Unarmed self-defense against an edged weapon is perhaps one of the most popular topics in the martial arts but it also one of the most dangerous. With the obvious dangers of the harm an edged weapon can do, the other danger lies in the nonsensical techniques that many martial arts instructors teach to their students that could lead to more trouble than expected and possibly even death.

In the following self-defense tutorial video, Grapplearts.com founder and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Stephan Kesting goes through the 3 silliest knife defense techniques he has seen taught by martial arts instructors.

The first technique they go through is the legendary X-block defense which is present in a lot of karate styles. The goal here is for to catch the attacking knife hand by putting your forearms in a literal X to catch the blade. One of the many problems with this technique is that its practice method doesn’t represent how someone actually attacks with a knife based on video evidence.

Check out the rest of the clip plus two even sillier moves below.

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Stephan Kestingis a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and has been doing martial arts for over 30 years. He is also certified instructor in Erik Paulson’s Combat Submission Wrestling, a black belt in Kajukenbo Karate, an instructor in Dan Inosanto’s Jun Fan JKD, Maphalindo Silat and Filipino Martial Arts program. He has also studied Japanese Judo, Russian Sambo, various Chinese Kung Fu systems, Brazilian Capoeira, Muay Thai, and many other martial arts systems.

He is the owner and operator of Grapplearts.com and Beginning BJJ.com and you can also follow him on his YouTube channel for regular updates.

Author: Nic is a designer and illustrator alongside being a martial arts enthusiast. You can find some of his illustrative work for purchase here.