Cheap T.A.C.S.A.F.E.: Practical Filipino Kuntao Defenses Against Firearms And Edged Weapons (Video) Price

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Customer Reviews of T.A.C.S.A.F.E.: Practical Filipino Kuntao Defenses Against Firearms And Edged Weapons

That having been said, I've spent many years (about 30) working on and thinking about the issue of dealing with the knife, and the problem with every book or video I see is that they're all too complicated for the average student of the martial arts. If you're an experienced martial artist, most of these techniques are no problem. But unless you're fairly skilled all these defenses are going to be too much to learn and too technical to be of any use. I have a suggestion for a better beginning video below. And some of the info is just wrong.

A good example of this was the book put out by Michael Echanis some years ago. While I respect Echanis, his book of knife-defense techniques was really not practical. The defenses shown in the book will really only work when an opponent commits himself to one main attack--something an experienced knife-fighter wonýt do--since heýll probably stalk you, waiting for an opening.

Echanis also demonstrated a number of spinning and leaping techniques. This is also dangerous when dealing with a knife situation. You should keep footwork simple when facing a knife, since a slip here could be fatal.

But getting back to Hernandez's approach, I liked the video, but itýs really only for fairly advanced martial artists. I recommend beginners pick up Marc "Animal" MacYoung's two videos on How To Survive a Knife Fight. They will teach you the basic moves and concepts, and from there you can branch out into the more advanced Hernandez videos if you want to. They will give you a better grounding in the basics--what the realities of knife encounter in the street are really like, and such important concepts as distance and interval, and so on. He also debunks a lot of silly myths--such as thinking you're going to be able to disarm a skilled knife-fighter, and how to deal with that.

Also, he points out that most "knife fights" today are rarely that--they're really more assassinations, in which the victim is surprised by the knife-wielder and his accomplice. The accomplice distracts the victim from the front while the knife-wielder attacks unseen from behind, so the victim really doesn't have much of a chance. The idea that two people will just whip out their knives and start fighting in a back alley, as MacYoung points out, is pretty absurd.

I had a couple of final comments. Although the Filipino flow drills such as the sombrada for medium distance and the hubad for close in are excellent training methods, it must be pointed out that in a real fight, no one is going to remain at sombrada distance or hubad distance for more than one or two attacks with the knife. To remain longer would be absurd and very likely suicidal. The wise fighter will break out to lagomano or long distance as soon as possible, giving him more distance and time to deal with an attack. Paul Vunak actually mentions this in one of the five excellent knife-fighting videos of his that I have, but I don't think even he gives it enough emphasis, although he does point out that the drills are ultimately for allowing you to buy enough time to turn and run or to get in a hit and make the attacker pause momentarily for you to get away.

Most Filipino martial artists also seem to practice the hubad only for upper-level attacks. They should add middle-level and lower- level attacks to the hubad flow drill to make it more realistic. Fortunately the sombrada already does this. However, the problem with the sombrada is that all the angles of attack seem to get practiced in the same order, from what I've seen. They should randomize the sombrada attacks and practice them that way, too.

The bottom line is that when facing a skilled knife-fighter, who will be more likely not to close with you such as in the sombrada and hubad drills, and will probably stalk you at long range, you need to take a somewhat different approach to training. This requires that you have finely honed blocking, parrying, trapping, and evading skills, etc., along with the ability to deliver lightning fast strikes when the opportunity arises.

Martial artists need to practice this sort of attack and defense situation, where the opponent tries multiple attacks and feints while you defend, attempting to stop or evade the knife attack while you get in a quick strike. The problem with the typical Filipino flow drills is that they're entirely defensive and don't force the defender to do the quick strike when the opportunity occurs--which might only be on every fifth or even tenth attack, depending on the knife-wielderýs skill and that of the defender. But all you need is one quick strike to get away--a palm heel to the face, say--so that you can stun him momentarily and then hopefully disable him completely from there or run.

Although I'm mainly a karate man, my personal preference for this is the "splashing hands" or fast, slapping blocks from the southern kung-fu styles to quickly deflect the knife, and then to attack from there--assuming that you have to let him close with you and can't just run away. I recommend adding these useful techniques to the Filipino flow drills for an even more effective training combination.