I have spent the last few weeks organising an AMOK! knife-fighting workshop in Auckland. It all came together on Saturday, with a group of us getting together for lunch (during which we discussed individual background, skill level, and expectations), followed by an intense three-hour introduction to the AMOK! system.

The system itself was great - rational, task-focused, with Ian providing clear instruction and above all useful explanations of why particular techniques should be employed, and the underlying physiology and psychology. The instruction was very much hands on, with students encouraged to learn by experimentation. The very first thing we did upon arrival (after the usual administrivia like signing waivers) was square off with training knives and spar for a few minutes.

As Ian was fond of saying, "there is no bad way to kill your opponent, only good ways, and better ways." So we'd learn a technique, practice it, and then learn a refinement, and practice that.

Sparring was quite physical, with only two rules ("there are no rules", and "cheat to win"). If a student dropped his training knife, either during sparring or practice, he became fair game: everyone else was encouraged to drop what they were doing and rush to attack the unarmed student. This is intended to provoke an adrenaline response in the student being attacked, to enhance the realism of the training, to encourage students to hang onto their knives, and to encourage peripheral awareness - and believe me, it does all of those admirably

One of the things I noticed was how a knife worked as an equaliser; Vivian, despite being smaller, lighter, and physically weaker than most of the people there, more than held her own once armed. On the basis of what I've seen (and the 'cuts' I received from Vivian in training), I can strongly recommend AMOK! as a reality-based self defense system for women.

Of course, actual knife fighting is only one of the components of AMOK! - the assumption is that if you're fighting someone, then you've already done something wrong. Awareness, body language, de-escalation all play a part in AMOK! - although we only touched on them briefly in the constraint of a three-hour workshop. AMOK! also encourages the training in and use of expedient weapons - anything from a rolled-up newspaper to a hardback book has a self-defense application.

If you get the opportunity, I strongly recommend you attend an AMOK! workshop or seminar. There will hopefully be a regular class / study group in Auckland; I'll post details as they become available.

From left to right: Ian (the AMOK! instructor), Julian, me, Jason (crouching), Cheen, John, and Vivian.