One of the most
sobering prospects that
anyone will have to face is encountering someone who attacks you with a
knife.
Short of carrying a gun, there is
little–if
anything–that you can do against such an assailant. On the
other side of the coin, if you do decide to use a knife as a means of
defending yourself, this decision carries with it a lot of issues to
consider.
Make no mistake about it: knife fighting is
serious business
and the risk of causing significant injury–and even
death–to your opponent, as well as to yourself, is a very
real possibility.
That being said, here are some knife
fighting techniques that can help prepare you for any
eventuality, and
hopefully allow you to walk away from a potentially deadly situation
with minimal injury.
The first thing that you should examine is
your grip. The normal way that you would hold the knife for cutting
something is exactly the wrong way to hold it for knife fighting.
The
main problem with that grip is that all the pressure on the knife is
focused near the blade. When you hit a hard object, the knife will
likely slip and cause you to cut yourself. Instead, you should apply
pressure with the last three fingers of your hand, and use your thumb
to stabilize the knife.
The stance is one of the most important of
all knife fighting techniques and you should strive to develop it so
that you are capable of shifting to an attack or a defensive position
at a moment’s notice.
This typically involves having your
right foot forward while the other foot is placed back with the heel up
to aid in balance and support.
Related to the stance is the footwork. You
should strive to develop an effective and efficient way to move your
feet so that you can carry out as wide a range of movements as
possible. Also be sure that you do not get tangled up and fall, as the
consequences of doing so can be deadly.
This is only a small listing of some of the
knife fighting techniques that you should learn and develop, but they
form the basis of many of the more advanced techniques that you will
learn later on.