Periodic knife stabs with the power and determination: a practical solution to the problem
Updated: Jun 16, 2022
This article is devoted to the fact of periodic knife stabs, which are the most common in the real world. In fact that most self-defense clubs try to ignore. This article is intended to show students and coaches the need to invest time and effort in teaching content related to the topic of periodic knife stabs. When this blog was written after dozens of articles about the knives that preceded it in our blogs. In previous articles, we have divided the threat and attack of the knife into three scenarios according to ranges: long, medium, and short. When any stab range can be long or short and periodic. Most self-defense institutes illustrate how to deal with a first problem and neglect the second. One of the reasons for this is the hardest dealing with the second problem. When in the second case, the victim is stabbed anyway and the question is whether he survives the circumference or not? Due to the importance of the issue, we decided to discuss a number of questions below: Why do self-defense schools ignore the problem of cyclical punctures? What is a passive knife attack without continued resistance? What is the main problem with a periodic knife stab? What is the response time in a cyclic knife stabbing incident? Why is it necessary to lock the attacking hand with the knife (Arms control)? What types of training knives and protective equipment are used in Self-Defense training? What types of real assault knives exist?
Warning!
The concepts presented here are for illustrative purposes only. Before attempting any technique discussed or presented in this article, seek professional training from a reputable instructor.
Why do self-defense schools ignore the problem of periodic knife stabs?
We tried to understand the root of the problem of total disregard for having a problem of periodic knife stabs at zero range. To do this, we started looking for information through Google and YouTube. It turned out that there are almost no clubs that even raise the issue. That is, ignoring the existing problem. We asked ourselves an interesting question, why is this happening? After all, every self-respecting self-defense club presents many varied knife-stabbing techniques. But almost every technique is based on a one-time attacking action of the opponent when it is often unrealistic! It has no power, agility, or determination to strike at any cost... Ignorance may be due to a lack of professionalism or knowing in advance that there is no technical solution to dealing with the problem in one method or another. Maybe they think illusions can be sold today? But they forget that we live in a world of the Internet, everything is online... and every reasonable person is able through simple analysis to understand what is realistic and what is not...
What is a passive knife attack without continued resistance?
In general, in the first lesson of self-defense, on the subject of a knife, it is customary to present a particular subject - let's say a direct stab. And in the first lesson, the instructor must impress his trainees with the first few seconds that the method works. For this purpose, it is customary to take a large and strong student who will carry out an attack in a way that is pleasing to the eye, but the expert honestly sees the unreality of the movement. Although an exercise was performed quickly at first, at the stage of blocking suddenly the attacker stops resisting... when the instructor claims an imaginary neutralization blow that the attacker received. Dear friends, any child in a school can say that in the street fighting the attacker continues to strike until he loses the ability to attack. Usually, this is not a single imaginary blow that neutralized the attacker's ability. Also, there are many questions about those beatings that self-defense schools present as those that can neutralize the attacker. When, in classic boxing, you practice these blows for years until you can really neutralize the attacker with one blow.
What is the main problem with a periodic knife stab?
The problem with this type of stabbing stems from the fact that it is cyclical. That is, the attacker does not stop after the first blow but continues. The purpose is to harm as many vital organs as possible to human life. An original, relatively old theory of Israeli Krav-Maga claims that braking can be performed with one hand and at the same time a neutralization blow with the other hand. We in this article put this theory to the test of reality. Our goal is to understand how realistic it is. Does it not pose a danger to the victim who will perform it when necessary. By performing a reality test assume that a neutralization blow is aimed at the jaw or throat. When boxers are practicing for years so that the blow is accurate and powerful enough to neutralize an opponent. So we understand that a person who engages in contact combat is not as skilled at beatings as a boxer. As a result, the risk assessment in this exercise increases. That is, the blow couldn't be so hurt or too strong to neutralize! And here arises the problem of cyclic blow with the knife as opposed to the victim's ability to brake and perform the neutralizing blow again. After all, the opponent has learned the method and can easily change the direction of the blow of the knife from top to bottom, for slicing, etc...
What is the response time in a cyclic knife stabbing incident?
Usually, the attacker who performs a periodic knife stab is skilled. That is, he knows that one must approach the victim with zero range; the knife must be hidden; one hand must divert the victim's attention and the other hand at the moment which holds the knife begins to operate. Now ask yourself what is reaction time if at all? Is it possible in this scenario to break and strike at the same time? When factually the victim will be stabbed, and here the question is whether he will survive the assault. So the answer is not clear at all...
Scenario A - first of all, it is possible that a first stab hit a vital organ, and then there is no chance!
Scenario B - The stabbing may have missed the vital organ and here there is a slim chance of survival. So by logic, I ask the natural question, what would you do in this time interval?
Why is it necessary to lock the attacking hand with the knife (Arms control)?
Arms control by the team of KALAH Combat System
Using the previous sections of the article, we wanted to illustrate the problem of a real knife attack, rather than laboratory conditions. That is, a zero-range attack using the knife, when it is cyclical the attacker resists at any given moment with the intent to kill the victim. We have seen that without neutralization of the attacking hand (Arms control), the periodic attacks with the knife cannot be stopped. Any techniques that present the possibility of an attacking handbrake without further locking it is unrealistic.
Arms control by the team of Krav-Maga Hagana Azmit School
Quite a few institutes of applied self-defense have begun to apply the method of the KALAH Combat System, which claims in its philosophy and fundamentally the importance of maximizing reality in various self-defense methods. In this fighting method, the emphasis is on locking the attacking hand with the knife. Use of head, bite, and knees to neutralize the attacker at all costs. That is, he came to kill you. When we discuss the locking of the attacking hand with the knife, suddenly the worldview on the subject of self-defense in general and the philosophy of the chain of events after the locking of the attacking hand change completely! That is, an old-fashioned philosophy of blocking and neutralization becomes unrealistic. In the following articles, we will expand on the method of KALAH and the technical execution of these types of exercises.