your instructor never did, you will hopefully understand maybe a DIFFERENT way to perform said move, making sure the same principle is used. I'm rambling a bit, but I 100% agree that this idea that "nothing will work" is stupid. Nonsense. Whether you like it or not, if you get attacked with a knife and you can't get away, your brain and your body are going to make you do SOMETHING. You may as well have some ingrained ideas about what to do. It may not work 100% as expected. You may come away with cuts or injuries, but it may also save your life, which is what matters.
That's good thinking.
A very difficult question, and I do absolutely agree with all of your points, even though I am one of the people who will tell other people to run away. Maybe the average context, in which I am asked this question, matters here too. The context usually is over a drink at a social event from someone that has just caught on that I have done a fair bit of martial arts in my day. The person asking is usually expecting some perfect, simple to execute, cure all technique that they can learn over drinks right there and then. So I give them the best advice I can give them: run away. These days I actually expand on it and also tell them that they should be able to run a fair bit for this to work, I'd say about 5km in half an hour. If you only manage to get around a single corner before having to stop it's not going to work.
There absolutely are methods to defend against a knife attack, but the main problem is the large amount of advantage, you as the defender have to bridge with skill, that an attacker, wielding a knife, has. The techniques require a large amount of dedicated training, and upkeep in training, that very few "amateur" practitioners of martial arts have. Usually you see these techniques employed by professional practitioners, people in the security industry, soldiers or law enforcement, and most of those are actually trained to prefer non close quarter methods to neutralize the threat.
If someone wants to learn how to do this, do your research, look at the martial arts styles that military and law enforcement practice. Find a reputable school that offers self defense courses that include knife defense and be prepared to put in the effort. Also find one of your friends that also wants to learn this, so you have a training partner to keep up your training after the course is done. Better yet keep on training in this system.
Hi Matt, I enjoy your vids very much... I have to say, now I have a great interest in historical weapons, their development and evolution. I agree with your point 100%. I have some experience over the years (not a lot) with martial arts and my most recent is with Filipino Martial Arts. Although I am no expert in any martial art and even if I was I wouldn't presume myself to be invincible in a knife fight, the philosophy I take is one of survival, do what must be done to survive an attack, whatever it may be. I think what we forget about in these discussions is the 'killer instinct' or the mindset that I feel one must develop for a situation of self defense. In the example of 'I'm being threatened and I can't escape or I'm with another person who isn't fast enough to flee...' I would rather take my chances and enter into combat with the aggressor rather than to rely on the hope that I can somehow reason with this person and convince them not to harm myself or one I might be with... In that regard, one must prepare himself mentally to deal with the prospect that a) they might sometime in their life be threatened with bodily harm other than a fist or foot, b) they may face someone who cannot be reasoned with or satisfied by handing over your valuables in the hope that they leave you unharmed, and c)that in a conflict that they might have to use deadly force to neutralize or incapacitate the aggressor. I don't ever want to be faced with an aggressor threatening my life with a knife or another edged weapon, however, if my life is to be threatened I'd rather face a knife rather than a firearm. Personal defense is just that, it's a personal issue but whatever our preference is, we have to be realistic. Lots of other things to consider in this subject but bottom line for me is if I feel i'm at a point where another has put me in a position where i'm in doubt of surviving then I'm going to do whatever I can, i.e. I'll take a slash to the arm if I can disarm the aggressor then be able to turn that weapon on them or answer with a weapon of my own. Anyway, keep up the vids and I enjoy seeing you on the various History Channel shows I catch!!!
+scholagladiatoria
I would gladly hear more about historical knife fighting. In 18-19 century this should be more popular.
Awesome stuff man. I would have loved to watch an hour easy of this topic
tactical flashlights, as should be one of your edc items, is a great answer. most anywhere will allow you to carry one, and it's a simple distraction tactic while you run away or use it to disable the threat
Be alert, be aware, and walk with an inch-thick Hickory Cane, purely for stability, good enough?
