Locals are learning how to use knives for self defense

IDAHO FALLS — A local man is teaching people how to use a knife to protect themselves from being attacked.

Adam Boyce is an instructor for Martial Blade Concepts. On his trip around the state, he stopped in Idaho Falls Saturday, July 14, to teach a class of 30 men and women at the Martial Arts Academy in Idaho Falls the basics of stopping an attacker.

“We focus more on the logical aspects of using a knife,” Boyce told EastIdahoNews.com. “Instead of waiting for someone to bleed out, we focus on targets. So, I’m going to focus on the quickest methods to stop the attacker.”

Martial Blade Concepts is a system developed by Michael Janich and his analysis of Filipino martial arts and various other systems.

“We worked on the basic counters to a knife attack,” Boyce said about Saturday’s class. “By using pork and (we) showed what a knife will do on flesh.”

Boyce taught the class how to target specific areas of an attacker’s body that can stop the attack quickly and taught various techniques and drills to help the class practice their new skills.

“One of the advantages to a knife is it doesn’t take as much effort to cut as you would think it would,” Boyce explained. “They say it takes about five pounds of pressure to cut through human anatomy. So, it doesn’t take a lot of strength to do it so it really levels the playing field.”

Boyce has even created his own design for a knife that, he says, is one of the best for self-defense.

“One of the advantages you’re looking for in blades is you want something that has a straight edge so when their cutting it will amplify that cut,” he said. “A lot of traditional knives that have that belly (curved portion of the blade), kind of like you’ll see with hunters when their skinning, that belly in the blade will actually limit the depth of a cut.”

It is not uncommon for people in eastern Idaho to carry a gun for self-defense. Boyce explained there are advantages and disadvantages to carrying a gun or a knife. He then went on to demonstrate how carrying a knife in close quarters may offer an advantage when facing someone with a gun.

However, that advantage can be lost when there is enough distance between the person carrying the knife and the person carrying a gun.

“If you are a concealed carrier, you can use a gun when you do these drills,” Boyce said.

He then demonstrated a couple of methods one might use if they are carrying a gun and facing someone with a knife in close quarters.

Boyce said he has upcoming classes in Pocatello, Rexburg, Twin Falls and Portland, Oregon. He said anyone who is interested in the class, and taking a look at the knife he designed, can go to his website, spartanmode.com.