Each week MASTERCLASS gives you brief but key information on how to optimise a simple Krav Maga strike or technique.
This week we’ll cover KNIFE SURVIVAL AGAINST ATTACKS 180° ABOVE SOLAR PLEXUS, effectively responses against a stabbing attack to head or upper body from any angle or trajectory or grip of the knife.
ABOUT KNIFE SURVIVAL AGAINST ATTACKS 180° BELOW SOLAR PLEXUS
The first thing to realise with any hand defence responses to edged weapons attacks - by definition conducted at close range - is that earlier potential defence action such as avoidance, distance, conflict management, danger detection and exiting the situation has either failed or hasn’t been possible (e.g. remaining to protect third parties or because no exit is available).
If the attack is sudden and unexpected or the weapon is previously undetected, it’s highly likely you’ll get stabbed. The defence is then more about survival and preventing multiple strikes. As action beats reaction, even an expected attack at close range will be hard to defend.
Always disengage from any visible or suspected weapons attack scenario, wherever possible.
This defence is aimed at stopping the initial attack, controlling repeated stabs and fighting back through destabilising the attacker with striking back with blows to vulnerable areas (the head, neck, throat or face).
HOW TO DO THE KNIFE SURVIVAL AGAINST ATTACKS 180° ABOVE SOLAR PLEXUS
If the knife is suspected or visible, try to keep distance and protect vital organs by; dropping head down between raised shoulders and place forearms and palms together in a ‘praying position’ in front of your upper body to cover heart and frontal organs. Move away with smaller sideways steps to ready yourself for explosive forward action if the attack occurs.
Once a stab or slash above the solar plexus happens, there’s no way to detect the exact downward trajectory until the motion has happened - at which point any reaction will be too late.
The defence must therefore take into account any trajectory of attack, any angle of the blade and be agnostic as to whether it’s a slash or a stab.
Follow the below action, from the ‘praying position’ described above:
If the attacker is at a range where they can reach you and the arm is moving upwards and backwards to strike, send your arms forward from the shoulders in a pyramidical shape with a 15-20cm gap between the hands and with elbows low and fingers high.
The arms should be locked at all the joints; in the shoulders (as far forward as possible), at the elbows (in an approximate 90° angle keeping elbows low/hands high) and wrists (with fingers outstretched).
This double diagonal forearm strike should connect with the bony outer part of the wrists near to the attacker’s wrist and on their neck or face, giving you a long shield against the strike and a long striking surface to connect with.
The symmetrical action will aid your brain to deliver optimal striking power on both connection points as an asymmetrical action (e.g. a forearm block and a punch) will always cause one of the two actions to be de-prioritised (less power) by your brain.
If you lose balance forward, aim to step forward with the foot matching the knife hand, bringing your back leg with up so your stance is relatively upright and ready to move forward, however aim to land with your head lowered and directed towards the attacker’s shoulder joint (not the end of the arm where the knife is held).
As you connect, continue the forward motion (if possible) to unbalance the attacker and force them backwards to focus their mind on prioritising balance rather than immediate recoil of the knife hand and repeated attacks.
As you move forward, press the forearm against the attackers’s neck as the other hand moves along the attacker’s arm underneath their armpit as you turn 90° in your upper body towards the attacker, protecting your heart and torso area against further attacks. Press the knife arm and control it under your armpit by pressing it in across all contact points.
Continue to move around the attacker towards their opposite leg (to keep them off balance and moving away from their free hand), striking diagonally downwards or sideways (attacker height dependant) against the attacker’s neck or at the very top of the spinal cord with a slightly angled but locked at the elbow arm, connecting anywhere on the forearm or hand. The locked frame of this arm doesn’t change from the first strike, through press the attacker’s neck on contact and on all these strikes. It remains the same.
Drop the striking more vertically if the attacker bends down in response. Continue to strike ferociously. Switch to knee strikes to the head if appropriate if the attacker’s head drops low.
If the attacker is taller than you, or to add additional strikes, attack their face (aim to break the nose) with fast and repeated open palm strikes, including digging fingertips into their eyes. As their head moves back, alternate by punches to the larynx to crush it. Think: ‘Can’t see, can’t breathe’.
The strikes are conducted in the spiral movement motion to continually keep the attacker off balance.
Practice the defence slowly and methodically until it becomes instinctive.
Picture: Krav Maga Master Gheorghe Husar demonstrating the defence with The Krav Maga Educator Orjan Pettersen for online tutorials.