Our approach to edged weapons defense focuses much more on depth of knowledge than accumulation of techniques. All of the techniques employed are gross motor which helps to make them more easily accessible in the heat of a confrontation. If we try to rely too heavily on fine or complex motor skills we will be in trouble when things go bad.
The goal in any weapons defense program that has any connection to reality is to exit the situation as soon as possible. In many cases, those who claim to teach edged weapon defense pay lip service to avoidance and escape and then spend an inordinate amount of time showing intricate (and highly inappropriate) disarms and counters.
In
the Red Zone program escape is not an afterthought, it is the entire focus. This means that all of our techniques and training methods revolve around creating a window of escape at the earliest opportunity.
Having said that, there are definite hands on skills that can greatly reduce the amount of damage we suffer should we have to go hands on.
The main objective in our method (when escape is not an immediate possibility) is to gain control of the weapon bearing limb. This is achieved a few different ways depending on the type of attack. Once we have a hold of the weapon bearing limb we have to establish a dominant control position from which we can counter attack.
To this end we utilize a few different positions such as the baseball bat, and the modified 2-on-1 . These positions can be transitioned through to deal with the rapidly evolving situation much in the same way Brazilian Jiu Jitsu utilizes positional control in order to strike and submit. Once a control position has be achieved, we can work to attack the attacker and end the confrontation.
Beyond the physical aspects of the program, we also work to dispel common myths regarding knife defense (we will get to some of these later). Also covered is force on force training and dealing with various types of static attacks (knife at throat etc.) .
Jerry Wetzel
Jerry Wetzel is the founder of Red Zone Threat Management. He has been training exclusively in reality-based combat for over 15 years.
In 1999, he founded Centerline Gym; an organization dedicated exclusively to researching the realities of violence and developing tools and tactics to deal with them. He has appeared in magazines and numerous instructional videos.
Jerry is dedicated to discovering the TRUTH in combat. Not the fantasy of combat, not the Hollywood image of combat, and not the ritual of combat. To do this, he believes it is of utmost importance to take biological, psychological, emotional, and behavioral factors into account and then apply them to a resisting opponent under realistic conditions.
Jerry Wetzel om T3 Självskydd
”Recently I had the privilege of being hosted by Robert to teach both a Red Zone Knife Defense Instructor course as well as a public seminar. I was immediately impressed by how organized things were. Robert is on top of things and managed to juggle attendance issues, visiting attendees, and my own schedule in a deft manner.
What I was most impressed with was his energy and enthusiasm. We trained a total of 23 hours over 3 days and Robert was on the mat for all of it. It was clear that he has a great training background and mindset and he asked great questions which is a key indicator of an insightful instructor. Under Robert’s guidance I would recommend T3 to anyone in the area. This was a great experience and I look forward to the next trip out there.”
Jerry Wetzel, Founder of Red Zone Threat Management
T3 Självskydd om Red Zone
”Vi hade hört att RZ Knife Defense var ett fungerande försvarssystem mot kniv som man kan lära sig på 2 timmar och en instruktörkurs på endast 10 timmar… Är det möjligt frågade vi oss… Efter att ha tränat med Jerry och genomgått instruktörsutbildningen för Red Zone Knife Defense så kan vi i alla fall konstatera att det är det bästa vi stött på hittills på området.
Upplägget (teknikerna, taktiken och träningsmetodiken) uppfyller våra krav på att vara enkelt, realistiskt och funktionellt. Inga garantier men helt i linje med vårt motto ”Minska riskerna, öka chanserna”. Det som var särskilt intressant var ”problemlösningen” som Jerry gjort en del av träningen och det märks att man har lagt mycket tid på att hitta lösningar på olika problem som kan och med största sannolikhet kommer dyka upp i en skarp situation.
Vi ser fram emot nästa tillfälle att få ta del av Jerry’s kunskaper och erfarenheter inom en snar framtid och rekommenderar alla som har möjlighet att också göra det.”
T3 SJÄLVSKYDD
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