Inverted Edge Tactics is the first edged weapon skill set based solely on anatomy and the human response to stress, instead of military need or cultural martial arts. It has one purpose, and that is to allow the average person with minimal training to cut an attacker off of them.
The human arm is only capable of three movements-
1. Swinging (typical slashing movements)
2. Pulling
3. Pushing (typical stabbing movements)
Early on, while teaching edged weapons, before IET, I would often be the bad guy during force on force. During our folder into the fight drill, I would be hitting students with boxing gloves while they attempted to draw a folder from their person and defend themselves. It was a drill and not a scenario, meaning that there was no use of force decision for them to make. They just had to get the knife out and get me off of them. After several cuts/stabs, I would stop the drill and evaluate my injuries.
Over the last few years, I have had everyone from complete novices to highly trained people. Many who are highly trained in edged weapons are used to doing lots of knife on knife work. Typical wisdom is that even though any cut is a good cut, a stab is preferred over a cut. This is on the premise that it does more damage and is more likely to cause death.
What we found doing the drill was that when people are being assaulted, especially if they are being pushed backwards, their brain becomes more focused on the natural movement of the hands and less on what is in it. When we are pushed backwards, our hands automatically go up and out to the side in an attempt to regain our balance. For another easy to understand but natural example is something else we have all experienced, a bug in our face. What do you do when there is a bug in your face? You swat at it, you don't poke (stab) at it. The bug is close, on top of you, taking away your depth perception and visualization of the attack. Your brain knows that the best way to hit something is to use the entire hand to swat to cover the most space increasing the likelihood of striking the bug. It usually works. You hit the bug, the amount of damage is far from guaranteed though. The same thing holds true when armed with a knife defending against an attacker who is continuing to damage you. With the knife in your hand, you will no doubt make contact and even knock/push the bad guy away.
What we found when evaluating the injuries to me and other bad guys was that about 90% of the cuts were to the outside of our upper arms and across our stomach. Every once in a while maybe a face slash. Seldom was there anything that would stop a dedicated attacker from continuing the assault, at least it would allow the attack to continue for several more seconds to minutes. These were the findings for just about everyone, no matter their level of training.
Now when you take those with a high skill level and put them at arms distance against someone else who has a knife, the training shows through. The trained "knifer" owns the other guy. He has the range and distance to pick and choose where he wants to stab. He can even target the knife hand of the attacker. The problem with this is that there is very few documented knife on knife combat, at least in the US. Once they move back into clinch range, things go back to slashing.
With the traditional grip on the knife, there was really not a lot we could do. The grip only allowed for swinging and pushing. At contact distance there was not enough room between the combatants to line blade up with the attacker push (stab) the knife into vital areas. Due to the close proximity, it was also hard to aim for specific targets. When they would revert to swinging (slashing), the results were as I previously stated.
By inverting the knife in the hand, hammer grip around the handle with blade up, we restricted the hand to pulling movement. The arm is approximately 30% stronger when pulling than pushing. Picture taking your knife and using it to cut a piece of rope, but pulling the blade towards you. That is the idea of using your anatomy for IET. Now, let's talk about your attacker's anatomy.
Our body's are very well protected from the head to the feet. There are no sharp angles to catch on. Think of the way water runs down your body in the shower. All of our major organs and arteries are protected when we are in the fetal position. When we look at the body from the toes to the head, we notice three primary "targeting funnels".
1. The V formed between the head and shoulders.
2. The V formed between the rib cage and upper arms.
3. The V formed between the legs.
Two secondary targets utilized in defending from the ground are the back of the knee, and Achilles tendon.
There is a term I coined called "The Law of Extension". Simply put, it means that there is no way someone can attack you with a contact distance weapons (open hand, stick, knife) without extending their head, arms, and legs towards you. They have to expose the targeting funnels.
With firearms, we all know the benefit of shoot / don't shoot training. How do we accomplish cut / don't cut training? This is easy if you are training knife vs knife. The other guy is an obvious deadly threat. I see the knife more likely to be employed by someone who is being overwhelmed with an open hand or impact weapon assault. Maybe losing consciousness from having their head smashed off the wall or ground. In this case, you will have to use your knife to cut the attacker off of you. Your knife is likely carried near the waistline. Once open it will come up and under your attacker. It will naturally funnel into the crotch and armpit area. You simply set the hook and pull. The natural human response to pain is to pull away, as they do it creates a scissor effect ripping arteries, veins,muscles, and tendons. These areas are super vascular. In one ripping cut, you are likely to damage the attacker to the point that they are unable or unwilling to continue the attack, allowing you not to continue to use force.
A very common problem when using open hands and contact distance weapons is over extending and using balance. When using IET this is not such an issue because you are always pulling back in towards your center.
Though some are more comfortable, there is no special knife needed for IET. Lock type does not make a difference since the knife is held open by the pull of the cut. We do recommend the Spyderco Endura/Delica because of availability of a drone/trainer. IET is based on folders, but will work equally well with fixed blades.
Think of IET as fighting from the position you are likely to find yourself in, not the one you plan on being in.
