Regardless of your level of training, defending against a knife attack is very hard.  No amount of training can reduce the risk, but training for a knife attack will help you survive.   When defending against a knife attack, there are a few things you should avoid doing and there are some things you can do that will help you come out of it alive. In learning to successfully defend against a knife attack, we must understand as much as we can about the attacks themselves.   The more we know about them, the more we can tailor our training to fit reality.  We must understand the offense in order to plan a defense. We also have to consider the special dynamics of an attack with a knife.  The knife may be hard to detect, so we may not even know initially that a knif...

To be able to defend against a knife attack, we must understand as much about edged weapon attacks as we can.  Knowing the mechanics of a how a knife is used and learning about the dynamics of an edged weapon attack will add a dimension to this understanding.   What is an Edged Weapon?   When considering the threat of edged weapons, there are more than just knives.   It is a category of weapons.  For the purpose of developing a defense against edged weapons, we can include conventional knives, blades, etc. as well as other objects that cause damage similar to a knife or blade in the same category.  These include things like homemade shanks, pens, pencils, scissors, screwdrivers, nails and anything else that can pierce flesh with a thrust.  This category a...

Knife assaults occur in a variety of circumstances and have a wide variety of victims.  Knowing more about situations that lead to knife attacks will help you better understand who and how you need to train for self defense.   Who are the Victims?   It can happen to anyone from anyone. There appears to no combination of personal relationships in knife related crimes that does not make the news.   Kids as young as age six are attacking others in school and in their homes.  Kids are stabbing parents.  Parents are stabbing children.  Siblings are stabbing each other.  Husbands are stabbing wives.  Wives are stabbing husbands.  Friends are stabbing friends.  And, of course, strangers are stabbing each other.  Threats range from those ...

Edged weapons have a unique set of dynamics that make them a critical subject to study for self defense.  Edged weapon attacks don’t typically have the same dynamics as an empty handed attack, yet they are often mistaken for an empty handed attack.  Sometimes an attack may even begin with an empty handed assault, then escalate to include a knife. Learning to successfully defend against knife attacks starts with a realistic understanding of the threat itself and the dynamics behind it. This knowledge will help keep you from making mistakes that will leave you exposed when you are trying to protect yourself against a knife attack.  In this first article of an upcoming series, I will discuss the unique dangers of edged weapons.  In later articles, I will discuss crime with...