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Kettlebell Life Protection System

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Bret S. said:
If an attacker attempts to stab or slash you he has to commit to the attack thereby leaving an opening to exploit, move and counterattack. I've spent many hours and years practicing knife defense, stab, slash, multiple slash, overhand, underhand, you name it.
I'm not saying I can't be stabbed but if I see it coming and have room to move I become a hard target. But that takes many years of specific training.
When an attacker has a knife in his hand that knife contains his spirit, he's vulnerable and he knows it. A well timed and powerful kihap can startle or shake an attacker, buying you precious milliseconds to take over. Sidesteps, low sweeps and dragon tails, kicking out knees, breaking joints. If I can get to his attacking side (as in beside him) he's dead
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The scenario for training purposes was based on a sample of attacks boiled down to the most common attributes. One of those was the attack being launched at close range with no real display of the weapon beforehand. To be honest though, if they just charged you from ten feet it would still be trouble, esp if they changed angle at the last approach. Glancing blows and other hits that might give you the initiative open hands just put you in grabbing range.

Mot people will move away from the knife and that moves them toward the free hand. This leaves the free hand available to ward off counters and make an attachment. Once that happens you're in real trouble.

Most knife drills have the attacker lead with the knife but that isn't what happens. Knife attack isn't kick or punch range, its elbow/headbutt/uppercut/hook range. Another characteristic of most knife defense outside of FMA is the attacker going immediately to the trunk, but a trained attacker will hit the limbs first.

In fact a real freebie whether the attackee is trained or not is to feint to the lead hand and redirect to hit whatever they use for a counter on the way out - the unengaged hand or a kick. This work with a very high % of effectiveness. It doesn't take but one peripheral hit to once again close and make that connection, and then 5-7 hits/second.

It isn't hopeless, we were sometimes able to hit the attackers arm hard enough the knife came out even with a focus mitt held across the bicep. Some stuff will certainly work esp if the attacker isn't some energetic MA student coached on the highest percentage knife attack techniques. I believe he quoted a 10-20% at best survival rate. I'd like to think I'm closer to 30% at least :eek:

But one of the things you have to mentally prepare for is continuing with blood coming out of you. Unarmed against a knife its almost a certainty unless your man is a total joke or completely inebriated. The really good news is that cut and stab wounds are relatively easy to fix for the surgeon compared to gunshot.
 
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It's a sticky subject, no matter how you slice it ROFL

Seriously though, In the end you have to see this stuff coming before it hits you, which is not 100%
 
Talking about an 'experienced' knife attack.

Zip to the 21 second mark to see a US Corrections Officer of over 20 years experience show how it tends to go. This video is 'safe' (as in limited real world footage):



In Dog Brothers Martial Arts we refer to our knife defence system as Die Less Often (DLO).
 
Honestly, Don Pentecost's book:

Put Em Down Take Em Out

is actually one of the most concise primers for knife defense. I don't agree with it 100% but the bulk of it is practical and useful. Its a cheap book and free uploaded PDFs are easily found with a search.
 
In my experience of over 25 yrs, only one person who advocated running in a self defence seminar actually new what his 100 yard dash time was. If it's important, why aren't you practicing it? ;)

(Seriously, these are the types of questions I ask people ;) )

Also, we do not run away from danger. We run towards safety. Important paradigm shift there.

If we train to run we have to know our environment. Whether it's faster/safer to run at an angle past the aggressor or do we turn and expose our back?

If you have to turn, orientate and accelerate... all the guy (now behind you) has to do is to accelerate and thrust.

Evasion and Escape are often cited but rarely trained for well.
 
I was taught to escape, but to injure the attacker as part of the process.

Is all part of a continuum - evade, redirect, counter. If escape is not an option then you have to stay with it.

In a situation where you don't know the numbers or locations of potential attackers, is best to exit after hurting the initial attacker if possible, pulling over some chairs, trashcans, whatever's at hand in your wake - might even put your hands on something offensively useful.

For institutional security folk that would be worst case/last chance type stuff. Good backup is priceless, something most private individuals will not have around.
 
Interesting discussions :) Feel free to continue please very interesting comments. Also ideas on using kettlebells to increase your punching/kicking/grappling ability (enhancing if you will) . thank you
 
I've always liked Circular Cleans for lateral balance, pivot, cantilevered extension, and if you don't shoot for a soft landing you can let the bell thump a little when it racks.

Loaded Decksquats are also a nice move - pullover to a squat that might help you get off the floor a little faster as well as tighten up the anterior chain.
 
I like the feel of kettlebells for punching. I have the feel of a hard right cross when I do jerks and a one arm snatch feels like a jab to me. :)
 
I must say the VWC snatching I've been up to has increased my injured shoulder's durability, C&J is great too but I'm limited there. Doing literally 1000's of snatches with the 16k bell is having some nice side effects regarding overall strength and body elasticity. On top of that I feel more connected and athletic as well. Us old guys need as much elasticity as we can get.
 
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Gary Music said:
Also ideas on using kettlebells to increase your punching/kicking/grappling ability (enhancing if you will)
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Just started BJJ classes, no prior experience. I've been doing A+A snatches for a while now, currently using 32k for sets of 4. I'm finding that I can wrap people up and lock em' in pretty well. Hips and arms seem to be adequately strong. It's too soon to really see how my conditioning compares to other people's, but it doesn't seem to be lacking.

I don't really know how to effectively go from locking someone up to submitting them, but I'm assuming that will come with time. I feel like the dog that did some speed work and finally caught it's own tail o_O
 
Before I met Pavel I did not really enjoy lifting so I always mixed it with the heavy bag. I would hit a set of squats with the barbell and then go a 3 minute round. I became a strong young man training that way from about age 12. I still like to do this especially with swings.
 
I remember being significantly younger and along with my friends believing in a bit of a paranoid way that getting attacked by some thug could happen at anytime anywhere (even at home). To practice, besides our judo etc classes, we'd go to the park, put on boxing gloves and just beat the living h*** out of each other with full aggression no worries about niceties of technique or anything. We didn't know about concussions and such and I'm sure I got them quite frequently!

I actually studied fencing to learn how to fight with a bladed weapon. It's the art of stabbing fast.

When I got older and realized that things like "paranoia" and "the law" exist and also that staying away from creeps is a good plan, my worries about this stuff have gone away. I'm more worried that I'm the guy who would be causing the problem by overreacting.

Regarding swings and punching, I felt that using light kettlebells and doing huge numbers of reps felt a lot like punching practice. Doing swings with the 32 feels more like pulling practice to me, but I'm sure it's still good for punching strength.

Something I've always felt is that running, jumping, these kind of skills are very important for fighting or for fleeing, and they're instinctive rather than needing special thought - the more you train them the better you get at these natural instinctive self-preserving movements.
 
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