IET Video MODERN COMBATIVE SYSTEMS - Inverted Edge Tactics Teaser Video
The human arm is only capable of three movements-
1. Swinging (typical slashing movements)
2. Pulling
3. Pushing (typical stabbing movements)
Early on, while teaching edged weapons, before IET, I would often be the bad guy during force on force. During our folder into the fight drill, I would be hitting students with boxing gloves while they attempted to draw a folder from their person and defend themselves. It was a drill and not a scenario, meaning that there was no use of force decision for them to make. They just had to get the knife out and get me off of them. After several cuts/stabs, I would stop the drill and evaluate my injuries.
Over the last few years, I have had everyone from complete novices to highly trained people. Many who are highly trained in edged weapons are used to doing lots of knife on knife work. Typical wisdom is that even though any cut is a good cut, a stab is preferred over a cut. This is on the premise that it does more damage and is more likely to cause death.
What we found doing the drill was that when people are being assaulted, especially if they are being pushed backwards, their brain becomes more focused on the natural movement of the hands and less on what is in it. When we are pushed backwards, our hands automatically go up and out to the side in an attempt to regain our balance. For another easy to understand but natural example is something else we have all experienced, a bug in our face. What do you do when there is a bug in your face? You swat at it, you don't poke (stab) at it. The bug is close, on top of you, taking away your depth perception and visualization of the attack. Your brain knows that the best way to hit something is to use the entire hand to swat to cover the most space increasing the likelihood of striking the bug. It usually works. You hit the bug, the amount of damage is far from guaranteed though. The same thing holds true when armed with a knife defending against an attacker who is continuing to damage you. With the knife in your hand, you will no doubt make contact and even knock/push the bad guy away.
What we found when evaluating the injuries to me and other bad guys was that about 90% of the cuts were to the outside of our upper arms and across our stomach. Every once in a while maybe a face slash. Seldom was there anything that would stop a dedicated attacker from continuing the assault, at least it would allow the attack to continue for several more seconds to minutes. These were the findings for just about everyone, no matter their level of training.
Now when you take those with a high skill level and put them at arms distance against someone else who has a knife, the training shows through. The trained "knifer" owns the other guy. He has the range and distance to pick and choose where he wants to stab. He can even target the knife hand of the attacker. The problem with this is that there is very few documented knife on knife combat, at least in the US. Once they move back into clinch range, things go back to slashing.
With the traditional grip on the knife, there was really not a lot we could do. The grip only allowed for swinging and pushing. At contact distance there was not enough room between the combatants to line blade up with the attacker push (stab) the knife into vital areas. Due to the close proximity, it was also hard to aim for specific targets. When they would revert to swinging (slashing), the results were as I previously stated.
By inverting the knife in the hand, hammer grip around the handle with blade up, we restricted the hand to pulling movement. The arm is approximately 30% stronger when pulling than pushing. Picture taking your knife and using it to cut a piece of rope, but pulling the blade towards you. That is the idea of using your anatomy for IET. Now, let's talk about your attacker's anatomy.
Our body's are very well protected from the head to the feet. There are no sharp angles to catch on. Think of the way water runs down your body in the shower. All of our major organs and arteries are protected when we are in the fetal position. When we look at the body from the toes to the head, we notice three primary "targeting funnels".
1. The V formed between the head and shoulders.
2. The V formed between the rib cage and upper arms.
3. The V formed between the legs.
Two secondary targets utilized in defending from the ground are the back of the knee, and Achilles tendon.
There is a term I coined called "The Law of Extension". Simply put, it means that there is no way someone can attack you with a contact distance weapons (open hand, stick, knife) without extending their head, arms, and legs towards you. They have to expose the targeting funnels.
With firearms, we all know the benefit of shoot / don't shoot training. How do we accomplish cut / don't cut training? This is easy if you are training knife vs knife. The other guy is an obvious deadly threat. I see the knife more likely to be employed by someone who is being overwhelmed with an open hand or impact weapon assault. Maybe losing consciousness from having their head smashed off the wall or ground. In this case, you will have to use your knife to cut the attacker off of you. Your knife is likely carried near the waistline. Once open it will come up and under your attacker. It will naturally funnel into the crotch and armpit area. You simply set the hook and pull. The natural human response to pain is to pull away, as they do it creates a scissor effect ripping arteries, veins,muscles, and tendons. These areas are super vascular. In one ripping cut, you are likely to damage the attacker to the point that they are unable or unwilling to continue the attack, allowing you not to continue to use force.
A very common problem when using open hands and contact distance weapons is over extending and using balance. When using IET this is not such an issue because you are always pulling back in towards your center.
Though some are more comfortable, there is no special knife needed for IET. Lock type does not make a difference since the knife is held open by the pull of the cut. We do recommend the Spyderco Endura/Delica because of availability of a drone/trainer. IET is based on folders, but will work equally well with fixed blades.
Think of IET as fighting from the position you are likely to find yourself in, not the one you plan on being in.
IET Video MODERN COMBATIVE SYSTEMS - Inverted Edge Tactics Teaser Video