Many years ago I can recall a friend telling me he'd read something in one of the old manuals (Italian maybe?) about what to do if threatened by someone armed with a knife in a public place - immediately stand up and raise both hands above your head. He was of the opinion that this wasn't to set up some fantastic move to disarm the assailant but instead to alert everyone who may be looking that you were being threatened and that you were unarmed. And you've now got your hands above your head.
Thank you! I've had the same thoughts regarding many of these videos. Self defense can be horribly complex. The best way to defend from any given attack it often only known after the attack was made. The very basic as taught by systems like "Model Mugging" and other one or a few days self defense courses teach some of the very most important aspects of self defense. But it takes a life dedicated to martial arts to be able to truly defense yourself in just the majority of common situations. But no matter what, in all situations, awareness is key. A mind that can also accept the fact that you may need to defend yourself, and running may be the best defense, but you also may need to defend yourself physically. And that may result in the injury or death of your attacker is also very important.
Great video! I love your down-to-earth attitude on this, btw can you tell us more about your FAR T-shirt and that absolutely gorgeous hand and a half on your wall behind you
Duelist1954 referred and as a result I subscribed, very interesting and excellent information.
great video, very good point on this pointy subject
Matt, please make a vid where you show how to use a modern 4-legged chair as a defense against knives. I mean, it's a 4-pronged staff AND a shield all in one, quite a brilliant if somewhat cumbersome tool to defend against a blade! Most places indoors with people usually have chairs.
A little over 20 years ago in California a man armed with a gun broke into a meeting room at a hotel. I think he planned to rob people. Everyone in the room was an unarmed police officer---the robber was beaten to death with chairs!
It is said that the ultimate self defense is 400m running. However, I think that only applies if you are faster than attacker. Being overweight and having chronic back disease, I feel much better about my chances of fending off the assailant than I do about outrunning him.
I think you are making a good point here.
How relevant are HEMA dagger techniques to modern knife-fighting, given how much smaller the knives are now?
Well, some kitchen knives are pretty big (like the one Matt used as an example) which makes them comparable to some combat blades. Or take some butchers knives with long slender blades as an example. They are comparable to daggers or stilettos.
+AldanFerrox Of course, but what I'm really talking about are pocket knives.
One of the things going for us in HEMA is that we tend to all do drilling and sparring so we know whether what we teach can work against a determined attacker.Many(not all) martial artists may drill knife defense but will never try and apply it in sparring against people trying to hit them.
Obviously if we were to train for self-defense we'd likely need to take some bits from other martial arts(due to the differences in weapons and contexts in which they were meant to be used) but the way we train could be of use for someone training for self-defense,as long as they train other aspects of self-defense aside from fighting as well.
It's a bit pointless to talk about HEMA here, since it includes hell of a lot of styles - it's kind of like talking about kung fu.
If I take Fiore as an example, some of his dagger techniques aren't all that relevant to short blades (first play of first master), but many are (entire third master, for one) - and let's not forget that all unarmed stuff works pretty well, too.
Also, a sometimes overlooked fact is that medieval folks did actually have small knives, just about the size of modern pocket knives. Any complete system (so, Fiore, Lichtenauer, but not I.33) of that time had to be able to deal with them.
Let's not also forget that many medieval manuscripts deal with medieval law, and mostly medieval law for noblemen. I doubt you could get away with using "how to rob a commoner" technique (yes, that is a real thing) in modern court of law.
One final point is that a lot of the drills you see, or technique demonstrations, don't work when you try to apply them all willy-nilly, most of them rely on Fuhlen (that is, information about pressure you get when hands connect, kinda like contact silk reeling in kung fu), distance, timing and so on, and if you do wrong thing at the wrong time, you get shanked.
HEMA dagger systems tend to focus on an icepick grip and close range grappling and powerful downward strikes to the head and upper body to deal with potentially armored opponents. I think that historical knife systems like American bowie knife, Spanish navajah etc that are more modern would be more useful as they tend to focus more on keeping a safe distance and sniping hands when your opponent lunges. I know people go on about "determined, crazed attacker" scenarios but 99% of people aren't suicidal. A knife wielder might use that strategy if you are unarmed, but if you pull your own knife it's going to make them a lot more circumspect which will enable that strategy. It's the same with swords - you can't stop someone from killing you with a sword if they are determined to do so at the cost of their own life, in which case you will both die. All self defense relies on the attacker having some sense of self-preservation to work. All of that being said, some training in anything is better than no training at all, so you will be better off using a medieval dagger system if that is what you've been trained in than making something up on the fly.
