Knife Defense – Are You Prepared?
By Moshe Katz

August 22, 2011

KnifeDefenseTTN
KnifeAttackNov

The year was 1986 I believe. I had seen the "Karate Kid" and I was hooked. I was training at the old Oyama Kyokushin dojo in New York, had my white gi, my belt, my patches, and I was totally hooked on karate.

Those years of training served me well, but something was missing.

I was buying Black Belt Magazine in those days. (but not these days) and there was one advertisement that caught my eye. I can still picture it.

I was a graduate student in business school at the time and was learning all about how to promote a business, advertisement and how to get customers attention. This advertisement did not follow any of those rules.

It was a small add, on the side of the page. It was in black and white. It did not feature an attractive woman or a bare-chested muscular man; it has no flash, no pizzazz. And it was the same add month after month.

It featured an older looking man, thin and meek looking; he had a knife to another man's throat, and the advertisement read simply, "Do you know what to do in this situation?" I recall the name of the man; it was Charles Nelson.

I never did get to go to the school or meet the man. I never gave him any income from his advertisement. But he did plant a thought in my mind. And even if that is all he did – he did something major, he got me thinking.

Today, so many years later, I pass on the same message, although I am not affiliated with his particular system.

After 25 years of training I finally put together all my knowledge on this type of threat – the knife threat, on to one DVD. In keeping with the principles it is easy to follow step by step, and it is affordable.

Whenever someone buys one, I am happy. It is because I know my hard work will help someone. We put a lot of effort into this DVD to make it easy to follow. It is designed as an aide for Krav Maga students to remember and practice the defense versus knife threats.

I look at the stack of DVD's I have next to me and I wonder; all you good, kind, happy people out there, Do You know what to do in this situation? Will you have a chance of survival if you are approached in this way?

So I pass on the question, and the challenge, that good Ol' Charles Nelson passed on to me (via his kind advertisement which I am grateful for) – Be honest; do you know what to do in such a situation?

In this DVD we make no promises, all we do is give you a fighting chance, that is the best anyone can offer.

So what are you going to do?

P.S.

Over the years I have modified and developed new techniques. I make a point that unlike some other instructors I make no claim that my techniques were handed down from Imi Lichtenfeld or from Moses on Mount Sinai. They are a product of my nearly 3 decades of training and experimentation.

I went looking for some actual footage of Mr. Charlie Nelson and found some.

I saw him demonstrate an escape from a rear choke. He showed two ways, what he called the right way and the wrong way. Remarkably the wrong way was the way most Krav Maga students do it, which is how they were taught. And Mr. Nelson's right way is practically identical to the one I developed!

Imagine that! He showed how the method of reaching behind and grabbing the fingers cannot work, while the method that was tried and proven over a period of 50 years in New York City is the way I teach it. "My cup runneth over".

Then he showed the common method (at that time) of defending vs. a knife threat to the back. He showed why it is highly unlikely to work. Again the method he preferred is the one that I developed about 30 years after this video of him was taken!

Something tells me I am on the correct path.

Insurance policy - Mr. Nelson made another excellent point, one I had never actually thought of, at least not in these terms. He said people take out all kinds of expensive insurance policies; home insurance, health insurance, etc. but the best insurance you can take is insuring yourself and your family with self defense skills!

He said you should invest in your family by training as a team; have the whole family train in self-defense. Truly inspiration words.

Try out our IKI DVD's, it may be the cheapest insurance plan yet. Even better, come to Israel and train with us.