Dynamics of the Blade

In training, no matter how “hard-core” and “alive,” if you miss your pick-up of the knife arm or lose control of it as you grapple, you get poked, and you try again.

In real life, that “poke” can end everything for you! If it penetrates a vital organ, you may have only minutes (or less) to get emergency medical care–and even then, they may not be able to save you. Even if no vital organs are hit, if you’re cut well across the abdomen, it is unlikely you’ll be able to prevent him from finishing the job as you trip over your own intestines. Blood loss from “non-lethal” cuts can make you dizzy and unbalanced very quickly, as well as complicating attempted grabs by making things very slippery. Cuts and stabs that happen to transect critical muscles and tendons (of which there are many) can render you incapable of using your hands or arms to protect yourself. And we haven’t even gotten to the physical and psychological effects of cuts and stabs to the neck and above. . .

But if you get very good at your grabbing and controlling techniques, you won’t suffer such things, right?

Let’s examine the dynamics of how a knife in the hand of a determined or psychotic attacker moves and maims:

Unarmed limbs require momentum and accuracy to cause damage. A punch or other strike will have little effect if it doesn’t have umph behind it, and even with some umph behind it, it will be most effective only against certain target areas (i.e. the ones we’re trained to attack in Guided Chaos–Ki Chuan Do [KCD] and Close Combat). The requirements of momentum and accuracy limit to a certain extent the ways unarmed limbs can damage you. For example, a hand that slaps lightly across your abdomen or a finger that swipes the inside of your arm would be of little consequence in a fight in terms of causing damage. On the other hand, a sharp implement requires relatively little momentum (almost none if it’s very sharp) and accuracy to generate massive injury! Therefore, a blade can move in many more ways, far more deceptively and quickly (because it doesn’t need to coordinate with the rest of the body), and still cause massive injury with virtually any contact with your body! Far less skill is required in moving the blade effectively, because far less accuracy and body unity are needed to cause damage. Of course, if you add accuracy and good body mechanics into the equation, things get even worse. . .

A psychotic attacker’s (i.e. one whose mind is not perceiving remotely the same reality as yours is–you may look to him like a devil about to eat his children) attack with a blade will be “predictable” only in two aspects: it will be fast and it will be furious. Adrenaline will cause his limbs to move as fast as they are physically capable of moving, which for most people is far faster than the eye can track at close range. He’ll pounce on you like an animal, moving the blade every which way except for where you think. And the sane, but determined attacker’s attack will be similar, only more efficient and calculated.

Anyone want to reach into this fury to attempt to grab the blade arm–bearing in mind that the attacker’s other limbs are likely doing everything in their power to disrupt and damage you as well?

What the truly experienced close combat pioneers realized is that you cannot count on a) grabbing an attacker’s knife arm out of the air in the midst of a violent attack, or b) preventing the blade from moving decisively even if you do get a good grip on the arm, unless perhaps you grab concurrent with or after doing serious damage to the attacker! Diminishing the attacker can possibly reduce blade movement potential.

How to Stay Alive

Because we see that we cannot count on controlling a blade being wielded violently, we must keep maximum distance between the blade and our vital organs, and/or keep something solid (preferably that’s not a part of us) between the blade and our vital organs! All of the close combat methods discussed above, and all of those taught in Guided Chaos, support this priority.

Here is a general (not exhaustive) outline of Guided Chaos tactics against an assailant trying to kill you (as opposed to scare you) with a sharp object (bearing in mind that everything depends on the specific situation):

1. If you can perceive the attack before the attacker gets within arms’ reach, here are your best options, roughly in descending order of preference:

A. Run to create a lot more distance! Use cover as you go!

B. If you can’t run (or you think he’s faster), get something solid (e.g. chair, trash can) in between you and the blade! Hurt him with it and/or create time and space to run!

C. Get something that can extend your destructive reach (e.g. a cane) and hurt him with it and/or create time and space to RUN!

