Defending a Hook Attack: Outside Parry & Strike

Series Summary

Self-defense and the martial arts often go hand in hand. Many of the martial arts are intended primarily as methods of self-defense. Some forms of self-defense are very aggressive, seeking to inflict maximum damage on an attacker. Other forms are more passive, going as far as possible to avoid physical confrontation while securing escape from danger.

In this free video series a US Martial Arts Hall of Fame inductee will instruct you in the fundamentals of defending against an edged weapon attack. You will learn the importance of moving off of the line of attack. The instructor will show you how to parry from both outside and inside positions. You will receive tips on disarming an attacker and using wrist control. The instructor and his assistant will also show you how to kick and throw an attacker who is using an edged weapon.

Video Transcript

"On this Edged Weapon Defense, we're going to deal now with Hook Strike. I want to parry and strike. As Danny comes in, I need to pass it. When I come up underneath it, now I'm using both devices here, both tools, my inside arm and my outside arm because if I miss, here, oh it's going to be a bad day for me. However, if I use both, I'm creating deflective angle right here. As Danny comes in, it bleeds off, I want to immediately go for the control box of this event, and then strike him in the head. Parrying by, my hands already loaded up, I want to strike him right on the side of the jaw, just like this. The reason I'm striking here is because it gets a good physical effect, I could get a good head whip, that's going to turn his body and allow me to escape or to move myself into a better position. So I'm here, I'm already loaded up, blam, I kind of get a good extension right into the side of the head. Once again, I'm here, I passed that. I want to move quickly. I don't want to take time now to load up, because as I'm loaded up, he is resetting his knife, he's going to cut me open. One more time, parry and I come right into it, causes as much physical dysfunction I can. And that's a nice effective technique from a Hook Strike."