Articles

Arnis de Cadena Knife Traning:

As a practitioner of FMA most of my training comes from Mati Arnis.  Balintawak Cuentada Eskrima now plays a huge part in what I teach; in fact it has become the core of my curriculum.  I have also been heavily influenced by Urban Survival Systems, Ikatan Kali and of course; Ilustrisimo Kali.  Arnis de Cadena is not my personal style or system; it is just the label I use for my club.  This way I can be pretty free with what I teach from day to day. 

When I was taught Mati Arnis the main focus was on single stick.  Sometimes Guro Norm or Ross would later show how to transfer those skills to knife or empty hand.  In fact, when I first started training in arnis there had been many times when I bought a knife training video and was disappointed by the fact that the drills shown were the same drills I had learned from my Guro.  In my ignorance I labeled them “stick drills”.  I soon realized there is very little difference between stick, knife and empty hands.  It was just a matter of understanding the underlying concepts, adaptation and playing with the proper tools.

When it comes to the blade I usually will ask my students to consider why they want to learn how to handle a knife.  For some it might be because they carry a folder for self defense and want to learn how to use it.  For others it might be the love of the art in itself.  Some might simply want to learn how to defend against the blade.  There are many excellent and valid reasons to train knife handling skills, even if it is simply that the student finds it a lot more fun then taking up bowling. 

One I thing I like to pass on to my student is the fact that learning how to use the knife is important for defending empty hand against the blade.   Also the decision to actually carry a knife as a self defense tool requires a lot of sober thought and speculation.  This is not a decision to be made lightly. 

Knife training is one of the three building blocks of learning improvised weapons.  The other two are the baston and the staff or dos manos stick.  By learning these three weapons you can pretty much be sure that you will be able to adapt to most improvised weapons. 

Specifically knife training teaches how to use many small hand held weapons.  Pens, screwdrivers, wrenches, small sticks, small flashlights, beer bottles, glasses and just about any small hand held items can be used much the same as a knife.

One of the most important concepts I like to get across to my students is to understand the difference between “annoyance self defense” and survival self defense.  

“Annoyance self-defense" is a situation like when you are dealing with a friend who is drunk and aggressive or a neighbor who wants to fight you because of something silly like you asked him to turn down his music at 3AM. 

These situations are not the times you want to be using deadly force as your first option.  However these situations should never be handled lightly because every year there are people being put into their graves by angry neighbors and drunken friends or family members.  If at all possible allow the authorities to take care of these potentially volatile situations. 

Survival self-defense" on the other hand, is the type of situation when using a weapon is arguably a reasonable response.  These are situations where your life is in immediate danger.   A few examples might be fending off a rapist, attempted abduction, being assaulted by an armed attacker or a multiple attacker scenario.  Even if I feel justified in using my knife, my objective would always be to get away safely or if I am with my wife or child to let them get away safely.  "Reasonable force" must always be your guideline. However in the chaos of a survival self-defense scenario what is reasonable may be the last thing on your mind.  Survival will be all that matters.

One thing I feel is very important to be aware of if you decide to carry a knife for self defense is that in the moment even the mindset of reasonable force can be over come by instinct.  Reality defense instructor and self defense author Marc MacYoung made a very important point about this very thing on one of the FMA chat sites recently.  According to him there have been situations in which a person defending himself stabbed his attacker in the back after the attacker tried to flee the situation.  This was not by conscious choice but because under stress his brain function was diminished to instinctive reactions and his instinct told him the attacker was a threat until he was on the ground.  Saying your sorry and did not mean to kill the guy is not a good legal defense. 

Also there are people who carrying a weapon gives them a false sense of security.  I believe you should never put yourself in places that you know are dangerous because your blade gives you the confidence to go there.  In fact if as student told me that carrying a knife made him feel more confident, I would strongly warn him that this feeling of confidence can be a trap.  If you avoid a certain pub, a certain part of town or a certain group of people, such as a local motorcycle gang, there is probably a good reason.  Just because you feel confident in your ability with a knife does not mean that you should put yourself in situations where you might have to use it.  

One benefit of learning the use of a knife is that it allows a practitioner to realize the true danger of a knife.  When a student sees how easily he can be cut by another student, even a student who is less experienced then him, he will be less likely to want to engage a knife wielding attacker.   

It is very important to me that my students should not have naive ideals about facing a knife.  The trained knife handler knows that without an equalizer he is at a huge disadvantage against an armed opponent.  Even in the hands of a child a knife can be a deadly instrument and can instantly negate years of hard training.   

When you begin training as a combative knife handler you should remember you don't want to be a one trick pony.  Train your empty hands as well.  Even if you carry a knife there are no guarantees you will want to use or even be able to get it out in a conflict. 

I like to do a drill progression that teaches students how to access their knives while under stress.  I think these types of drills are very important to any serious student of the blade. 