D. Drop kick like lightning (hopefully with solid boots) to keep him away and hurt him (while covering your vital organs–note possible reach disparity, if his arm plus the blade outreach your leg)!

i. “Rockette” front and side kicks
ii. Kick with the leg that will cover your groin if possible (parallel leg to knife hand)
iii. Move offline while kicking if possible

2. If the attacker is already within arms’ reach or is about to breach that distance:

A. Dog-dig (Guided Chaos method of high speed, alternating circular parries with both hands) to keep the blade away from your vital organs while lunging away and offline to regain distance!

B. Go to the ground (Modified Native American Groundfighting style) to gain more distance between the blade and your vital organs and destroy his legs and body!

C. If you’re forced into a close-range, face-to-face fight,

i. Dog-dig to keep blade away from vital organs while attacking (destroy throat and neck, penetrate eye sockets, create traumatic brain injury) and while moving to get behind him!

ii. If you happen to grab the blade arm concurrent with damaging him, congratulations– but do not count on a grab to keep you safe– you must end him or regain distance!

This is a real test of your sensitivity, looseness, body unity and balance. Even if you get stabbed, your best bet for survival at this distance if you can’t get away is to shut him down immediately so that he can’t stab you anymore, not to wrestle with his knife arm as he cuts you anyway and rips your face off with his free hand.

Train your awareness to pick up signs of possible attacks before they breach the critical distance. The further away you detect a possible threat, the more time and options you have to avoid it.

Some may at this point bring up the issue of, “What if you don’t know he has a weapon? Many stabbing victims say they did not see the weapon and didn’t even realize they had been stabbed until they saw all the blood.”

It’s true, you may not see the weapon . . . but can you see the palms of his hands? Assuming you are aware of the approach of a potential attacker at least a second before he’s within range to strike, if you cannot see the palms of both of his hands, you must assume that he is holding a weapon!

If you’re not aware of his approach before he’s in range to strike, well . . . good luck. . .

“What if he has it concealed but is not holding it yet?”

This is why close combat and Guided Chaos emphasize the need to shut down an attacker right away, before he has the chance to draw a weapon.

Is it possible for an attacker to cut your leg while you kick him, standing or from the ground? Yes it is. Remember however that an attacker is not likely to expect kicks from you as he beelines towards your vital areas. You can further reduce your chances of getting injured by working diligently to improve you balance, speed and power in drop kicking and kicking from the ground (use wobble boards, heavy bags and groundfighting kicking exercises). Additionally, the boots (or at least sturdy shoes–right?) covering your feet are probably the least penetrable pieces of clothing you regularly wear, making your feet the most armored part of your body. Unless the femoral artery (which is accessible to a small blade only near the groin) is hit, cuts and stabs to the legs will generally be non-lethal, and will usually allow you to continue fighting, especially as the muscles and tendons in the legs are much bigger and tougher than those in the arms.

Could other methods work? Certainly, they have and they will. It’s a matter of luck and the specifics of the situations and adversaries faced. Not every knife-wielding attacker is a determined killer or murderous psychotic. However, a cornerstone principle of Guided Chaos and close combat is to train primarily for the worst-case scenario, so that you’ll be as prepared as possible no matter how bad it gets. While going for a grapple and takedown could possibly work consistently for a large, athletic bouncer facing severely inebriated bums wielding broken beer bottles, that’s hardly a scenario to base life-saving personal protection training on.

Reality Ain’t Fun

Unfortunately for enrollment in Guided Chaos classes, training for the reality of an attack with a small sharp weapon is difficult and not as much fun as wrestling around or doing patterned drills. Fortunately for the students, though, having a serious idea about the reality of such attacks and the stakes involved goes a long way towards improving their awareness, thereby reducing the probability that they will ever have to physically deal with such an attack.

And if someday they do have to deal with it, hopefully what they’ve learned and trained will help them.

Ari Kandel is a 1st degree Black Belt in Guided Chaos (Ki Chuan Do), the adaptive, free-form internal art created by former forensic homicide investigator John Perkins. He also appears in the KCD Guided Chaos Groundfighting DVD. See http://attackproof.com/ More articles and DVDs can be found at http://www.attackproof.com/FREE-self-defense-NEWSLETTER.html

Tags: Wing Chun, Kung Fu, Las Vegas Kung Fu School, Las Vegas Wing Chun School, Lo Man Kam, Lo Man Kam Wing Chun, Martial Arts Self Defense

What are organochlorines?

