Knife / Counter - Knife Combatives Course

Knife vs. Knife

Knife vs. Stick

Knife vs. Gun Threats

Knife vs. Unarmed Adversaries

Situational * Tactical * Strategic

First off, if you are searching for knife fighting and found this page? Get ready to see some gruesome photos, because after all, you were searching for knife fighting weren't you?

Now, let's get right down to it, folks. This is my KNIFE / COUNTER - KNIFE weapon course. Sorry, if you are looking for fancy, exotic, flashy, foreign, mysterious knife material with wacky names and weird people? I only teach you the very essence of knife combatives. And I hate the term "knife fighting." I have been doing this, now spanning three decades, well before "it was cool." I have seen many knife fads come and go. Many of them were shallow and frankly sent the wrong, flippant message about the harsh realities of the subject.

Criminal and military history reveals that a real world knife fight is more like football or rugby and less like fencing. So-called "dueling" can happen, but it is an event least likely to occur in our modern times of mixed weapons. In this course, I have carefully crafted a doctrine where you will learn how to use a knife to its maximum potential in all grips: standing, kneeling, sitting and on the ground, with less-than-lethal and lethal results. In this course, I has carefully crafted for you a doctrine where you will learn how to use a knife to its maximum potential. This doctrine includes the better parts of military knife fighting-such as Russian Speznatz Knife Fighting, South African and Rhodesian knife fighting, as well as Filipino knife fighting, American and European knife fighting. Also, this includes a study in criminal and prison knife fighting. Plus training innovations.

The training methodologies are:

1) The Psychology of Knife Violence - You learn criminal and military psychologies, research and history.

2) Solo Command and Mastery of the Knife - You learning body movement and synergy by practicing movements "in the air.” You learn to strike stationary training objects for goal-specific power and experience.

3) Partner Knife Drills - You slash and stab moving targets held by a partner. Later he strikes back at you. You learn a limited amount of established skill and flow drills to improve your balance, coordination and savvy.

4) Combat Knife Scenarios - You work in standing, kneeling, sitting and ground combat scenarios, staged as realistically as possible. This is a case I worked as a detective. That is not a brain laying on his stomach!This is the ugly truth of knives. It is not a game of "duel-tag" with a rubber toy you play "passy-passy, tappy-tappy" with in the corner of some gym, this is more like rugby with knives.

5) Moral, ethical, legal and political issues

Knife Levels and Instructorships?
You can train just for knowledge, for rank or knife instructorships. The knife instructorship progression is as follows:

. Knife practitioner: A regular "student"
. Knife class organizer: A practitioner authorized to gather people to work out and develop skills
. Knife Basic instructor: After Level 3
. Knife Advanced instructor: After Level 6 (more time and grade produces some "advanced" skills)
. Knife Expertise instructor: After Level 9 ( a certain level expertise is achieved after more time and grade)
. Range Master instructor: (as in Range Master, or Master SGT-not some kind of martial martial arts master)
. OR! Just simply train with the knife for knowledge and take a pass on all rank and instructors.

Your knife training course progression looks like this:

Level 1:
Introduction to Edged Weapons and Combat Stress Knife “Quick Draw” Module

Level 2:
The Closed Folder and pommel strike modules (for when you can't get the blade into position) and The "While Held Module - all strikes and kicks while holdinga knife ina saber or reverse grip.

Level 3:
The Saber grip Stab Module (plus Military Quick Kills part 1)

Level 4:
The Reverse Grip Stab Module (plus Military Quick Kills part 2)

Level 5:
The Saber Grip Slash Module ( Plus Military X Knife Fighting part 1)

Level 6:
The Reverse Grip Slash Module (Plus The Military X Knife Fighting part 2)

Level 7:
The Spartan Module and "Take The Pass" Module

Level 8:
The Chain Of the Knife Module

Level 9:
In The clutches Of Module

Level 10:
Combat Scenario Testing for "Range Master" Ranking (NOT a martial arts "master," just like a chief instructor of a shooting range).

Level 11 Knife Ground Fighting (all prior levels contain knife ground fighting)
Level 12 Archipelago Stick and Knife and Tactical Baton and Flashlight
Level 13 Bowie and Big Knife Dueling
Level 14 Machete Combatives
Level 15 and more, topics as asked for and approved by Hock as Masters Level studies

Hock's Casebook, Photo Lab and Combat Notes

These two photos, in a series to the left and right below are an unknown case to me. They have been passed around in 2006, but FLETC trainers sent them to me in 2005. People think this is a police officer, but a close look at ALL the photos show this probably happened in a prison. He is probably an inmate.

My case from the 1980s. This is a serious knife belly slash, yet the man won this fight by grabbing the attacker's weapon arm, punching him in the throat and disarming the knife (acts many naive martial artists say are impossible) The wound opened up more and more until it looked like this at the ER, where I took the picture as evidence. This is the true, ugly business of knife violence. This is no "passy-passy, tappy-tappy" game of tag with rubber toys in the corner of some gym. Take a good, hard look."