The first type of training drill is what I call ‘confusing the draw’.  What I do is have the students bring their EDC (every day carry) knife to class and while we are doing drills with the stick or going through some empty hand drilling I will give the signal to draw their knife.  It really makes it hard to be concentrating on one skill set then suddenly have to do something completely different.  This is a great way to start building your knife access skills.

You can also have the students doing burpies, push ups or some other form of heavy anaerobic exercise.  This really makes drawing the blade quickly very difficult.  Also the intense level of breathlessness and energy depletion is a good simulation for battle stress. 

To do this solo you can work on your striking or be doing bag work.  Have an alarm set and as soon as it goes off, get your knife.  I do this type of training with throwing knives as well.  To do this I simply throw a set of throwing knives quickly at a target then go for my folder.  It just adds some confusion to your knife draw. 

The next drill is a bit more fun, but you need to use dulled folders for this drill.  A replica of your EDC knife would be best. 

What I have my students do is have them both armed with their dulled replicas then go into Thai neck wrestling.  At my signal they both go for a quick draw.  I usually will let the students get really winded first. 

          As the students get better at this drill I will have them progress by taking one of the practice knives so only one student has the knife.  Then once the students are really into their neck wrestling I will give the signal and one student tries to draw the knife while the other one tries to keep him from accessing his blade.  This is excellent training for both students.

You can do these drills from Hubad or cadena de mano or any other close range FMA drills.  Also have your students grapple on the ground, then give the signal.  I like to mix it up and make it fun. 

Also counter trapping drills like the lifting and clearing drills from Balintawak are excellent practice.  I really enjoy working from a tie up position where both partners have their knife hand grabbed.  There is much that can be done from this position.  It is very important to teach the student to move quickly and decisively if their knife hand is grabbed. 

To train how to handle impact we often use a target to strike with a knife that gives good impact.  At first this should be done with a dulled practice knife, but as a student improves he should move on the real weapons.   Targets such as a pugil post, a wall mounted tire and a hanging cross will do much to develop a good grip as well as excellent targeting and range awareness.  The hanging cross is especially good because it bounces around and is unpredictable.  This makes for some fun and challenging training. 

When it comes to live steel cutting I prefer to use a stick wrapped in cardboard and have a training partner move it around while I cut it.  This makes an excellent target because it is mobile and unpredictable.  Use a long stick or staff so there is no chance of hitting your partner’s hands when he is holding the target.  This helps a student learn how to cut deeply. 

The traditional Filipino arts offer lots of excellent flow drills and skill building sets that are the true basis of our knife training.  There are many give and take type drills in the Filipino systems that develop excellent skills.  We use the “dangerous play” drills from Ikatan Kali, the inside fighting drill from Mati Arnis, the Retiradas from Ilustrisimo Kali and five angle attack and defense as the basis of much of our knife training.  Of course Hubad and Cadena de Mano drills are also a big part of our knife training. 

However the bulk of our knife training is basically simple sparring.  That is simply because knife sparring is simply a lot of fun and it develops quick reaction time, range awareness and quick foot work. 

While sparring is very important; it is equally important to keep it realistic.  I want students to aim for causing lots of damage to an opponent while minimizing his own damage.  While much of our sparring is spent at largo range sniping each others hand, legs and bodies, I also emphasize taking control of an opponent’s weapon while you stab multiple times.  This requires us to be very practiced at trapping and limb control.  We spend a lot of time developing alive hand skills. 

If sparring is done right it will build mechanics for combat and develop a great sense of timing.  However I do not want students to develop a sparring mentality by always training as if an opponent will be armed with matching weapons.  I enjoy developing training drills to face opponents armed with larger weapons, multiple opponents and even unarmed opponents.  (Yes knife against an unarmed attacker, while this would not be reasonable force, sparring this way is excellent for the unarmed party to see how precarious it is to fight against a knife wielding attacker)  It is important to drill in such a way that you will be prepared to react instinctively to any situation. 

I really have a hard time separating stick, knife and empty hand training.  All FMA training in my opinion leads to transferable skills in knife, stick and empty hands.  I try to teach my students not to become fixated on what a drill looks like on the surface.  I try to encourage them to see what the underlying concept to a technique or drill is.  This way they are simply learning how to fight, not some specific type of fighting skill. 

However a student still needs to become confident with his weapon.  Therefore it is important that a student use a training blade that closely matches the knife he carries.  One danger of training with the wrong equipment is if an arnisador trains with a 7 inch training blade and carries a three inch knife his range will be off by 4 inches when it comes to cutting. 

One of the most important lessons I try to impart to my students is that strategy is the most important element of self-defense.  Good strategy can overcome stronger and faster opponents.  With good strategy you can take away any advantage opponents might have, even superior numbers and better weapons.  This has been proven over and over again in battlefields all over the world. 

With this in mind my students should be prepared to use dishonesty, subterfuge and feigning co-operation in a conflict where it is appropriate.  There is no honor when it comes to survival, just doing what it takes to come out alive.  Knife fighters need to think with a guerilla fighter’s mindset.  In my mind, training with the blade is not about the field of honor, it is about self protection and survival.