Used to train a lot of knife fighting, the best advice I ever heard apart from running away if you can was to shout 'fire!' to draw attention. Most folk would be attracted whereas shouting, 'help!' tends to scare folk away tbh.
Good overview. You could add that one can find out, practice, drill, etc., the best knife defences with practice (e.g. rubber, plastic, wooden, etc.) knives. Have you made a video for defense against poles, staffs, sticks, baseball bats, etc.?
I got attacked by a man with a knife on New Years Eve 2017. The only reason I think I didn't get cut was a mix of dumb luck and my attacker being drunk. The guy just bull rushed in. No time for me to think "Fiore said..."
Great shirt! Also good points.
From a law enforcement background, one thing we were taught is that your first weapon to use is YOUR VOICE-- a forcefully yelled (screamed?) order "DON'T DO THAT" and/or "PUT THE KNIFE DOWN" can often buy you time to defuse or delay the situation or to prepare yourself by wrapping a coat or shirt or something around your arm to defend yourself, or grab whatever you have to hand to use as a weapon. Thankfully I never had to put that to the test (plus I was licensed for concealed carry, though I never ever had reason to draw my gun ! )
Hello.
Thank you for that.
Great that you did bring up the use of your voice.
Do you have that in your HEMA training?
Is it ok to make sounds in competitions?
Excellent commentary!!
Wise words and well said.
The problem is that even if someone is taught the proper technique to defend against a knife if that person isn't skilled, or is up against a practiced opponent, the confidence/bravado their knowledge gives them could put them in more dangerous situations.
So in my view most of the dismissals of knife defense techniques are centered less around the technique and more around the fact that 99% of people that learn the technique aren't going to practice it enough to practically use it. And a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing.
Which does tie into Matt's complaint about MA/selfdefence teachers etc dismissing knife-defense techniques - they want to avoid being in any way responsible for your injuries (or possible death) if you try some fancy move and get cut. In my MP group back when doing my mandatory military service a somewhat experienced martial artist showed me a couple nice disarm moves but also told me they're not even allowed to call them "knife defense" in his club. Someone who practiced them a lot would have a chance, I'll probably look for an improvised weapon instead.
Does this include being attacked with a messer too?
well as messer basically means knife in german. I guess it depends on the size of the messer. As messer has nothing to do with size. A small knife is a messer and a Kriegsmesser is a messer to
Yes.
a grosse messer to clarify
If you're British and attacked with a superior German item, call the stupid and fat ones (Americans).
Doreen Green well then it is same as being attacked with a sword, not a knife The fact it is called knife (messer) dont change anything. It is still a sword in any practical sense.
What things are called is not always important or even correct. I can call my dog a rocket launcher but it is till just a dog :)
But if i would get attacked by someone with a grosse messer i think i would follow same advice as the one being given when attacked with a knife. i would run if i could :)
Yeah its rubbish to just stick with always run away..Ive been in multiple knife attacks..One with a steak knife and the other with a box cutter razor knife..Both times have been ambush style attacks where if I just curled up in a ball its highly likely that I would've died. I HAD to get more aggressive and take the fight to them. I wasn't able to have time to really think of techniques to use. It was more of bumbling around while trying to get control of the blade arm while throwing strikes and elbows, while taking cuts and pokes. Somebody who has had the experience of even throwing on pads and training HEMA and feeling what its gonna be like to have the violence come at you, is gonna be much better off over all. Keep training guys
50 Stitches Steel Where do you live then so I know to avoid it?
Círdan lol good ol town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US....Heroin and pain pill capital of america lol..Alot of desperate individuals
***** lol what?
Bog Phantom I do now..Yes we can open carry in this state. At the time The first one happened I was too young to carry. Second one he only scratched and cut my face with the box cutter..Dummy used the kind that break off as you push the blade up so it didnt last long...But yeah now I carry both everyday. Haven't had trouble since thankfully...Yeah you did the right thing. If your able to get the hell out of there then do it. It's not worth your wallet or over an arguement. take care
The convenient thing is that in Canada, you are not very likely to be attacked.
