Defending a Slash 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

"The technique we are going to work against now with edge weapons is a slashing attack. It's a high low technique so as Daniel comes in he's going to cut me just like this. This is a very common attack. This one is seen all over because it's fast, exceedingly effective and allows you to cove a great deal of distance in a short amount of time. The technique we are going to work now is an outside, outside motion to a strike. As Daniel comes in I'm going to sweep this out of the way. I like to be very careful because that knife is going to pass between us. I don't want to just camp here and throw this because I'm going to get cut. I want to give myself some room. I'm not just simply passing it here but I'm passing it down as well because it allows me to tee up his head. As he comes here, I'm down. And as I do that I've got all kinds of targets. What I'm going to do is I'm going to come in and strike down on the head just like this. His head is basically leaning over. So I'm here just like this, my hands are already loaded up, I'm going to strike down into the side of the jaw. Kind of jamming him into himself. Get a nice good deep compression. One more time, I'm coming in here, down we go, my hands are already close to my body, let's keep it simple and sweet. Come in here and a nice strike down into the chin just like this. Make sure that you stick when you do that. And that is a good parry and strike technique from a slash and attack."