The concept of economy of movement isn’t new to any martial artist. Many new student come in with the concept that longer the distance, the more power and hence they start off with exaggerated punches, kicks, etc. At some point in their training, however, most people will come across the concept of efficient and effective movements to defend as well as to attack an opponent.

This impact of efficiency in movement becomes much more apparent with weapons mostly because when dealing with sticks and especially knives, the consequences of exposing yourself to an attack are obviously much more material than getting punched.

When training with knives, one of the things I’ve tried to emphasize to my students has been, first no one who know what they’re doing with a knife, especially someone with bad intentions, is going to bring a knife out and flash it around. Most likely the knife with be hidden in a pocket or something until the opportune moment. If you’re not able to efficiently counter a knife in that situation because your hands are flailing all over the place… game over.

Same thing even if both parties have a blade out, if the opponent is a few inches closer, odds are, unless you’re lightning quick, you’re going to get cut first.

As much as I like to reserve teaching knife skills until students are move advanced, after about six month, I generally try to expose them to some knives because it teaches them the principles of the economy of movement. After using this as an example, I generally focus more on leg, hip and shoulder movements to help the body generate power rather than using just distance alone.