Organochlorines are chemicals found in some herbicides and pesticides, in chlorine bleach and most chemical disinfectants, and many plastics, especially PVC (polyvinylchloride).

Organochlorines are implicated in causing and promoting breast cancer because they mutate genes and they cause breast cells to become more receptive to a cancer-promoting chemical called estradiol. Organochlorines weaken the immune system and lower your body s resistance to bacteria and viruses. They also act as a negative type of estrogen in the body.

How do they enter our bodies?

Organochlorines enter our bodies through our drinking water, by eating foods grown with certain agricultural chemicals, and through the plastic linings on canned or microwaveable foods. They enter through our lungs by breathing in the fumes of chlorine bleach disinfectants and by body contact with chlorine bleached paper products such as tampons, toilet paper and paper cups.

How can we reduce our exposure?

Step One-Reduce Your Exposure

The first thing to do is to reduce your plastic consumption, especially of convenience foods. On plastic containers, there is typically a triangle with a number inside of it on the bottom of the container. You can recognize PVC or polyvinylchloride as the type of plastic that has a 3 in the center of the triangle.

As for paper products, use oxygen bleached or unbleached paper products. Companies who sell non-chlorine bleached paper products typically say so on the label and they do not necessarily market their products as green products.

Buy the non-chlorine bleach and more environmentally friendly household products. Simple vinegar and water can be used for many household chores. Eating only organically produced meat and dairy products will reduce the amount of organochlorines in your diet by 80%.

Step Two-Help Your Liver

With help, your liver can metabolize organochlorines. Flaxseeds and organic egg yolks contain lecithin, a chemical that speeds up the elimination of fat-soluble chemicals such as organochlorines by making them water-soluble.

Beans, lentils, red clover, soy products and chickweed contain chemicals called saponins. Saponins help to break down organochlorines, prevent cellular mutation and can stop the reproduction of cancer cells. These foods are strongly recommended for anybody who regularly consumes organochlorines.

Members of the cabbage family including broccoli, kale, turnips, radishes, cabbage, bok choy or cauliflower can help you metabolize organochlorines by increasing the production of non-cancerous by-products.

Step Three-Mother Nature s Help

Woman-positive natural sources of estrogen can block entrance of organochlorines, estradiol and other cancer promoting estrogens when enough of them are in the blood stream. The reason behind this is that these positive hormones move quickly through our bodies whereas the cancer producing chemicals such as organochlorines move more slowly. If there are enough of these plant hormones in the blood stream, they can easily block organochlorines from attaching themselves to breast cells and from promoting cancer.

These plant hormones can be found in lentils, dried beans, tofu and fermented soy products such as tempeh and miso, parsnips, sweet potatoes, pomegranates, burdock roots, red clover, hops and ginseng. Regular intake of broccoli and cabbage is also helpful.

Post Transformation Tips

Making changes in favor of your survival and that of the environment often puts us in a period of re-adjustment, not only with the society we live in, but also with our family, friends and neighbors.

Several strategies we use to maintain positive social relations are Natural self-defense does not mean natural aggression, nor does it mean that it will cause you to develop a social disorder triggered by the existence of organochlorines. Foods and herbs that encourage natural self-defense make you lose the taste for products associated with organochlorines.

Allow self-defense foods to empower you to envision and work towards an organochlorine free future without any anger about the present situation. In other words, don t let the forces that encourage personal and environmental negligence push your buttons.

Chose recycled plastic toys or second hand plastic toys over new ones for your children.

Send lunches in reusable containers.

Bring a bean or lentil salad to the next barbecue or potluck supper. Invite friends who use a lot of plastic and organochlorine products over to eat. Explain why you eat certain foods and what you have done to minimize your contribution to its proliferation. Relay the information in such a way that your guests feel comfortable and leave them to lose the taste for organochlorine products in their own way and time.

Use organic foods to show your body what a natural food is and have confidence that your body will use this knowledge to recognize what isn t natural and respond appropriately to it. This is a goal that can be started even on a limited budget. The return of your natural body begins with one organic apple, especially a shared one!