I took a page from the older days on how to defend myself from a knife attack. Carry a larger knife then what is commonly carried. Reach is king in martial weapon combat. Also think about getting some body armor if you live in or pass by dangerous areas chain mail is still to this day one of the best defenses against a blade.
Thank you, and very astute observations.
At school as part of PE we got a lady who runs to come in, and her advice if we can't run away was "Once they thrust you most likely be hit so if you can't dodge twist so they won't hit a vital place"
Well Said Master Easton! Thank You!
Excellent video.
It's always good to have that kind of information just in case. Obviously, if you're smart, you'll avoid putting yourself into dangerous situations as best you can. As we saw just the other day with that OSU attacker who rammed some people with his car and then got out and tried to attack them with a knife, you're not always able to avoid those confrontations. Fortunately, in that attack, a campus police officer showed up within a minute and was able to take out the attacker.
After that attacker stabbed and hospitalized several people.... he was shot.
Distance management first, which allows screaming running, ballistic. If you cannot run away do what you can do to escape, or even to reduce damage.
Well said. Whenever I have studied martial arts (of a few different traditions) I was always taught to do my best to avoid or escape a potentially deadly situation if possible (and even had specific training dedicated to it). But, after that we spent most of the time training for the time it might not be possible.
The "always run or you're screwed" argument entirely misses the point that knowing when you really must commit to a fight or not is part of a good martial education, along with preparing the student for when they have no choice but to fight despite a disadvantage.
Heck, I was even trained in some unarmed against sword techniques. Not horribly practical these days, but could carry over to an assailant with a pipe or similarly shaped weapon.
Matt, wow I didn't know that I had no choice other than to die when that young giant stuck a knife in me in Panama. Would it be proper form to go back to his grave and apologize? Seriously, I was wearing a pack and carrying an aide bag, I could not've run. I will say that I am happy those two infantry soldiers were in earshot. Thank-you, Dante.
Not sure how often you check posts on older videos, but could you tell me about the long sword directly behind you in this video, where it's from, manufacturer, etc.? It's absolutely beautiful.
I once told a coworker about the HEMA-Style Dagger Fighting and he totally disagree to this overhead stand.
He argued, that while a Dagger threatens him from above, he would rather stab in the belly.
This whole thing has A LOT to do with intelligence. And I would listen to a Master with techniques from a time, where you could REALLY be threatened by those things at any time.
Many people think, that people from the Middle Ages were dumb in general. Some of them learned the Art of blades for a whole life! Who am I in comparison?
Hey Matt. Would you mind making a video about cutlass bayonets? I think it might be an interesting topic to talk about!
If you have to use force, It´s Speed, Agression snd Suprice that is going to save you. the Attacker Thinks that you are going to fear the knife. I got a flashligt, looks like one of those big Maglites. If I brake it i can get Another one. If i survive.
Very true, I prefer my generic Kubaton 🙂
You can always point out the carotid artery and ask them to avoid the nerves. After that explain that the insane sometimes have super strength with a huge grin.
Those are some very good points.
I didn't read the comment section to see if this was mentioned, but there's one good answer to the practicality of knife defences:
Training in a "live" fashion, with a practice knife that won't harm you if you get slashed or stabbed with it.
If you just can't make your technique work against someone determined to poke you with a piece of rubber hose or blunt plastic, you might be better off learning something else to defend yourself against honed steel.
in terms of using what is available makes having a heavy cane/stick with you--whether it is a stout hickory/ash/oak cane or one of Cold Steel polypropylene sticks which are certainly strong enough to be effective
I train traditional Scottish dirk and almost everything is based on sudden knife attacks. it was very common to suddenly be attacked and in the material I'm using there's a section on quick draw /"assassination" drills. this has proven useful in other forms of martial training for me.
Great discussion Matt. It is truly sad a once great civilization quibbles about defending home and hearth.
