Experienced and disciplined fighters always say that knife fighting is not about fighting. In the contrary, it is about survival and self-defense. Knowing how to use your knife properly for self-defense requires high levels of discipline, intelligence, balance, and precision. You must know when to pull a knife. How will it look on you if you pulled a lethal knife on an unarmed attacker?
It is imperative that you learn to carry and handle a knife safely and legally. But that’s not enough. You must learn how to use your knife properly for self-defense against a potential attack. Here are some helpful tips:
7 Useful Tips on How to Use Your Knife Properly For Self Defense
#01 Disregard Fancy Knife Techniques
Knife trainers boast of possessing skills that make them better knife fighters. They will bombard you with fancy and complex knife techniques. These techniques may be helpful in sports. But they may not be useful for self-defense in a life-threatening situation. Disregard Escrima, Kali and other cumbersome movements that martial artists train people on.
In a life and death situation, adrenaline takes over you. You will not remember any of those techniques. Instead, it will be a matter of fight or flight. Thus you will need to rely on simple moves that will trigger quick memory as you seek to disable your attacker. Your goal is not to show your prowess in combat-style knife handling. If you need a kukri knife visit outdoor garden care. It is to incapacitate your attacker and flee.
#02 Know the Basics of Knife Fighting
The basics of knife fighting include how you conceal the knife. It also includes how you wield the knife and how you grip the knife among others. These basics have a lot of influence on how fast you can defend yourself against an attack. For instance, you will find it difficult to draw a knife if you placed in the wrong position. You will hesitate drawing it and this can prove deadly as your attacker will take the advantage.
#03 Create Space to Allow You to Draw Your Knife
Attacks do happen in a blink of an eye. That is why you must learn to create distance quickly to allow you to draw your weapon and defend yourself. The best way to create distance is to use your footwork and other things at your disposal. Such things include your legs, head, and arms.
You will need to appreciate the source of threat and keep the line of attack far away from you so you can withdraw your knife. For instance, if your attacker hits you at a high level, you can use your legs to kick him in his lower extremity. This will give you the clear distance to draw your weapon.
#04 Try to Intercept Your Attackers Weapon-Bearing Hand First
Most attackers will use a knife or other weapons to hit you. To neutralize your attacker, you will need to intercept his or her weapon-bearing hand first. Things will be simpler if he/she also uses a knife. This is because he/she will have to strike you at close proximity. You can incapacitate him or her with a single blow and escape to safety. But often times, this will give you a way to attack more vital parts.
#05 Always Take Advantage of Blind Part
A great technique to successfully defend yourself properly with your best bowie knife ever made is to attack your opponent from the blind side. We defined blind side as the position where your enemy cannot effectively make use of all his limbs to attack you. It begins with the attack as described in #4 then you close the gap and counterattack from the blind part.
It is a terrible idea to try to fight your opponent face to face since you may not know his level of fighting skills. A highly skilled attacker will hit you so fast and harm you before you even have the chance to retaliate. You will need to practice this technique to master it if you are a survivor.
#06 Expose Very Little Of Your Body
The amount of your body you expose is directly proportional to the amount of injury your attacker may inflict on you. For that reason, try to expose as little of your body parts as possible. You can do this by turning your body sideways with your knife-bearing hand pointing straight at your opponent. Tuck your chin in and wrap your free hand in cloth to provide it with further protection. Position your knife-bearing hand in a way that creates ample distance between you and your attacker.
#07 Know the Areas to Strike
To know how to use your self-defense knife properly, you must learn of areas in attackers body that are lethal and those that are not. Your aim in self-defense is not to kill. Rather you must aim at incapacitating him or her so that you can escape to safety. The exception is when you have absolute proof that he intends to kill you. Killing someone who has no intention to kill you could land you a prison sentence. Non-lethal targets include the muscles of the extensor and extender muscles of the leg and arm.
Final Verdict:
This is just a drop in the ocean when it comes to using a knife properly for self-defense. Special training sessions are organized by martial artists and other knife fighting experts. They aim to teach you thorough and complicated techniques to make you proficient. However, these 7 tips on how to use your knife properly can help any average person defend himself against both armed and unarmed attackers.
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