Legal Disclaimer-The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to medically diagnose, treat or cure any disease. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any health care program.

All contents are copyrighted in 2004 by Agoo Agii,inc. All rights reserved.

Written by Jennifer Rodriguez-Allen, B.Sc., Environmental Chemist and President of Agoo Agii, inc (http://www.agooagii.com/). This article can found in print form with Agoo Agii’s Aromatherapy Breast Self-Exam Kit. Gently encourage a loved one (or yourself) perform the Breast Self-Exam.

Tags: Wing Chun, Kung Fu, Las Vegas Kung Fu School, Las Vegas Wing Chun School, Lo Man Kam, Lo Man Kam Wing Chun, Martial Arts Self Defense

In this article I want to share a few ideas about mental preparation and some correspondence I recently recently received from subscribers to my self-defense newsletter. I’m hoping it will provide some context to your “self-defense readiness” and generate some thinking.

Self-Defense Performance Is The Result Of Mental Maps

I wrote about mental maps in “The Nuts And Bolts Of Awareness.”

Our awareness, understanding, decisions, predictions and behavior are directed by the “mental maps” we have about the way the world works. Our knowledge, beliefs, experience and habits are “packaged” in the form of mental maps (also called cognitive blueprints or schemas).

If those “maps” are detailed and accurate, you dramatically increase the probability of effective performance in high-stress situations.

If those maps are inaccurate, have gaps or are missing all together, you run the risk of an improper reaction, over reacting, under reacting or not reacting at all.

We have a term for that in self-defense training. Its called “NOT GOOD!”

Thinking Is Impaired By Stress

What makes matters worse is that people aren’t particularly “smart” in high-stress, urgent, threatening situations. At times like those, you are not operating in the same mental state that you are in while you sit here reading this article.

When the “Fight or Flight Response” (sympathetic nervous system) is activated, your ability to think creatively and logically is impaired. That increases the potential for confusion and mistakes during a dangerous situation.

Invest In Your Safety With Pre-Thinking and Debriefing

Science and psychology confirm that mental rehearsal or visualization has a huge impact on improving our physical and mental performance.

The good news is that self-defense encounters don’t happen often. The bad news is that self-defense encounters don’t happen often! Huh? Before you read that again, let me explain…

Its hard to “get good” at something that never happens. Unlike other activities requiring experience and skills development, you can’t rely on repeated exposure and previous events when preparing for a violent encounter. So how do you improve your self-defense effectiveness?

Physical practice is “part” of the answer… Especially, when you participate in role playing scenarios that simulate the types of situations that you might encounter. But even that isn’t enough to really get “street smart.”

What you need to do is create self-defense scenarios in your mind. You need to “pre-think” and decide in advance about what you would do in a critical situation BEFORE it happens.

Think about situations you are most concerned about or likely to encounter and what you would do if they did.

Don’t just leave it to luck. You can’t “worry about it when the time comes” and hope to perform effectively. Remember, your brain is impaired by stress, panic, and confusion! Without some sort of game plan, its unlikely that you will perform well.

The question to ask yourself is, “What would I do if (and then insert your most likely or bothersome scenario).

Debriefing is what you do AFTER an incident or “close encounter.” Don’t just walk away from a threatening situation and hope that it never happens again. Think about it, analyze it and learn from it. Ask yourself two questions:

* What did I do right?

* What would I do differently if it happened again?

That way, even if you handled the incident poorly, you can benefit from it and improve your chances doing better if something similar happens in the future. That, my friend, is the essence of developing effective personal safety skills.

An Email Example Of Effective Debriefing

After reading my “Tough or Smart” article, a subscriber sent me an email about an incident he was involved in.

Even though things turned out OK, the experience continued to bother him and he found himself second guessing his actions and wondering if he should have done something differently.

He began to worry that if something similar happened again, he would be just as confused as he was the first time. As far as he was concerned, the incident was unresolved. I commend him for asking the questions and looking for answers.

If you don’t ask, you won’t know! Whether you reflect on the matter yourself or seek an outside opinion (as Joe did here), it is important to examine the event and learn from it.

Be careful however, about seeking the opinion of someone who does not have the background or qualifications to be offering you advice about anything!

