Lack of Realistic Training in today’s Defensive Knife Courses   by: Ron Lauinger, Combative Instructor. www.LMIInc.com Defensive knife tactics are an underrated necessary skill. In today’s world where the criminal is better trained and more determined than ever before, one must be skilled both physical and mentally to face these new challenges and go home at the end of each day. In order for someone to acquire these skills, one must seek out and train with instructors which teach effective, real world defensive techniques. Today’s defensive community is plagued with unrealistic training techniques as well as unproven training techniques. Many instructors teach techniques which are ineffective in real life street fights. These techniques are praised upon by the instructors, yet students have no way of determining if these techniques are really effective. This is extremely dangerous as the student may depend on these skills one day to save their life, the life of a friend or partner. Techniques that look ‘devastating’ in a dojo, training video or on TV most often do not work on the streets.  Real Attackers are fast, furious, and they are determined to either hurt you, or kill you. Most trainers pair up students, each knowing when and how to attack. Then, both students move slowly so that each student has time to move and react. This is great for basic training when understanding the fundamentals is essential; however, to train for‘real life survival’, training MUST escalate to unknown, full speed attacks. Most techniques seen today depend mostly on either fine motor skills, which are seriously depleted when your heart starts racing, or the student must practice the technique for years to acquire the proficiencies required to perform the technique correctly. Students must understand that when faced with a Real Attacker, one that actually wants to hurt you, that you must act fast, without remorse, and the techniques you use must immediately stop the attack. Your heart will be racing, your blood pressure will increase dramatically, and your body will go through many changes. Some of these changes include; a reduction in your vision, loss of hearing, and most importantly, your ability to think and manipulate your extremities. Techniques must be simple, and must be ingrained through repetitive practice, both physically and mentally, so if ever attacked, you will instinctively react, stopping the attack. Proving that techniques are effective is especially true when learning techniques against edged weapons.  Edged weapons are extremely dangerous and applying techniques that don’t work is a tactical liability, and can get you and others killed. Several years ago I started substituting training knifes for large Crayola Markers. These markers would leave a mark on the attacked if the defensive technique wasn’t applied correctly. This was a great way of training, however, the markers were constantly breaking, and wasn’t professional looking, or effective as a reality based training tool, as markers do not feel or act the same way as a blade. Only the tip of the marker would leave a mark, where a blade has an edge as well as a point, letting it cut in many directions. I also tried using chalk on the edge of training knifes, which worked similar to using markers, but the mark was hard to see and needed to be re-applied to the blades constantly. Then I read an article about Hank Hayes and No Lie Blades, a company which manufactures training knifes and provides tactical combat training to Military, Law Enforcement and civilians. There training knives use ink or paint on their felt lined knifes that leaves marks, much like what I was use to. I went to there website at nolieblades.com, I found it very informative and quite different from many other websites. Their training knifes looked professional, and the marks that were seen in the article left no doubt that the knife made contact and a defensive technique in fact failed. I called No Lie Blades and reached Hank Hayes the CEO and ordered two of their ‘Standard Series, Double Edged Knife kits’. I received the No Lie Blades several days later, along with two instructional knife defense DVD’s and several tubes of lipstick. That same week I held a Defensive Knife Course. Before class started, I prepped the knives as stated in the directions. I was extremely impressed with both the quality of the No Lie Blade training knives as well as the incredible deep red (blood like) mark that these training blades left. There was no doubt when the blade made contact. It was also possible to clean the felt and use them as regular training knifes without them leaving their mark on the defender. During class I noticed an immediate change in the student’s attitude as they were amazed with the product as well, and they simply hated getting marked by them. Several of the students have had defensive knife instruction before, from another instructor, and realized that they had a lot more to learn than they had previously thought. This made the student try much harder ‘Not’ to get marked. The students moved faster, and they took training more seriously. The students seemed to learn the techniques much faster than with previous training blades. The No Lie Blades training knives greatly enhanced my combat skills and helped provide the immediate proof that the students needed. I have purchased several more of these training knives from No Lie Blades and use them religiously in my training curriculum. These are high quality training knifes, easy to use, feels great in the hands and there mark leaves no doubt that they made contact, these blades DO NOT LIE.  For more information, click picture