Can you please make another video about more of this?
Good point Matt! It is better to do something rather than nothing. I don't know if you know about this guy called Nick Drossos- he makes exactly the same points: 1) If you can run away, do so. 2) If you can't then trap the knife and make the opportunity to run away. 3) If you defeat yourself mentally before it has even begun, you have 0 chance of winning. Great video. :)
What are the brand and model of the folder shown at 5:36? Thanks for the awesome video with great points (ha) as always! Nothing is guaranteed in a "real life situation" - there is no "if A, then always B". Something to keep in mind is that, just because you comply, that doesn't mean they won't harm you. If they leave you alive, they leave a witness. Clearly not all criminals will harm you if you comply, but you can't take it for granted that they won't. Context!
Remember that rapier self defense treaty which said that when you were attacked by multiple opponents you should throw your sword at them and run in the opposite direction?
I live in a place called greenock in Scotland and I need to carry a knive for self defence
After kingsman i am pretty sure the ultimate weapon is a bullet proof umbrella with a built in shotgun.
Good advice mate.
Confusing principles with applications usually gets one into a major misunderstanding: my student always ask me, "when am I going to use all of these Physics calculations in life?", without understanding that the calculations are there to emphasize certain principles. For example, much maligned knife taking techniques in Aikido are designed to teach you some general principles of movement, which, sometimes, could be applied, to, say, knife taking. The application of principles is a responsibility of a learner, in my opinion, it incredibly difficult to address all possible situations..
Like that t-shirt my friend!🤙🏿🤙🏿🤙🏿
Matt, could you make a video talking about sabres and armour. Even disregarding European military sabres, which came into fashion during a time when muskets and cannons had made armour more or less irrelevant, sabres have been around for a long time. They were around since the 7th century, and a lot of eastern nations favoured the style. The chinese dao, mongol swords, arabian scimitars etc. etc.
These were used by people who wore a fair amount of armour. The advantage of a straight, narrow, stiff blade is obvious against armour, but how would you fight against say, a Mongol wearing full lamellar armour, if you're using a sabre? Seems to me like that would be an issue, yet as previously stated, sabres were around for a long time, so clearly there's some way around that problem.
Great analysis
I ran off a home invader once. I used a revolver. If someone breaks in it will probably be at night when I'm asleep. The kitchen knives are - not surprisingly - in the kitchen. Too far. My guns are safely stored in my gun safe. I'd have to find the key.
Last week because of all the lefty festivities I went on Amazon and bought a Bowie knife for my bedside table. I don't know anything about knife fighting but I'm a quick learner in regards to life threatening stuff. I'll do something.
Just to give a law enforcement perspective... The overwhelming evidence of knife attacks show that a person armed with a knife at a close distance that is determined to hurt you probably will if you stand your ground. Even if you have a holstered weapon there is a great chance you are stabbed before you can even get it drawn depending on the distance between you and the attacker. As Mr. Easton says, the safest thing against a knife is to run, or at the very least do your best to create distance.
But as Mark says, under some circumstances at some point that stops being useful. If you're discouraging people from learning unarmed techniques from good teachers, then you're creating a law-abiding population purely composed of victims, which makes entry-level assault easy and profitable.
I respect you greatly, just wanted to say that.
I agree with you, Matt. No combat system guarantees 100% chances of survival, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't try and save his own life and the life of his loved ones, if the escape option is precluded.
lol, I will say that the biggest thing I've picked up from various types of self defense training is that the first rule of knife fighting is "don't get into a knife fight!"
Barring that, there are quite a number of different techniques and methods. Knowing my skill level (and the skill level of most people), most of those techniques involve probably getting cut
What to do if they are also armed with a car or truck?
Well there's always the Paul Hogan approach from Crocodile Dundee." That's not a knife this is a knife." Kind of gets back to carrying a short sword inside umbrella or cane.
Agreed but you didn't mention a major point, most attacks aren't concerted, they are either posturing or attempts at robbery. Most people don't go full out to kill someone and most people aren't trained to use their knife against a defence. Assuming the attack is concerted and giving up stops you trying to defend against other attacks.