You’ll get all kinds of “ham and eggers” more than willing to give you their off-the-wall advice about what THEY would have done… (you’ll see examples of “bad advice” in the correspondence below)

With his permission, I’ve included our correspondence in this newsletter. To protect his privacy, I’ll refer to him as “Joe.” (Pretty creative huh?

I’d like you to read this correspondence from two perspectives:

First, read what happened and put yourself in his shoes What would you do if the same thing happened to you?

Secondly, read it analytically and observe the “process” involved and the factors that impacted the situation. Stress, confusion, hesitation, second guessing?

Imagine the difference between a “prepared mind” and the mind of someone who thought that something like this would never happen.

OK I’ll shut up now and let your read the emails:

================================================================

Hi Randy,

I just read your new article about “Efficiency” or “doing the right thing” and I found it very interesting.

I just wanted to ask your expert opinion about something that happened to me.

Some months ago, I was driving my car with my girlfriend at 10:30 pm through a main avenue. Being a working day the street was almost empty, although well illuminated. Suddenly, while driving into an intersection we saw a robbery in progress.

A robber was stealing the purse of a middle age woman who was with a young man. A few paces away, another robber was waiting for the first one on a motorcycle ready to drive away. (This is the standard operating procedure for robberies in my town). The first robber already had the purse and was running away, but the young man was pulling the purse, trying to recover it.

I thought for a moment to speed up and hit him with my car in order to abort the robbery but on a second, and very quick, thought I considered the following. a) I could hit both the robber and the victim. b) If I hit the robber and he was severely injured, or worse dead, the complications would be major. c) If I prevented his escape, he may be forced to fight back and might hurt the young man. d) I didn’t want to put my girlfriend in danger, if something unexpected happened. e) The purse wasn’t worth the danger.

Of course, I didn’t rationalize that much at that moment. It was just a quick thought like, “hitting him is dangerous for everybody, the purse wasn’t worth it”. So I let them run away with the purse and called the police, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t catch them.

After that I felt bad, since I thought that maybe I should have done something else to abort the robbery and help the victims. I was relatively safe in my car and was driving a 3000 pound weapon. A lot of people have since told me I should have hit him, and I felt a bit like a coward. I worried that I didn’t choose to do the right thing.

I know that I’m not a coward. In fact, on another occasion I have not avoided a fight with a man much heavier and bigger than me to protect my girlfriend, although I’m a very very very reasonable and passive person. But when me or my beloved are in danger, I don’t hesitate to face the problem. Just in that particular case I decided that the right thing was to let them go. And in fact, I still believe that it was the best course of action, although I still have my doubts.

So, I wanted your opinion as an expert. What would be the best course of action in that situation? I don’t want to feel “justified” for what I chose to do, but really want to know the best thing to do in such a case, just in case it happens again.

I would be deeply grateful if you gave me your opinion about this, since I don’t know any other expert in “real life” self defense.

I’m hoping you help me with this. Thanks in advance for your kind attention.

Best regards,

Joe

===============================================================

Hi Joe,

Based on what you’ve told me, you did EXACTLY what you should have… and what I would have advised you to do, if you’d asked my opinion.

You are right, a purse is not worth the legal and civil hastles and the risk of “making matters worse” by over-reacting to a property crime.

Your decision NOT to attempt to ram the robber (and risk hitting the victim”) was a good one. Deliberately ramming into someone with a vehicle is considered a deadly force response and can only be justified if you reasonably believe that it is absolutely necessary to protect yourself or someone else from death or a serious life-threatening injury.

Based on what you’ve told me, the situation was NOT a deadly force encounter and you probably would have gotten yourself into as much legal trouble as the robber if you decided to turn him into a hood ornament!

It would be a different story if someone was being attacked and severely beaten. It would have been different if the assault was of a life threatening nature. Protection of life is our highest priority. Protection of property is not.

In that scenario, the best thing you could do is notify the police and be a good witness. Make note of their physical description, license number and direction of travel so you can provide that info to the police when they arrive.

But to endanger your own safety, the safety of your girlfriend, the safety of the victim and even the safety of the “dirt bags” doing the robbery, is not worth the value of a purse.

