Realistic knife defense tactics that work.
The Dreaded Knife Attack
Knife attacks are so dangerous for several reasons.
- First and foremost a knife can do so much damage so fast.
- A knife takes very little skill, just rapidly stab, thrust, or slash.
- Wild knife assaults can override our OODA Loops very quickly. This makes the knife seem so fast that we can’t keep up with it.
- And it is extremely difficult to disarm a knife-weilding attacker. There really isn’t anything to grab onto except the attacker’s arm. Most people get their hands cut up really badly while trying to actively grab for the knife arm of their attacker.
Some Knife Attack Mythology
While knife defense is super dangerous there is some mythology floating around. Let’s clear some of it up.
If you get stabbed by a knife you are dead!
Well if you notice both of the individuals in the video got stabbed with a larger than normal knife and both were able to walk or jog away. The reality is that most of the vulnerable areas of your body are well protected by bone, muscle, fat, and fascia.
The heart and lungs for instance are shielded against direct knife thrusts by your rib cage. And while it is possible for a knife to get through (I’ve heard of it twice) it is really quite rare. In fact many times the knife gets stuck in the ribcage.
Now a cut through the windpipe will prevent you from breathing and death can come very quickly. And while a cut to the eyes won’t kill you it will likely take you out of the fight. If your attacker continues their assault they will be able to cause enough damage to kill you.
If you get cut by a knife you will bleed out quick!
Well probably not. There are two types of blood vessels; arteries and veins. Arteries have an active pump. The heart. So if an artery gets cut it will gush and spurt out blood very quickly.
However arteries are deep inside the body and hard to get to. The only arteries you can really get to are the carotid arteries in the neck. And frankly it would take a sharp knife with a good slash to get to those as they are well protected by large sternocleidomastoid muscles of the neck.
Now veins are are closer to the surface of your body. They are blue in color. If you look at your arm you will see veins all over. Veins have a much more passive slower return of blood to the heart so there won’t be any major gushing of blood.
So if you get cut you likely won’t bleed out immediately but you do need to finish the fight ASAP and get emergency medical service quickly.
Lessons: Protect that Face and Neck!
It is Easy to Disarm a Knife… Not!
Knife disarms are all over the internet and YouTube. Some are feasible, most are laughable, but all of them are incredibly risky to attempt.
You might think the knife is being swung low and then it comes up high. Taking a punch to a random area of the body is no big deal, especially if it doesn’t have a lot of force behind it. A knife doesn’t need a lot of force behind it. And ANY target that a knife hits is a good target.
As stated earlier you might not die right away from a slash to the arm muscles or a thrust to the abdominal muscles but you also won’t be able to fight as well with an injury like that. And folks it doesn’t take much from a sharp knife to tear through muscle.
Lesson from Navy SEAL Team Six and Paul Vunak
One of my favorite stories about knives… and in general comes from Martial Arts Legend Paul Vunak.
Paul was recruited by the United States Navy to train the newly formed SEAL Team Six. The elite of the elite Special Forces at the time.
Paul’s very first day the SEALs ask him to teach them knife disarms. Paul replies “they don’t work, you will get killed trying to do them.”
To which a big tough SEAL replies, “we train them all of the time, we are awesome at them!”
Paul grabs Shirley. Shirley is the Administrative Assistant for the SEALs. As I recall the story Shirley is 5′ tall, weighs 200 lbs and is in her Navy dress uniform. A skirt and high heels.
Paul introduces the SEALs to the Admin and introduces the SEALs as the most deadly and elite killing squad in the world. Then tells them that they are going to knife fight.
He hands Shirley a black magic marker and tells the SEAL to do his disarm.
After a minute and a half Shirley still had the marker. The SEAL had black marks all over his hands and forearms from trying to grab the “knife”. He also had marks on his face, neck, groin, chest, etc. Shirley would have killed the elite Special Forces operative!
After that Paul asked the SEALs if they still wanted to learn knife disarms or learn what to do instead.
They replied the latter.
The latter is Defanging the Snake (as demonstrated in the video).
Now I hate being dogmatic about how you should never ever do a knife disarm but what I will say is that a knife disarm is either an accident that falls in your lap, in which you take it. Or it is your last resort. I have a demo of a knife disarm at the end of the video. Risky stuff, last resort!
Final Thoughts
- Awareness and Avoidance are key. Keep your head up, vision wide, and ears unobstructed. If you see danger coming then walk or run away. If you don’t have time then get yourself mentally and physically ready to fight.
- If you get stabbed or cut, and you probably will, keep fighting. It is important to end the fight ASAP and get medical attention quickly if you are injured.
- At distance utilize the tactic Defanging the Snake with a blunt or sharp weapon. If you have a firearm move away while commanding them to stay back. If they rush you, do what you have to do.
- If you are too close and don’t have time to get to a weapon utilize the Shit – Hit – Split tactic to create space in order to run or get a weapon ready for bullet point 3.
Until next time,
Brian
