[QUOTE=tc101;1270019]That was my typical initial response when I am confronted with people being unrealistic. Going to use a block and punch against a guy with a knife? You saw the videos you really think a block and punch is going to have any effect?
I do not understand a certain segments fascination with empty hand knife defense. I’ve been to loads of boxing gyms have been to loads of judo schools have been to a few mma gyms and have yet to see anyone there doing so called training with empty hand versus knife. They are more concerned with really training and developing realistic skills.
The other thing is I am a LEO and often work secondary security. So claims of so called working security I know means nothing more than often sitting around. It does not impress me and claims that you’ve been knifed and had knives pulled on you makes me think you are being dishonest. As I said I’m an LEO on the streets and work security and have for the past several years and never been stabbed or had any knives pulled on me. It’s the same for most of the guys I work with. I also think if you had real experience with knife attacks you would not be thinking of trying some thing as silly as blocking and punching. All this leads me to really wonder about you. I know Hendrik is dishonest and you are a big supporter and now you also are saying things that don’t sound kosher.[/QUOTE]
I have had real life knife experiences and I share your frustrations at some instructors’ suggested methods for handling such attacks. As I said in my first post it is very difficult and the reason why, from what I naturally do, I said the first strike is important is because the knife is easily withdrawn and stabbed again as illustrated in those videos you posted and of which I have seen before. So, I already acknowledged and preempted your view point for it is one I share.
Given that you have not had any real life knife experiences, I am not sure how you feel qualified to comment with such authority as you do. I don’t claim authority despite having some of those real world experiences. I do not even go as far to say ‘this works’. Incidentally, I even had someone come at me with a machete once; I dodged and ran in this case. I have even had a gun pulled on me and I had no idea if it was fake or not but the adrenalin pump I had was very real indeed. That adrenaline pump was very similar to the one I had last Friday when the police pointed their MP5’s at me, with their laser sights’ dots bouncing off my chest. I have never been in a war zone, however, and seen the horrors that zuti has; I doubt very much that I could handle it.
Further, I am not fascinated with empty hand techniques versus a knife. I have just had some nasty experiences and sometimes find myself in dangerous situations, so I consider it wise and prudent to train as best I can. My life has depended on it and may continue to depend on it. As I said, my first response would be to always run or get out of harms way.
I do not know why you are mentioning Hendrik and I have been upfront and said, both publicly on these boards and to Hendrik privately, that I did not agree with his posturing and the direction he has taken. I think I understand why you are citing Hendrik and that is because you are being intentionally antagonistic and harrying me from thread to thread, for whatever reason that may be. I am not the only one you have done this to.
One training tip that I will stand by and share with you is reviewing videos such as you cite. Before I made the decision to work in security (which I have not done for long, all my real life knife experiences occurred before I trained to do security) one of the things I did was to review as many videos of fights, knife attacks etc. as I could. With regards to the knife attack videos, I made a simple tally chart in excell and had columns for each of the gates. I watched each video and tallied which gate was attacked as well as other bits of information that I won’t go into here. I then converted that data into probabilities i.e. the range 0 to 1. I found that a very useful exercise and it took me a very long time to compile the data.
I agree with you that there are many that are very disingenuous in their approach to defending against knives. Indeed, I remember talking to a JKD instructor that taught knife techniques, including Vs. empty hands, and I told him about my video collection. Having asked him if he had had any real life self defense experiences just before he took his class, he answered no and then went on to tell his students that he had watched lots of videos and compiled data; he said that turning to me looking very sheepish.
I feel like I have very little to prove to anyone anymore, except myself maybe, and it is disheartening to constantly have to question whether I should share my experiences or not because of the attitude and behaviours of some of the users of these very forums. I hope that situation can change, I really do.
EDIT: On the garn/gang sau and strike. The first time I was ever attacked with a knife was in a mugging situation on my way to visit a friend. I knocked him out when he went to stab me on my lower left side after I refused his demands to hand over my money. Could I repeat that? I have no idea. Not all knife situations are crazy people rushing in as you show in those videos. However, it does happen and it is very difficult to deal with.