"This a man who was also unarmed and attacked by a knifer. When I asked him how he survived, his answer was classic - "I just grabbed a hold of the arm holding the knife and fought like hell." Unlike the game of dueling tag played by most knife systems, people may survive multiple slashes and stabs and still win. Learn to fight on after the knife wound. Never believe these ignorant martial artists who tell you grabbing the knife arm or disarming is impossible."

I forget where this series of photos came from, I've had it for years.

Another one from my old case files. This totally untrained kid found himself attacked by a knifer in a road rage deal. The kid took this deep slash on his bare arm and then, unarmed fought on. He disarmed the knife, chasing the attacker off. I tried to conceal his identity here which is a shame, because he is smiling in the photo. The slash was quite deep. He won against a knife attack. You can too. Don't believe what some incomplete knife trainers like to scare you with words of inevitable death.

Other Knife Notes and Edgy Observations

To Drill or Not To Drill? How Much?

"We do some knife drills, but with the "football" approach, explaining that the skill learned in a drill, may be used in a split second. Too many Filipino systems have over-elevated the drill patterns, becoming drill masters, losing the true value of the practice. If you do not drill with the knife, as espoused by several so-called, modern systems? You are a fool. It is not about the drill pattern! It is all about the insert. Keep your head on straight about this and you will be practicing combatives and not martial arts. This course is about developing options in combat scenarios, not memorizing collections of knife drills-" But football players run tires to drill. The military drills. You have to drill. But not too much or you will become a drill master.

Does your knife system work knife ground fighting? "If not, the doctrine is faulty, dangerous and incomplete. I simply cannot understand these other knife courses that do not worry about knife ground-fighting! You must have tactics, strategies and drills involving knee-high, seated, side-by-side, top-side and bottom-side knife ground fighting. I cannot emphasize how important this is. " - Hock

"Does your current knife course have less-than-lethal knife tactics concerning the apprehension, capture and control of your enemy? If not, the knife doctrine is unrealistic, incomplete and faulty and could have bad legal ramifications for you later."

"In the same way, crazy, violent names for knife combatives, titles like 'cutting-up-people-in-small-pieces', and 'running-amok-and- crazy' with a knife are immature, dangerous and completely unprofessional. Also! Take great care in the marketing name of the knife you carry." The police and prosecutors will."

The Myth of the Knife Duel

Are all those stabbings and slashings around the world, all Zorro-like, face-off duels? No.

The "myth of the knife duel" is about limiting yourself and/or over-training knife dueling methods while striving for situational, reality knife fighting. The myth of the duel is mistakening fencing or sparring as the main model for self defense training. This is the definition of "the myth of the duel." The stand-off where each opponent has the same size stick, a knife or are empty-handed. Sparring like this is not the full answer, can confuse and mislead.

We live in a mixed-weapon world. Such a misleading knife course that over-duels, is unlikely to understand the full, modern, "Weapon-Matrix" options, like gun versus knife for one example. Many criminal and military knife attacks are like football or rugby with a knife with sudden and vicious collisions.

But, if you specialize in a specific era dueling or historical training dueling, and/or understand where the duel truly fits in the big picture, then you are among the enlightened, educating and pursuing your interests and the interests of your friends and students.

Of course, just as a good knife course covers knife ground fighting, it must also cover a proper proportion of so-called "knife dueling," because knife dueling may, has and does occur inside an overall knife fights in war and crime. We duel/spar a bit at every knife level. We do the Killshot Knife Fighting Module to cover the subject, all the time remembering that if there is space between knife fighters, there are often other wise options than the continuance of the knife duel. Such as the photo to the left suggests, pick up something and fight with it.

So, are all those stabbings and slashings around the world, all Zorro-like, face-off duels? Or, are they sudden, passionate charges (like football players with knives) that involve a sucker punch, with a thrown ashtray at the face. A knife in the back? A chair vs. a knife? A struggle on the ground? Two bad guys cornering one guy. A very small knife vs. a machete? Or worse, unarmed vs. the knife?

The very term "knife duel," in many training systems today does fancify and mislead what is really homicide-like or an ugly, vicious bloodletting. The training for knife fighting, as done by so many martial systems today, is a prissy, unrealistic game of tag with rubber toys, mentally detached to the virtually unspeakable horrors of knife wounds, knife maiming and edged weapon killing.

This dueling concept is a painful and mitigating concept. You may be mentally captured into the "empty hand-versus-empty hand duel" also! If you only train in common martial arts and unarmed combatives you will most likely forget to pick up a handy weapon. Instead, always get the edge. Get something to fight with. Always cheat, be tricky and use what's around you. That's easy to pontificate by some instructors, but their actual outlines and doctrines miss this whole, vital point.

294 pages, hundreds of how-to photographs

Get it all in Hock's unique book, click here