08.06.05 - 2nd Annual West Coast Kenpo Confederation
Knife Fighting
This class was led by Mr. Glen Lyman and his family. One of the first things he did was to introduce his wife, also a black belt in Kenpo, and his daughter – who had hidden on her person no fewer than 15 knives that she proceeded to pile up on the floor at her feet. This was an interesting little display of how it was difficult to tell who exactly was carrying a knife…or 2… or 15. Glen himself was wearing what he called a “utility belt”. Made of ballistic nylon, this thing had probably somewhere between 10-20 more knives tucked away in various locations.
Glen started out by demonstrating how the knives were all blunt tipped with no sharp edges. These were practice items after all and there was no reason to use a live blade for what we were doing. He did some half and full speed drills with his wife before he had us all go up to the front of the table and obtain a knife to practice with for the class. The knife I obtained was along the lines of a fixed blade of approximately 4-6” in length.
We paired up and Glen started walking us through a drill. The idea behind the drill was to understand the cutting characteristics of a knife. As he asked in class: “How many of you have been in a serious knife fight?” When he didn’t get any takers, he added something like “…of course not, or you may not have made it to class today”. He went on to say that, of course, your fist line of defense if someone pulls a knife on you is to simply run away. The drills he was showing us were intended as familiarity drills and he wanted us to understand that up front.
The first part of the drill was simply going through a series of motions with the knife against your partner. For the most part, the moves were arcing and smooth. The targets were certain critical areas such as the inside of the elbow and the wrist, as well as cutting to some major muscles like the bicep. I don’t recall the exact series of movements but it was interesting to realize how much the wielder of the knife had to move to get the blade into cutting position, particularly when you had to change direction. I can’t imagine moving like we did in the drill in a real altercation but it was an interesting session just the same.
There were some questions regarding specific wounds from a knife in strategic areas. Although Glen wasn’t fully knowledgeable of the statistics that were being asked, John from Switzerland was on hand in the class and was able to field some questions. He has a website that he endorses called “No Live Blades” where very realistic training knives are available. One question was “How long does it take to bleed to death if a main artery is severed?” The answer was a little bit stunning. It would seem that it depends on the artery being cut, but John referred to the femoral artery in the leg and state that you could bleed out in a manner of seconds, well under a minute, if that artery were severed. In most cases, even if there was a doctor on hand expecting the wound, he would not be able to save you in that case. This was an eye opener. There were some other questions like this that came up and eventually Glen took the class back over and got us focused on the drills.
In all, it was an interesting class but I didn’t take a ton of knowledge away with me. I have no doubt that Glen is comfortable and effective with blades of all sorts but I don’t think we had nearly enough time to get into some of the things that I feel would be required to get a person prepared for an attacker wielding a knife. Having been on the other side of that situation, it can be a bit harrowing and I would definitely want to know more about using and defending with a knife or any other bladed weapon.
This class was led by Mr. Glen Lyman and his family. One of the first things he did was to introduce his wife, also a black belt in Kenpo, and his daughter – who had hidden on her person no fewer than 15 knives that she proceeded to pile up on the floor at her feet. This was an interesting little display of how it was difficult to tell who exactly was carrying a knife…or 2… or 15. Glen himself was wearing what he called a “utility belt”. Made of ballistic nylon, this thing had probably somewhere between 10-20 more knives tucked away in various locations.
Glen started out by demonstrating how the knives were all blunt tipped with no sharp edges. These were practice items after all and there was no reason to use a live blade for what we were doing. He did some half and full speed drills with his wife before he had us all go up to the front of the table and obtain a knife to practice with for the class. The knife I obtained was along the lines of a fixed blade of approximately 4-6” in length.
We paired up and Glen started walking us through a drill. The idea behind the drill was to understand the cutting characteristics of a knife. As he asked in class: “How many of you have been in a serious knife fight?” When he didn’t get any takers, he added something like “…of course not, or you may not have made it to class today”. He went on to say that, of course, your fist line of defense if someone pulls a knife on you is to simply run away. The drills he was showing us were intended as familiarity drills and he wanted us to understand that up front.
The first part of the drill was simply going through a series of motions with the knife against your partner. For the most part, the moves were arcing and smooth. The targets were certain critical areas such as the inside of the elbow and the wrist, as well as cutting to some major muscles like the bicep. I don’t recall the exact series of movements but it was interesting to realize how much the wielder of the knife had to move to get the blade into cutting position, particularly when you had to change direction. I can’t imagine moving like we did in the drill in a real altercation but it was an interesting session just the same.
There were some questions regarding specific wounds from a knife in strategic areas. Although Glen wasn’t fully knowledgeable of the statistics that were being asked, John from Switzerland was on hand in the class and was able to field some questions. He has a website that he endorses called “No Live Blades” where very realistic training knives are available. One question was “How long does it take to bleed to death if a main artery is severed?” The answer was a little bit stunning. It would seem that it depends on the artery being cut, but John referred to the femoral artery in the leg and state that you could bleed out in a manner of seconds, well under a minute, if that artery were severed. In most cases, even if there was a doctor on hand expecting the wound, he would not be able to save you in that case. This was an eye opener. There were some other questions like this that came up and eventually Glen took the class back over and got us focused on the drills.
In all, it was an interesting class but I didn’t take a ton of knowledge away with me. I have no doubt that Glen is comfortable and effective with blades of all sorts but I don’t think we had nearly enough time to get into some of the things that I feel would be required to get a person prepared for an attacker wielding a knife. Having been on the other side of that situation, it can be a bit harrowing and I would definitely want to know more about using and defending with a knife or any other bladed weapon.
posted by Bonzai at 8/06/2005 11:13:00 AM
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