Purses and contents can be replaced. People can’t.

Your reaction after the incident is a normal one. Even when you do the “right thing,” its common to second guess yourself and wonder if there is something else you could have done.

Your scenario about fighting to protect your girlfriend Joe is a good one. By the sounds of it, your decision to stand up to your adversary WAS the right thing to do… Some things in life ARE worth fighting for and others are not. Its important to know the difference.

Your actions were definitely not “cowardly” Joe. If you ask me (which I guess you’re doing huh? you made a reasonable and effective decision in a stressful and challenging situation.

I think you made a wise decision Joe. Good job.

Randy

==============================================================

Hello Randy.

Thank you so much for your answer. Your comments about the situation were really interesting, since I’ve always been in doubt about this issue since it happened. I was not only trying to see if I did well, but also to know what is the best course of action in a situation like this one, because its very probably going to happen again sometime in my life. I think that the only way to react correctly to a challenging (and unusual for me) situation is to know in advance what is the right thing and instinctively react based on previous knowledge (and gut feelings, of course). That is why I found your answer so useful for me.

On the other hand, you are right, in some way I was asking you if I acted cowardly As I told you before, a lot of people told me I should ram the guy, when I told them the story. They told me that was what they would have done in that situation. And maybe they would, but I always thought that those people are probably more prone to an “action movie” reaction. By the way, I have to tell you that I’m a latin person, living outside US (that’s why my english is a little deficient), and you know how temperamental we latins are.

I’m very glad to have read your expert opinion about this, and to be sure now about the right thing to do in a similar case. Of course you may post our conversation in your forum and/or newsletters or emails. If this case could be useful for more people, I’d be very glad. Just remove my name and email address, but you may reproduce the rest of the conversation as you please.

Its good you are writing an ebook on this topic. I think that is very important for people to know as much as possible about those situations in order to react properly. I’m a subscriber of your newsletter, so I’ll know when you publish it.

Thanks again for your answer, and have a good day.

Joe

===============================================================

OK, Now Its Your Turn…

Time for YOU to do some thinking… If you want to share the results with me, I’d be honored…It could have a direct impact on the content and direction of future articles and information products. If not, at least do this exercise for yourself.

Here’s what I’d like you to do:

Write out the single, most likely or worrisome self-defense scenario that you can think of. Nothing bizarre or off-the-wall, but something you legitimately think you could encounter. What is the “ultimate” situation that you feel sparks your interest in self-defense and personal safety? What one incident, do you want to be prepared for if it were to happen?

In as much detail as you want, spell out a threatening, volatile or violent situation (real or imagined) that motivates your interest in self-defense training.

This could be a hypothetical situation or it could be something that actually happened to you or someone you know.

Don’t worry about coming up with a solution or explaining what you would do about it. Not at this point any way. Just spell out as specifically and conceretely and you can, the ultimate situation your are preparing for.

Who is the assailant or how many are there?… Would the person be known to you or a stranger? Would you be alone or with someone who could assist you or might need your protection? What would the “predatory intent” be? (what does your assailant want from you?) Where would it be most likely to happen. What time do you see it happening?

You might feel that exercises like this are silly or a waste of time. Maybe its too much work! I can tell you this, if something does happen and you haven’t given it any thought… stress, confusion, and the “Fluster Factor,” WILL impact your ability to do the right thing at the right time.

Consider exercises like this the equivalent of “Self-Defense Fire Drills.” Just imagine what would happen if a fire alarm sounded and you didn’t have a clue what it meant or how you were supposed to respond.

Enuff Said.

Take care, train smart and stay safe…

Randy LaHaie
Protective Strategies

Randy LaHaie is the president of Protective Strategies and has been teaching reality-based self-defense for over 30 years. He is the author of several “Toughen Up Combative Training Guides” (http://www.ToughenUp.com)

Subscribe to his FREE SELF-DEFENSE NEWSLETTER at http://www.ProtectiveStrategies.com

Tags: Wing Chun, Kung Fu, Las Vegas Kung Fu School, Las Vegas Wing Chun School, Lo Man Kam, Lo Man Kam Wing Chun, Martial Arts Self Defense