Krav Maga Weapon Defenses - David Kahn

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other individuals have enormous pain thresholds, especially those taking narcotics.

      Once engaged against an assailant, the key to all krav maga weapons defenses is a deflection-redirection of the weapon combined with a simultaneous body defense and an overwhelming counterattack. This methodology is designed to stop the attack at its inception, or at the earliest possible stage. Closing the distance gap between the assailant and defender is sometimes referred to as “bursting.” The opposite of bursting forward is a bursting retreat to escape or create distance until the correct time to close the gap presents itself. Counterattacks usually target the assailant’s soft tissue including his groin, throat, eyes, and knees. Weapon defenses take into specific account the assailant’s physiological reaction to counterstrikes such as a knee or kick to the groin that will lurch the body forward or a thumb gouge to the eye that will jolt the head back exposing the groin for further strikes.

      Footwork and body positioning, whether standing or prone, allow you to simultaneously defend and attack, leading to seamless combative transitions essential to retzev. Good balance is a must with your weight properly positioned on the balls of your feet to react; not on your heels. Balance within any stance is essential to redirect your energy and momentum. A good stance, either from the left outlet position or even from a passive stance, allows you to press directly into the ground for superior traction and mobility. Accordingly, if you have good balance and mobility, you can burst in to close on the assailant. The key to evasion is moving out of the “line of fire” or the path of an opponent’s offensive combatives. Clearly, positioning yourself where you can counterattack your opponent more easily than he can attack you is most advantageous.

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      Essential to a successful defense is precise fight timing: using the correct tactic at the correct time. Fight timing is best thought of as the fusion of instinct with simultaneous decision-making to either preempt the attack, move off the line of attack/fire, deflect-redirect, control the weapon and strike, or to retreat from harm’s way. In other words, fight timing is harnessing instinctive body movements while seizing or creating opportunities to defend both efficiently and intelligently.

      Defined yet another way, fight timing is your ability to capitalize on a window of opportunity offered by your opponent or to create your own opportunity to end the confrontation, using whatever tactics come instinctively to you. Timing can be improved and honed with realistic training—always krav maga’s objective. While speed is not timing, speed certainly can add a decisive advantage when the defender is faster than the assailant. As the subsequent chapters emphasize, krav maga relies on economy of motion to eliminate wasted movement, which, in turn, improves speed.

      Footwork and body positioning, whether standing or prone, allow you to simultaneously defend and attack, providing for the seamless combative transitions essential to retzev. The key to evasion is moving out of the “line of fire” or the path of an assailant’s weapon. Clearly, controlling the weapon and positioning yourself where you can counterattack your opponent more easily than he can attack you is optimum.

      A punch thrown at your head does not represent the same danger, as does an edged weapon slashing at your throat. Countering an open-handed strike to your head by deflecting-redirecting the attack and simultaneously collapsing your attacker’s windpipe may not be justified under these circumstances (although, of course, the totality of the circumstances must always be taken into consideration). However, when someone tries to slit your throat, you are justified in stopping the deadly force assault as quickly as possible using any means at your disposal. This particular defense against an edged-weapon attack to the head involves the defender stepping “off the line” of attack and simultaneously counterstriking the assailant in the face or throat as we will cover in Chapter 4.

      Defending against this same example of a face-to-face overhand edged-weapon attack (often called an icepick attack) also serves as a good example how krav maga incorporates open-handed defensive tactics with tactical positioning to put the defender in the most advantageous position. We will examine this particular defense in detail in Figures 3.01 and 4.01. As noted, whenever possible, krav maga utilizes both a deflection-redirection combined with a body defense that moves the defender off the line of attack, or in the case of firearm disarms, out of the “line of fire.” By deflecting-redirecting the incoming attack and simultaneously moving away from it combined with a counterattack, krav maga strives to create a fail-safe redundant defense. Not only is the attack thwarted by a deflection-redirection and simultaneous counterattacks, the defender is also not positioned where the assailant anticipated.

      Krav Maga Tactical Thinking When Confronting Weapons While on the Ground. One of the best ways to stop a weapon from being deployed in a ground struggle is exactly that: prevent the assailant from presenting the weapon. This requires astute recognition, especially in the heat of a vicious fight. Fight positioning determines your tactical advantage. Optimally, a kravist will move quickly to a superior and dominant position relative to his opponent, known in krav maga parlance as the deadside. With the exception of the initial defensive movements against some impact weapon attacks, krav maga weapons defenses strive, when possible, to take the defender to the assailant’s deadside which often provides a decisive tactical advantage. Once superior position and control of the weapon are achieved while simultaneously controlling the weapon to keep both you and bystanders safe, the assailant will have a minimal ability to defend or to counter your retzev counterattack. The defender’s control of the weapon also keeps bystanders safe. Retzev, using all parts of your body seamlessly in coordinated concert, provides an overwhelming counterattack including, when necessary, turning the weapon on the assailant.

      If both the defender and assailant are on the ground and the assailant decides in mid-fight to deploy a weapon, krav maga’s weapon defenses on the ground are similar to its standing defenses. Movement on the ground is obviously different than when standing. Accordingly, the defenses must be modified. The nature of groundfighting can allow one opponent superior control and positioning, while the other opponent cannot run or evade as he might while standing. Again, krav maga groundwork against weapons is best defined as “what we do up, we do down” with additional specific groundfighting capabilities. We employ many of our standing combatives on the ground, including groin, eye, and throat strikes in combination with joint breaks and dislocations designed, if necessary, to maim your opponent.

      Analyzing the overhand edged-weapon attack example starts to put you in the mind-frame of a kravist skilled in weapons defenses. Let’s go through this particular defense step-by-step (we will cover the technique in detail in Chapter 4). When facing deadly weapon assaults, such as an edged-weapon attack, krav maga provides the defender with the option of striking to vital areas such as the throat. Again, the immediate goal is to stop the assailant. This means neutralizing the assailant with soft tissue strikes and other combatives to then allow the defender to exert decisive control over the weapon.

      One of Imi’s more famous sayings was that you should be “so good that you do not have to kill.” Imi also had another saying that some krav maga techniques were only useful to commandos or criminals. Of course, criminals have no place in krav maga. Therefore, some of krav maga’s techniques are reserved for military and security teaching only.

      Krav maga is flexible; instructors do not provide set instructions but, rather, a comprehensive blueprint. Learning by rote would violate krav maga’s practicality and adaptability. However and wherever krav maga might be used, it must be used for the right reason—self-defense with the appropriate level of counter-force. An assailant armed with a weapon can clearly cause you serious bodily harm or kill you. Krav maga is both aggressive and decisive in countering weapon attacks. If you must physically engage the assailant, the goal is to deliver you from harm’s way and dominate the assailant.

      The law in most countries evaluates a person’s response according to a “reasonable person standard.” For self-defense, the operative language becomes “reasonable force.” In other words, what would the reasonable person do, or how would he or she react, under the totality of the circumstances? Among the myriad facts involving a violent

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