The "Big If" - Self Defense Against A Knife Seminar DVD
by Dan Anderson (March 2007)This DVD came from a request to teach a self defense against knife attack seminar at Sensei Jaye Spiro's Mejishi Martial Arts School this last February. This is a no-nonsense, no-frills approach to the most deadly of attacks, one where an assailant is wielding a blade. I call it The "Big If" because therse are techniques and approaches that will work IF you are fortunate enough for the attack to not be a sneak attack and if you keep your wits about you.
These techniques should be practiced under the supervision of a trained instructor.
DVD REVIEW - December 11, 2009 - When Dan was kind enough to offer his DVDs at a reduced rate, for his Birthday, I took advantage and purchased a few. One of the ones that I bought, was The "Big If" knife defense dvd. Now, there are alot of dvds out there, which cover a wide array of topics. I've had the chance to see some different ones regarding the knife, some of which I thought were pretty good, and others, well, they left me thinking that if someone tried what was shown, they'd end up dead.
After watching Dans knife dvd, I really enjoyed it. Great quality, informative and everything that he said, IMHO, made alot of sense. Many times, when people talk about knife defense, they never take any other factors into play. Dan does! He shows some possible counters that the bad guy may do, and ways to counter those.
I thought I'd give a short run-down of the dvd...kinda like a teaser.
DVD starts off with Dan talking about distance, barriers, improvised tools and finally empty hand defense. With the assistance of Bram Frank, he shows just what a knife can do. Using a pair of jeans, with a piece of meat inside, Bram passes the live blade over the jeans, which pretty much slices open the jeans as well as the meat. This in itself was an eye opener, because you can just imagine what would happen were this a body part.
Dan then goes into getting familiar with the blade. Using a training partner, the drill focuses on confronting the real blade. Idea behind this is to put yourself into the right mindset, in an effort to get used to the feeling of the live blade, and dealing with the nervous feeling. His partner simply stands there with the blade, then goes on to holding it in various positions. Movement is eventually added in. Again, this is to condition yourself. He does note the importance of working with someone who is advanced, and that you have the utmost faith and confidence in. In other words, don't do this during a group class of 30 people, where the risk of injury is very high.
He goes onto his favorite moves and why he doesnt like them. He runs thru some of the typical Arnis disarms, from a thrust, icepick stab, which all consist of various wrist locks, and strips. While they're all wonderful moves, using them live, as written, and taking into consideration the earlier cutting demo, as well as the 'what if' on the badguys part, well, you just may be putting yourself at risk.
He then goes into improvised weapons against the knife. This can range from a shoe, belt, baseball cap, a hip pouch, keys, etc. These serve as a distraction, to hopefully enable yourself to escape.
He also comments on drilling with intent. Nothing irks me more, than when someone is using a weapon or even empty hand, and they are not committing themselves to the attack.
He moves onto empty hand defense, using his EDCL (Evade, Deflect, Control, Lockdown) theory, which IMO, makes alot of sense. He runs thru some different knife defenses, sticking with the Arnis mentality, but again, using the above mentioned theory. I like this, because if we think about it, when we look at the average training blade that people use, its really not practical. A large training blade, which gives you the ability to control it easier as well as work the various strips, etc. However, if we replace that blade, with one that is more common, ie: a pocket knife size trainer, we'll see that its much more difficult to defend against. *Note: What I just said about the blade, were my thoughts. Dan didn't mention that, however, using the EDCL principle, it should be much easier to control the blade arm*
Overall, I thought it was a great DVD and would suggest it to anyone, looking for a practical knife defense dvd. There were more, finer details on the dvd, but as I said, this review is simply my thoughts, and a teaser. If you want to know more, ya gotta get the dvd!
Great stuff Dan! Thank you!
Mike
Your Price: $35.00
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