{"id":628,"date":"2012-09-07T15:47:41","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T19:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.karate.gregoryzone.org\/?p=628"},"modified":"2012-09-07T15:47:41","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T19:47:41","slug":"the-reality-of-violent-knife-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/?p=628","title":{"rendered":"The reality of violent knife attacks."},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been meaning to write up some thoughts on knife defence techniques of the sort that we learn in seminars or practice in class, and how these relate to real-world examples of violent knife attacks. The relevance of this topic was brought home by the recent death of Wyatt Lewis<\/a> in Edmonton, Alberta. According to the report, Lewis was fatally stabbed during an altercation while trying to protect a friend. Lewis was a jiu jitsu expert and mixed martial arts coach, but sadly that appears not to have prevented him from becoming a victim of violent assault.<\/p>\n

The truth is, I am torn on the subject of knife defence techniques. On the one hand, they’re enjoyable to practice, they provide some additional understanding of biomechanics, and they may help to keep the level of panic down if one is ever confronted with a knife-wielding assailant in a do-or-die situation. On the other hand, the attacks that we practice bear little resemblance to what real knife violence looks like, and the extreme danger of a knife assault is simply not reflected in most training environments. The latter issue is why shock knives<\/a> were invented — to get the adrenaline pumping during training as it would be in a real encounter. (I can attest that the threat of even a minor shock dramatically changes the way people react to a training knife, based on the one I made<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Here’s a typical example of a knife defence technique, as demonstrated by members of the legendary Gracie jiu jitsu family:<\/p>\n


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