This is a good point, but there are lots of other points I could have made in this video - I just wanted to stick to one point for clarity here.
"Run away from a knife and charge a gun" -Al Pacino playing Jimmy Hoffa in Hoffa.
For those of you who understand german here is something about this topic. The person who shows this was a paratrooper in the french foregin legion. Search for "survival combat messerkampf". He shows good stuff but it is kind of important what is said.
Are weapons designed for HMB and IMCF suitable to be sharpened? Looking to get some polearms from historicum.pl to do some cutting. Also, what is the balance on HMB and IMCF swords like?
your better off buying a separate set of sharp weapons
while teaching self defence techniques I have 3 basic methods. the first is simple basic techniques designed to get a feel for the movement safely (basically what you see in a lot of martial arts classes) the second is a bit more high speed usually with multiple attackers where one will attack randomly (so you don't know where the attack is coming from) to help build up reflexes, the final method is free sparing where one person has a knife and tries to stick it in the other person. no prescribed technique just random attacks, fast brutal, aggressive with attacks coming from all directions. (as would happen with a frenzied attacker) while the defender has to disarm them without getting cut (we use a rubber knife that leaves a nice black mark every time it strikes) it's very rare that anyone manages not to get cut at least once, which has coined a nice little saying "in a knife fight one person goes to the hospital the other the morgue"
that aside outside the dojo I've been attacked a few times with a knife. one time it was an idiot who found one of my knives and was waving it around dangerously, slashing at people and laughing because they were "scared" I actually dove over the table when he refused to put it down, blocked the slash on the back of my left hand, used that hand to then restrain his wrist while slamming him against the wall with my other hand around his throat (actually lifting him off the floor) while I took the knife off him.
another time I had some random idiot pull a knife on me, so I'm standing there leaning against a wall when this guy comes up to me pulls out a nice big "survival knife" and holds it to my throat.
so I stood there with my hands up, while he's doing the whole "give me your wallet" thing. before he had a chance to finish I twisted out of the way of the knife restrained his wrist and twisted the knife right back on him while spinning him into the wall I had been leaning against. took the knife off him and was "nice knife" (actually it was one of those horrible cheep wall hanger knives) right before slamming it into a crack in the wall (old stone wall, with crumbled mortar leaving big open deep gaps) and snapped the blade, the look on his face when I handed him the hilt and walked off
thankfully most of the other times I've had knifes drawn on me I've managed to defuse the situation without trouble
Of course, I think you can teach ways to defend yourself against a knife attack. The problem with many of these methods that I've come across is that they: 1) rarely deal with real life situations (in other words, are highly choreographed and artificial) 2) rarely discuss the difficulties and problems with knife attacks. The danger is that if you have practiced techniques against a knife attack, then you might do something really stupid in a real situation due to over confidence. What people don't like to talk about or acknowledge is that most knife attacks are quite sneaky. Situations, like in the movies, where someone from a distance clearly draws a knife and points it at you with a devious smirk before attacking are extremely rare. You are much more likely to be ambushed. There's a reason for why you often hear the phrase "he's got a knife" when you watch videos of actual knife fights. Because you rarely realize that it's knife fight before you are very close. I'm not saying you can't possibly prepare for a knife fight, but so far most techniques I've come across are complete bullshit. The best way to prepare for a knife fight is to wear body armor. Nowadays there's body armor that you can comfortably wear under normal clothes without anyone noticing. It's not even that expensive. That's a piece of advice I rarely hear self-proclaimed self-defense experts talk about. WEAR BODY ARMOR!
Police reports and historical accounts are worth a lot more than opinions from people with fixed notions.
and I think, even antiquated techniques teach very important aspects: estimating the range and better reflexes. Even if I just train medieval dagger fighting, I can better guess the reach of a modern attacker and so my escape will have a better success.
