Knife fighting knowledge help?

I will say this – your tendencies in BJJ will get you killed. The effective range of a knife is inside arm's length + blade length. Stay outside of that to stay safe. Put objects between you and the attacker. Watch his whole body (as has been said). Most basic (you are going to get cut – face it and move on) is protect yourself with the back-sides of your forearms, not the "palm side" – to avoid getting cut anyplace you stand to lose too much blood.

Do not use a knife if you don't know how to use it. You'll over-reach, expose your body, and likely focus on the knife (forgetting you have the rest of your body). Cuts should be short, sharp, and shallow, used to create distance, and discourage the attack. Stab in, cut out. There's soooo much to know. This doesn't even begin to cover it.

My advice – Take a seminar, take good notes, and practice. Then, in a couple months, take another seminar and see what you've retained and what you've gotten lazy on. In the meantime, don't pull a knife unless you're thoroughly committed to using it (Take an old pair of jeans and cut a leg off. Wrap beef [a sliced-in-half roast is a good choice] or pork [skin on pork shoulder works well] around a dowel and bury it in the ground to simulate a leg. Now take a knife and cut – pay attention to how it feels trying to push through the denim, how it feels to slice into the meat, seeing it bleed and run a little. Imagine yourself cutting another human being like that as you do it. Then, if you're still interested in repeating that procedure time and time again for the practice, take a knife-fighting course. It's not a game. Do what you have to.)

Edit:

@Husky Ninja: No. But we all fight the way we train. The tendency to want to get close as in BJJ is going to hinder you. I don't mean the techniques, but your ADTs (Angle/Distance/Timing). Whereas my training against a knife has shown me where to be in relation to the attack, yours has shown you more that the appropriate response when adrenaline takes over is to get tight. In that respect, I was referring to you being attacked by another person with a knife (Knife fighting), where these two different viewpoints can mean the difference between living and dying.

I strongly feel that if I'm going to use a weapon, I'd rather improvise something innocuous (a rolled up magazine, for instance), or turn an opponent's weapon against him. If they're unarmed, I have no need to be armed (especially with the odds of being on camera these days).

Your techniques will form good ground for learning to disarm after you've learned the ADTs related to knife fighting. It's not hard, it just takes learning ways to condition a response to a different stimulus (That is, a different flinch when you see a knife from when you see a punch or a grab).

Understand? Sometimes I'm not sure if I make my point clearly, but if you have any other questions, feel free to contact me through email.

You could look into Filipino Martial Arts which could help familiarize yourself with the knife and other weapons. As far as just doing it on your own, it's extra difficult. You need formal instruction and live training. Psychologically you also have to condition yourself. This is a knife you're talking about. You're not going to be a knife fighter and square off against someone else and dance around for 20 minutes. A knife cut is serious business. It's not a papercut, it's loss of blood, shock and death.

One of the most basic things you can do is called defanging the snake. When approach by another person with a weapon, to slash or chop at that weapon hand and get away, that is IF you can get away. It is not 100% foolproof because there are a lot of different variables that could make it work or not work. Again this needs proper training to cover this. You can potentially cause a lot more harm than good, even with a slash to a hand. Exercise judgment at all times and always try to talk or avoid situations before they happen.

I'm sure you can find all kinds of videos on Youtube the only problem is not all of what you will see there is actually good or even suggested when it comes to knife fighting.

I have teach seminars and my students on knife fighting and have been trained by some of the best knife fighters out there so I think I can say something about this. Mind this though, the tips I give you are just tips. You need to find someone to learn from and tweek with your technique to truly become effective.

Tips:

1. Don't just watch the knife, watch the whole person. Learn to see the subtle movements involved prior to an attack. It takes time to learn, but once you learn it and apply it you will find it hard to not see it.

2. I don't care what anyone else says, but if you decide to fight with a knife or disarm someone (both are the last resort to retreating, it isn't a game) it WILL be messy and EXPECT TO BE CUT!!! Some teachers out there will say not to expect to get cut, but the problem with that is you set yourself up for a psych-out. If you expect that you could be cut and it happens you can shake it off faster than you can if you don't expect it and are shocked when it happens, its simple psychology.

3. DO NOT GO FOR THE KNIFE LET IT COME TO YOU!

4. Timing is everything as is muscle memory. Develop them to the point you can do it without thinking.

5. In regards to the arm holding the knife remember: the shoulder (and the hips) are where the power is coming from, the elbow determines the direction of the attack, and the hand merely holds and manipulates the tool. Think about this!

6. The human body can take many, many cuts. However, it cannot take many piercings. Stabs hit organs more than cuts and not every cut hits an artery.

That is enough for you to think about and pnder. Find yourself a good teacher and practice, practice, practice.

Unfortunately your going to have to find a school that teaches self-defence such as Ju-jitsu, Nin-jitsu, Kung-Fu. Not alot of places teach this sort of thing nowadays.

I only teach to green belts upwards due to the lethality of a knife. 'Tanto Jutsu' is a valuable skill and I've trained with guys from Russian Special Forces (amazing guys by the way).

As for tips for using a knife. Never have a tight grip and hold it between your thumb and forefinger for maximum movement and flexibility and if defending against one, where possible, just get away. If you have no choice, always keep your eyes on the persons upper body, never the knife, grab the knife by the handle (never the blade obviously) or take control of their arm by the wrist and stun them, but most of all, never underestimate the damage that the knife can do, they are more lethal than a bullet!

I am not a knife fighting expert, but I do know how to use one.

This is how I learned,

I got a rubber training knife, I recommend a Cold Steel one.

I trained with a partner over and over again developing what worked and what would get me killed.

I trained slashing on a heavy bag.

But here's one thing I know, it was taught to me by my grandfather, who was a policeman and was in WWII: don't let the person see the knife, its completely stupid to pull out the knife and say,"I've got a knife!" or something of that nature. Instead, keep the knife where they cant see it, and when they get close, stab them and run away. I recommend you also get a good knife that you can pull out of your pocket quickly and easily, but you also have to practice to do this.

I recommend one of Cold Steel's knives because the have a "wave" feature that allows you to open the knife out of your pocket. Check them out, coldsteel.com.

I have the spartan folder, I love it.

Hope I helped--

Kaleb

FYI it's can pretty hard to claim self defense after you have knifed your attacker. Given the range of a knife you may as well focus on something empty handed. An attacker can't strip and use your hands and feet against you, unlike a knife and no formal training for retention as you yourself have admitted.

Knives are meant to maim and kill, not be used for self defense.

I have trained and teach knife fighting at Thailand.It is different style from Filipino MA.

aim for the legs so not to kill and only slash not stab because you could hit main arteries if you puncture too deep.

um stab, stab, stab?