Knife cut shots with Ice Peak handle

One of the most used knife attacks according to the statistics are the corner 1 shots in peak Ice Peak and the hammer corner shot always at the tip, but these are just some of the possible angles of attack with the knife in the various sockets.

When you parry a knife attack there are natural instincts and instincts conditioned with principles that develop by training technically in short fencing and with conditioning exercises and routines to develop a new natural response.

If you see footage of knife attacks or photos of injuries of survivors or unfortunately kills you will see many cuts to the hands that are raised in protection instinctively as if it were a shield.

The Parade in Sacrifice

From a certain point of view there can be and there can be a parade in sacrifice but it is not a strategy that can be used lightly but an extreme gesture to survive, often tied to a barrier to avoid a blow in a vital place.

The study of the knife is a fascinating art but also very complex and that requires a very high level approach both on the part of the teacher and by the student who is required constancy and an attitude similar to the struggle in the tap out where to learn you have to know that you will be “touched” so many times and this I know is annoying in your head, in your hidden thoughts, in your pride, but you have to leave your ego at the door if you want to start learning an art like that of the knife.

It often happens after studying some attacks and defenses to discover new difficulties especially in some contexts related not in the short knife fencing but more analyzing specific case studies, which are fundamental work especially for security workers but in general in cases of aggression where shots are always pulled secretly and suddenly after a distraction.

This condition is very complex especially because often the trajectories are unusual, rapid.

The Beginner’s Unusual Shot

An excellent exercise that makes it clear how extremely dangerous and lethal the knife is even in the hands of a non-expert person is to ask novice students to attack another more advanced student with a knife.

It often turns out that trajectories will be unusual, as attack time, etc. happen in an unusual way and you need to know that’s what you can’t decipher that hits you besides what you don’t see.

This exercise is very important because it allows you to understand the importance of a conditional response but adapted to the movement.

One of the blows that students often suffer from experience is the slash shot with ice peak grip in the various corners.

This blow gives the blade a treacherous trajectory where the blade is often in contact or very close to the para hand/forearm and this makes it clear that this blow is very but very insidious.

The slash with the Ice Peak handle knife is the typical attack that makes you understand the importance of the basic dance and how functional the parade with the opposite hand to the armed hand of the attacker.

Now I understand that reading and understanding the content is not easy if you are not a practitioner and technically knows what I am talking about but on showing certain techniques is not part of my approach especially on issues such as the knife where the teacher should see in front of if his students are given the delicate theme.

On this aspect I will make a specific post because I think it is an important topical issue in addition to the fact that in general Facebook and YouTube are not the right way if you really want to learn, indeed it is often an illusion.

Slash with Ice Peak handle knife

Now returning to the theme of post and cut shots (slash) with the knife with Ice Peak handle it is a more unusual shot more as an expert because it allows you to have the impact power of Ice Peak and the insertion of very insidious cutting trajectories.

Basically the cut shot (slash) with the Ice Peak handle knife is similar to a bare-handed Hook pulled with the knife!

Clearly as is typical of Ice Peak grips you go to lose distance from the target but allows you to have an important incisiveness.

They are two attack approaches that need to be studied because they have a strategic diversity of attack important and often also related to the fact if you are both armed, or only you are armed or a choice related to the opponent and type of weapon.

To approach this type of attack you need an adaptation compared to the same knife shots in Hammer handle that still have other different insidious but when it comes to knife in general nothing should be left to chance and it is essential to approach going to face every aspect in detail.

In this case it is essential to study the different angles of attack using the Ice Peak handle pulling slash shots, then cutting and carry out the various possibilities such as:

• Advance
• Escape
• Left hand deviation
• Right hand deviation
• Left Hand Parade
• Right Hand Parade
• Etc.

and do this work on the different angles of attack, on single shot and multiple, etc bare hand and armed hand.

Last week during the lesson we spent a lot of time practicing knife shots with reverse grip and with cut strokes going to analyze this attack in different approaches and types of attack.

We went to analyze and discuss with the guys how sometimes it is crucial based on the handle adapt the technique or rather the instinctive response and recover from our reflections of natural answers with that type of grip and attack.

In training it is crucial to consider that and remember that attackers with knives almost always attack not with single shots but multiple shots on the same trajectory/attack line or different trajectories to set a second and a third attack, etc. which requires after a first single attack analysis a study on multiple attack.