Very good mat I always say doing something will increase your chances , , you have talked about people taking a stab and still fighting on , I know people that have been stabbed over 5 times and still bear off the knife man with punches , , i have 2 old friends I know from different thing 1 x boxer and and blade man the blade man attacked the boxer from behind on the way out of a pub ( let's take this out side ) stabbing the boxer in the back side chest and face , the boxer punched for his life broke the jour of the blade man laying him out , ko in just a couple of hits , after a frenzied knife attack ,
You need to publish a book and title it something like "The Anachronistic Gentleman's Modern Self-Defense Tract" and have it seriously discuss things like "Fighting against a butcher's knife with a Stillson Wrench", "Subduing an interloper using a chair" "Defending against a jack-knife using a Mag-Lite" and "Overcoming attacker armed with a stun-gun using a Millwall Brick" . The illustrations should all be in the goofy medieval style with completely wrong facial expressions and everything.
I totally agree I taught karate for 10 years and yes you should run but if you can't than anything is better than nothing. I even served with the US army and my instructor said the same thing. It comes down to the "fight or flight" that is ingrained into our mentality
the most important thing in knife fighting martial art is the technique. sure it is important, but not the most. whot you get from knife fighting training is the mentality. if you are trained, you'll get a better mentality againts knife attack. it means you don't get panic. second thing is the awareness. all martial art, train you to be more aware of your sorrounding. thjird is the reflexes. when someone attck you with knife, your reflex will take over. you know what to do.
I hate when someone says "this technique is not effective." They say that because they only judge based on the technique alone.
As a musician now studying computer programming, I defer all my knife-attack opinions to experts such as yourself.
I work in an industry where I have had more than a few knives pulled on me. The thing that I will bring up is that most people who carry a knife have never done any training on how to use it. While the advise to run away if possible is good, remember that even something as simple as shouting and screaming at them can throw the attacker off. Many are also on various drugs that slow their speed and reaction times.
I have the advantages of size and training and experience on my side, which means that I have taken the knives off all but two of the people that have tried to attack me with a knife. The other two outran me when I fought back.
So run if you can, if not, do whatever you can to hurt them and keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
As someone who has been jumped by a dude with a knife I can only say that there is alot of stuff you can do to save your life. However, saving your life does not mean that you'll avoid getting hurt... if you know what I mean. Whatever happens, you will most likely end up getting cut or stabbed to some extent. Keep up the great vids. Cheers!
In one instance I was mugged by five men who jabbed me with a crude shiv made from a wrought iron fence spike. They got my phone and money, but it was a cold night so my layered clothing left me little more than bruised and sore. Now, I carry a pocket knife so I am better prepared. Gun carry is not a legal option.
KNIVES! I sense a Lindybeige related controversy!
im canadian im going to hit you then say sorry anyways
Your shirt is great, thanks. 👍🖖
@Valdis4418 Shut up troll.
Spot on mate.
God created man but Colt made them all equal
"If Colt was the equalizer, Thompson would tilt the odds."
-Stuart Brown
***** AMEN brother
I completely agree, an improvised weapon can be very effective against a knife. For me a 2 Iron works better at defending against a knife attack than hitting a golf ball! Some other options, light bulb replacement pole, flag pole, Coffee pot, hockey stick, light poles, hiking poles, baseball bat, large kitchens knifes, firearms even if unloaded can work with a bayonet even better, axe, tomahawk, hatchet, chainsaw. There are so many improvised weapons that will work against a knife. The type of knife is also important the folding EDC knife you were showing can cause some damage, but the attacker has to get extremely close to use it and the odds of it causing a fatal injury is not very high, most kitchen knifes would have a significant advantage over the small folding EDC knife. In summary most knifes make below average weapons (most knifes are designed to be a tool not a weapon) and can be defended against most of the time by either running or defending yourself with some sort of superior defensive weapon.
Could you make a video or several about the history of weaponslaws by country?
I have the feeling that regarding this more or less history is repeating itself (e.g. the parisian apaches because from what i get there was a time when civilians could legally carry weapons before that escalated and they then could do that again to an extend. London likely the same.).
I really think your best bet now days is to carry some form of pepper spray. It's extremely effective in hindering an attacker, which gives you the opening you need to get away. In some cases it could completely incapacitate your attacker.
Look into them a decent amount before buying though. You need to know how to use it properly and also what kind of projectile characteristics it has in order to use it most effectively.