KerwinBenson.com Hidden Gems of Martial Arts

It's an emergency. You are being held at knife point. Your attacker lunges ... Oh my gosh, this is real!

What do you do?

We have already talked about eye jabs and kicking the knee. We mentioned being way out of range. And we even toyed with the idea of throwing something at your attacker.

All of those are good tactics, but this knife is about to pierce your midsection. The knife rushes in toward your belly.

Again I ask, what do you do?

First I would suggest that you combine the following technique with any of the previously mentioned tactics. In other words, WHILE you are trying to save your stomach, you should also be eye jabbing, or kicking at the leg, or ... you get the idea. If you both defend and attack at the same time, you increase your chances of landing something on your attacker.

So, here is your "Oops, Here-comes-the knife Move."

You are going to perform two motions at the same time. As your practice partner comes in with a fake knife, you are going to suck in your gut, and stop the thrust at the wrist.

Your partner lunges with the blade forward, protruding from the thumb side of his or her fist -- you should be able to stop the thrust by popping the wrist with a palm strike.

I prefer to palm strike my opponent's right wrist with my right palm, because it is easier for me to follow up by going to my opponent's outside. Of course, it doesn't always work out that way. Remember, this is an emergency move.

Remember to suck your gut backwards to get more distance between you and the blade.

You really can get a lot of distance this way. As an experiment, have your partner jab (poke) at you holding a stick (24" in length). Make it a good, committed thrust.

You should be able to lean forward, stop the thrust with your palm at the wrist, while sucking your stomach back to avoid the thrust of the stick.

So, what's your follow-up to this technique?

It depends. If you were successful with a simultaneous attack, as previously suggested, then your follow-up may be minimal.

After all, if while you were stopping the knife, you poked your attacker's eyes out, kicked him in the knee, and smashed his groin all at the same time, you might not have much follow-up either.

End note: At some point in the encounter, you have to get control of the situation. You have to shut your opponent down, or you are going to have to deal with even more stabs from a knife.

A logical way to control your attacker is with a wrist lock or joint lock. But you have to know when to execute this kind of move. Doing a wrist lock at the wrong time could be fatal. Controlling with a wrist lock at the right time, could save your life.

The next article will deal with one of the dangers of this wrist-popping, tummy-sucking technique!

Don't miss it!