A little slice of reality for y'all! (Warning!! Graphic Pictures of the Aftermath of Real World Violence Are Inclued!)

Anyone that  knows me knows that I have a love for and respect for all martial arts. I think that all arts have their strong points and their week points, and all arts serve multiple uses in people's lives. However, this being a self-protection blog, I think that what's taught in the majority of martial arts schools, gyms and dojos will get you killed if you actually have to use it to defend yourself in a real assault.

For example, I'm a grappling junkie. I love the grappling arts and I feel right at home rolling on the mats with people. With or without the gi, I find it to be a blast. I love my Gracie Jiu-jitsu, my 10th Planet Jiu-jitsu, my Judo, My Sombo wrestling, My freestyle/folk style/Greco-Roman Wrestling, my Dumog, my Catch Wrestling, my Submission Wrestling, etc. And I have the utmost respect for wrestlers ad grapplers. That being said, I do find it funny that when I've trained at various grappling gyms I've rarely ever seen any weapons defenses being taught. And I've never found any multiple attacker scenarios being worked on. And you can forget about any armed multiple attacker situations being worked on.

In fact, when I've asked about multiple attacker situations the response that I've been told is, "Worry about being able to handle a single attacker before you even think about more than one." Or, "No one can handle more than one attacker, let's be real and work on just one."

That's a damn shame because multiple attackers is more of the rule than the exception.

Many times, even if it was truly a one-on-one encounter to start off with, others will jump in just to smack someone down a little. I've seen it happen.

And of course, depending on which facts you check out, it's estimated that somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of all assaults involve some form of a weapon. And, the most common weapon is some sort of bladed weapon. A knife, folding knife, screwdriver, razor, box cutter, etc.

Know, for you striking stylists, don't think that I'm letting you off the hook yet. I love my striking arts, too. I'm a huge fan of Kempo, Bagua, Xing Yi, Tai Chi Chuan, Wing Chun, Boxing, Muay Thai, Savate, etc. but again the way that most arts tend to look at real world assaults tends to be far from how they really go down.

I can remember, back in the late 1990's and early 2000's I was a dyed in the wool BJJ man. If it wasn't a grappling art, and especially BJJ, it was nothing in my books. I thought that MMA was the end all be all of the fighting arts. Then I tried an experiment with a buddy of mine.

One of my untrained buddies and I grabbed a marker. We used it as a knife. The marker would, of course, leave marks on me wherever my buddy would have cut or stabbed me. For over an hour I tried to use my BJJ and MMA skills to stop his cuts and every time I left with 10, 20, or more stab wounds to the heart and lungs, the liver and spleen, the kidneys and more. He slashed my throat, gutted me and would have left me dead each and every time. His untrained knife "skills" (which consisted of either going  ape-shit and slashing like a mad man, going Michael Myers and stabbing like lightning, or going "Prison" style and shanking me like a sewing machine) totally ate up my (at the time) 15-20 years of training and experience.

I'm glad that it happened in training. But I'm not the only case.

I think it was Richard Ryan, the creator of Dynamic Combat, that used to start out his knife defense seminars (which consisted of mostly high ranking black belts) an having them practice their favorite knife defenses with each other for about a half an hour. Then, he'd bring in an untrained person and hand them a training knife. In all of the seminars that I heard about not one of the high ranking black belts nor their favorite defenses would have survived the attacks by the untrained person.

The knife is just that deadly.

I could go on with more examples, but let's look at some startling news.

First, even a tiny blade like a box cutter will easily cut through to the bone.
Second, As a blade is cutting you it's not just cutting your flesh, but also you tendons, ligaments, nerves, muscles, arteries, veins, and organs.
Third, it never runs out of ammo.
Fourth, It's a contact weapon, anytime that it lands it does damage.
Fifth, it takes no space to cause damage.
Sixth, it's lightning fast to use and easy to change hands with.

And more.

Let's say your attacker slices the meaty part of you forearm. Guess what? They just took out your flexor tendons and the muses that control your hand. Now you can't form a fist, grab, or hold onto anything.

Maybe they sliced your thigh right above your knee. Hey, now your leg can't support any weight and you'll immediately crumble to the ground.

Slice your Triceps? Now you won't be able to extend your arm to strike or grab.

And these aren't even the "critical" targets like your center of mass or your neck. Imagine the damage that can be inflicted there.

Add to this, loss of blood and shock, not to mention toxins spilling into your system if it's a gut slice and you can see how bad of a world of hurt you'll be in.

Knife defense is a critical, but often overlooked and underestimated area of self-protection.

Take a knife and hand it to a ten year old and they immediately become a 50th degree black belt.

A knife is that dangerous!

Don't believe me?

Go ahead and grab a marker and use it to simulate a knife assault. Have someone take it and go ape-shit on you and see how often what you've worked on in you gym or dojo will save you. I'll be willing to bet that it won't help out a ton...

So, go out and find out what really works. It could save your life.

Here's some of the aftermath of real knife encounters:

Don't let this happen to you. Lear what it really takes to survive.

Now go train smart.

Yours in peace,
Brett Stepan

Also, feel free to check on the other two blogs at:
www.brettsalphacrew.blogspot.com
www.brettsmartialarts.blogspot.com