How to block a knife attack?

There are a lot of different ways to block or stop a bladed weapon. In this particular topic, I am going to discuss blocking a knife or an attack with what we called your empty hand when dealing with knife to knife situation. If you are a right-handed fighter and fight with the knife in your right hand, then you will basically utilize your left (non-weapon bearing) hand to block the given attack. You will block with the back of the hand instead of exposing the inside part of your hand. The blocking part, utilizing the back part of your hand gives you a chance to eventually later on redirect, control, and/or counter-grab the attacking hand to where you can then can execute a counter-attack finishing technique after you block their attack.

In the video below, you will see that practicing of a drill called “Palitan Drill ” (meaning “giving and taking” also known as driver and passenger roles in Filipino Martial Arts world) will teach you how to recognize a given angle and also counter the attack accordingly. In this particular video, you will see that when I block a downward angle, then I give him back a counter-strike of the same angle of attack. If he gives me a 10 o’clock to 4 o’clock angle (diagonal angle from the left side), then I gave him back the same 10 o’clock to 4 o’clock strike that I just received. A Palitan drill like this is called a “Patterned Palitan Drill” because we follow the same strike pattern executed by the partner. This is a particularly easy-to-follow drill because it does not require you to counter-strike differently. You just have to give the same angle of attack and follow the leader. You will also notice that the video example below demonstrates a particular blocking system of using “only” your empty hand when blocking (aka “Kamay” = means “hand”). This gives you a chance to be able to strengthen your response time when using your empty hand as a blocking tool for any given knife attack. This is useful when you are in the middle of drawing your weapon and have to deal with the oncoming attack. Your empty hand (non-weapon bearing) will block the attack while your other hand pulls your own knife out to apply a counterattack to the assailant once your knife has been properly deployed.

Eventually, this drill will be practiced in what we call Palitan Flow Drill. This is a free-flow drill when you no longer follow a set pattern and counter-strike with any angle of attack after taking any strike from your partner. Your partner might give you a downward strike BUT after blocking the given attack, you can then go ahead and counter-strike the attacker with either an upward angle, downward angle, or diagonal angle of your choice. This Palitan free-flow drill will give you a chance actually be able to recognize and get familiarized yourself with different angles of attacks and counter-attacks accordingly to what you feel is the best option for you!

I hope that you enjoy the video below and can learn from it. Practice it slowly and look out for different angles of attack. Eventually, try to learn to counter-strike and do this Palitan drill in a flow-like pattern instead of a regular patterned drill. Good luck with your training in one of the most practical self-defense in the world – The Filipino Martial Arts of Arnis, Kali, and Escrima!