knife fighting...

On knife fights, from one of my favorite self-defense information sites:

Not to put too fine of a point on it, but fighting is stupid. And the very idea of "knife fighting" goes beyond stupid and lands in macho, moronic fantasy. And don't even get me started on what I think about successfully "fighting" empty handed against a knifer. It is simple common sense that a knife is dangerous. Yet, every year thousands upon thousand of people go to seminars and schools and are taught both knife "fighting" and how to fight barehanded against a knife! And they *believe* this BS!

During the last part of Krav Maga training last night, we all paired up and did some knife fighting. No fancy techniques (or techniques at all), no flashy moves (unless we were lucky enough to get them in) - just good old fashioned, down and dirty "just go after your opponent and get her/him" attack-mode fighting. First knife vs. knife, and then knife vs. empty handed. We were instructed to "maneuver to cut" every time we touched our opponent with the knife. During the knife vs. knife fighting, we were also instructed at one point to use our other hand to hold our neck area, as if we had been struck with the knife and bleeding, as well as using our other hand to hold the thigh area to hinder severe bleeding. It's amazing how something like that can limit your ability to move and maneuver. Imagine how it would be like if you were in pain and blood was gushing out...

Let's just say there's a lot of merit in the above quote and what is stated in the rest of what Marc MacYoung writes about knife fighting. My partner was another woman, slightly bigger than me but not that much bigger, so it's fair to say we were evenly matched. I managed to get a lot of "hits" on her, she managed to get a lot of "hits" on me. Sure, we can giggle and say "dammit, you got me" and "if this were for real I'd be dead" and stuff in class. Which is kind of the point I guess. It's so much "easier" when you're using training knives instead of real knives that can actually cut you, and even with the training knives it's not all that easy... How far would any of us gone had this been a real knife fight and we had gotten slashed for real? (Or worse yet, if the fight was with someone bigger and stronger than us?) The right slash in the right place with the right amount of force and...

Fortunately, I'm not the kind of penguinette that has this overly macho need to go around picking fights, with knives or otherwise. I can defend myself against knife attacks to a certain degree, with blocks and counter-attacks and distancing myself and the such, but if ever confronted I'll gladly take MacYoung's first recommendation... RUN LIKE HELL...