You have to consider that although certain types of knife attack defenses keep you safe from initial assault/attack, they can still lead you to be in a disadvantaged position for the next or secondary stage of the attack.

So it’s critical to isolate the attack to study it but in the real world that’s the first shot in a series of multiple attacks.

The parades in bulk

The standard block often seen in military systems and common to all Krav Maga systems, is based on the natural reflex of the body, which is activated when fast movements cross the line of our peripheral vision, for example on a wide street punch or a sharp knife are often not effective on a multiple attack, unless inserted into Hit.

In these cases the body will lift the arm naturally and with lightning speed to intercept the attack sin that with a cutting weapon does not work and is often an option against a punch of the ways of parry but is not suitable for all conditions and contexts.

That kind of approach is fine against people who are not experienced but hardly work against a boxer accustomed to finding holes in the guard or those familiar with the knife.

Often you get into controversy on this issue but it is a fact, working live or with short fencing, where surely better a cut on the forearm than to the throat but I repeat, the attacks are multiple and the block saves are not effective because they offer a fixed target, make the movement on the second slow shot, etc.

I repeat then that non-lethal cuts do not mean that they are not dangerous, indeed, the shock you receive can paralyze, not to mention that cuts if deep 0.6 cm in the radial zone make you lose consciousness after 30 seconds and lead to death in two minutes but on this I make a specific post.

An expert who sees that peer in bulk already knows what strategy to use to you!

The swaying movements of escapism

Even for the swaying movements that you often see making instinctively occur when you see circular movements within your peripheral vision, and in such situations, if the movement is inside the eye line, you will make a swaying motion backwards to move your head out of the attack line rather than raising your arms to block.

This is a good instinctive defense but not moving your feet your center of gravity is compromised and on a multiple knife attack because that is what is very easy for an attacker to reverse the cutting action and cut again or hit tip.

The problem you’ll encounter swaying backwards is that your weight is all on the back foot, which means that going back will be almost impossible the only way to move the weight and move is to go forward and start loading the weight to the front leg i.e. swaying forward.

This way of dodging in fact is never good both by bare hand and much less with weapons

The natural instinctive response

It is an instinctive response that our fear system uses in creating natural defenses, but it only does so against the first initial threat/attack, but then it is crucial to rely on our conscious processes to deal with whatever happens next.

So it is essential to build a more articulate instinctive response where a footwork and protection movement is associated that allows you to stay in axis to allow you to insert exits, arm movements, etc. fundamental to hold and avoid subsequent attacks, even better if with an active response such as placing a shot (HIT).

Minimizing your movements is essential to maintaining a structure that is ready to defend and attack, and it is also very important to limit the movement of the knife precisely to avoid multiple shot charges.

Limiting the recovery of shots is the first part of any defense with knife, apart from the escape. that I always recommend if it’s possible whether defense is a solution to a threat or an attack.

Many times it is not possible to apply the “technique” especially when you are surprised and caught off guard, with the body driving you away or putting you in a disadvantaged position for the next stage of the attack.

In reality the study of technology is the first step, the first letter of the alphabet and what needs to be worked on are the principles behind the technique and work on methodologies to develop the correct attributes and answers that often have to go to replace the natural instinctive responses that are phenomenal but that are often not enough to remain unharmed at the first assault.

Then it’s really a matter of working on principles and applying concepts within contexts.

The first attack is always hidden

Consider that those who want to attack you tend to hide their weapon and blade and for this reason the bulk of the work is to recognize the signals that precede the intention and attack to work on the most suitable distance, position and posture.

This in addition to allowing you to escape if possible, can allow you to anticipate the aggression, to extract even a weapon, not to suffer with surprise the attack.

Your attacker’s hands must always be visible, but you also have to consider the other attack options, you can not afford not to understand where the attack can potentially come from because when it is almost impossible to recognize and determine the threat, as in the case of a quick reverse backhand cut, after you could not identify the first attack because I took it because I took it , everything must come down, limit the movement, to avoid the other blows that will come.

That’s why all the work that’s there before is essential to have an instinctive response built and not natural to allow you to be ready for a multiple attack.

Close-up attacks typical of a violent assault require an important work of attention to how your attacker is, to his relative position with respect to you, where his hands are and if they are armed, etc.

If you don’t see your hands, attack ferociously or run away! If you wait or doubt it may be too late.

Train with slash with Ice Peak handle knife

Stay Tuned!

Knife is not a game!