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Some Thoughts on Knife Defence Training

 

Like any other form of training our Knife defence training is something that needs a degree accountability. In grappling we know when we have made a mistake or when someone has gotten the better of us because we get swept, submitted, pinned or taken down. In striking (boxing or kickboxing) we get feedback in the form of our partner’s glove connecting with us but what about with knife defence work? Most places I’ve seen that train knife defence tend to fall into the following categories…

 

Using wooden or metal training knives: This may at first seem like a great idea for realism in their training but here’s what I’ve often seen happen. Due to the danger that the wooden or metal knives pose to the defender the attacker ends up having to refrain from using a number of various attacks and they also end up holding back so much that the training becomes anything but realistic. With the attacker reducing the intensity and variety of their attacking options the defender can end up with a very distorted idea of what is required for workable knife defence. Of course if the people using wooden or metal training decide to really go hard in their training then there is a very real risk of serious injury. In my opinion neither of the aforementioned options are desirable.
Using rubber training knives: Rubber training knives are great as they allow you to attack very intensely and randomly without posing too much risk to your partner. The rubber knife bends on impact so that the strike ends being nothing worse than a punch and of course people can vary the intensity if they need too. The key thing is that the rubber knives definitely encourage a more intense experience for both the attacker and the defender as far things like speed, variety and impact go. The rubber knife will still hurt a bit if a very hard body shot is landed and you’ll definitely feel it if a head shot gets through while you are going hard and both of those factors are great for more advanced students to be able to tell if what they doing is actually working. If you want to get some extra feedback as to what stabs and slashes landed in what places then just run some chalk or lipstick along the edge of your rubber training knife so that it leaves its mark, thus allowing you to assess your damage after the scenario/drill. The only disadvantage to the flexible rubber knives is that they can at times give slight distortion (a false sense of confidence if you will) to certain drills due to their bendiness. An example would be that some shots may not show up that otherwise would have due to the blade flexing (and vice versa some shots may get through that otherwise wouldn’t have).

Stiff smooth edged marking knives: Examples of training knives that fall into this category are the likes of the No-Lies and Sharkee training knives. No-Lies training knives are made of aluminium with blunt edges and have a thick felt strip around the edge of the knife that serves to keep the edge blunt and also allows it to be marked with lipstick to provide evidence of cuts and stabs. The felt of the No-Lies blade provides a significant amount of use from just one application of lipstick. I have a couple of No-Lies Blades and also a few Sharkee’s and I’ve been very happy with all of them. Jim Wagner (my colleague & instructor from the USA) also uses No-Lies Blades and Sharkee training knives and he too has found them to be very good. As a matter of fact Jim was the one who introduced me to both the Sharkee and No-Lies Blades).

So how do we choose what to train with to get a good measure of experience and benefit from what each type of training knife has to offer? Easy, here’s an example:
Rubber Knives: Use these in scenario training undertaken at full speed so that the person doing the stabbing doesn’t feel like the have to hold back for fear of hurting their partner. Obviously the strikes to the head and body can still feel much like a punch so you may have to ease up on the actual impact of the strike for some participants but you can still move at full for those who are ready for that intensity. Be sure to have both participants wear protective eye goggles, mouthguards and groin guards. Some people may want to wear ear guards as the rubber knives can give some pretty good impact if a full contact shot catches your ear and in some people this could result in a “Cauliflower Ear” which is not much fun.
Stiff Smooth Edged Marking Knives (eg No-Lies, Sharkee): Once everyone is progressing well and their competency has risen to the appropriate level you can then swap out the rubber knives for something like the Sharkee or No-Lies Blade. In the final stage of the Knife Survival module of my Instructor Certification course with Jim Wagner we had to hold our own against a training partner coming at us full speed and full contact with a rigid training knife such as the Sharkee or No-Lies. In this case we added to the safety by wearing a skate helmet with our mouthguard, eye goggles and groinguard. The skate helmet is important when going full speed/contact with a rigid training knife as a direct stabbing shot to the head could have extremely bad consequences given the rigidity of these training blades. We also were doing these drills backed into a corner against concrete walls so the helmet was crucial to the safety of our skulls in the instance that someone banged their head against the wall.
To spice things up when doing these drills you can some of the other elements we use in Reality-Based Personal Protection training such as Clean Debris, low lighting and even stage blood on the hands of the defender so as to challenge their grip and help acclimate them to the look and texture of the blood that is so likely to be present should they have to defend themselves against a knife for real.

I hope you find these tips useful and I also hope that you never have to use you knife defence training for real.

All the best,
Matt : )

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