Focus of the film is not on demonstration but on instructional precision & delivery of fantastic details of lifesaving material. It is amazing how much information Vladimir can offer in compact 45 minutes package.
Every element of offered instructions is layered for various levels of viewer’s comprehension. Any h2h practitioner can appreciate this quality of information & enormity of exceptional insights.
Great work! Thank you!

Sergey Makarenko
Norcal Systema, Sacramento, CA

I am very happy the video of Vladimir Vasiliev's excellent 'Knife in a Fight' seminar is now available. So much was shared that weekend, it was difficult to recall all of the amazing drills and points Vladimir made during his demonstrations. This video helps me remember what was taught and to learn new information I missed the first time around. This is also a great supplement to the 'KNIFE Unconditional Mastery' and ‘Fundamentals of Knife Disarming’ DVDs.
Jonathan Han
DC Systema, Washington, DC

This new feature, 'Knife in a Fight', takes us from the fundamentals right through to the advanced variations and possibilities. There is a wealth of great drills for solo practice or indeed teaching a group.

One thing I particularly enjoyed was Vladimir's explanations and examples in the social side of knife conflicts. He demonstrated how attackers may sneak up on you, try to hug you or ask you a question before launching into an attack.

I have studied the topic of knife with Vladimir numerous times and watched all of his knife DVDs. This latest release definitely must be added to your collection, I highly recommend it.

Jamie Robson, Systema Scotland

He then demonstrated on me physically a dozen different prison knife killings that he had either observed or cleaned up after. The setup, the attack, the follow-through. Though he was a cheerful guy and it was all done with a smile, it was one of the most horrifying experiences of my life because I had no idea what was happening in any of the attacks. They came out of nowhere, I saw nothing, and all I felt was the total BAD INTENTIONS as his pseudo-blade (just a stick, because to him we were just playing around) impacted me over and over within less than a second.

These attacks were so incredibly sneaky in setup yet so natural in action that, cheesy as it may sound, I hesitate even to write them up in case somebody picks up on it and does it to somebody for real. From that moment to now I have had nothing but absolute fear and loathing on the subject of real world knife attacks.

But so what? After all, he was a corrections pro demonstrating a very specialized situation, right? Shank attacks at close quarters in a crowded, more or less locked down venue. No relevance to your life, as you aren't in prison and don't plan on going. But what I took away from it was that people who really know what they're doing, in prison or not, would go at you exactly as he'd shown. So now we get to KNIFE IN A FIGHT (I'll abbreviate it 'KIF' in this article), a new Russian Martial Art training video by Systema master instructor Vladimir Vasiliev.

I've watched many knife defense videos and done lots of edged weapon related training. But nobody hit my hot button, from my experience above, until in the introduction section of KIF, I heard Vladimir say:

"If you see a knife in his hand, lots of people have suggestions - to run away, grab, do something like that. Perfect, that's good - but sometimes the problem is that you didn't see the knife. Then it's already too late. When people start to stab you, it will be too late to run - or maybe you can, but not too far. You need to understand both how the knife came into his hand, and why you didn't see it."

Though I couldn't have articulated it so technically, that's a perfect statement of my feelings after undergoing the demonstration described in my opening. KIF is geared to the most realistic, most difficult, most frightening, most professional scenario. Why couldn't I see the attack? Why was I utterly unable to react?

KIF contains dozens of exercises clearly described, thoroughly and awesomely demonstrated, that will lead the viewer to an understanding of this horrifying topic that is far deeper than any other teaching material I've seen. Everything is laser-focused on how to develop the acute sensitivity that is your first and last defense and really your only salvation in a knife attack carried out with serious intent.

Vladimir's body effortlessly expresses that quality of extreme sensitivity in every one of the demo segments, but rather than hot-dog to impress (though it does), Vladimir always treats the demonstrations as his real-time teaching platform. He makes his crucial training commentary in the action context of unscripted movement. So the core integrated elements of this extremely fast, close, secretive, and subtle work (both attack and defense must be jointly understood to master the topic) are separately teased out for isolated inspection, and then reassembled in later drills.

Systema overall is an integrated method of full body/mind training and KIF reflects that. In my past Systema education, I've done some similar knife defense work in Toronto and Moscow sessions, but always in the broader context of Systema movement and combative principles in general. The beauty of KIF is that all the relevant work is collected in a seamlessly focused whole for the first time. I could go on and on listing the many dozens of KIF's training exercises, but that would miss the forest for the trees. You need to hear Vlad's real time commentary as he simultaneously presents the drills and demonstrates the work. It all adds up to the greatest contribution to the scariest topic in all martial arts, and I'm not kidding - experiencing a knife attack by a committed street-wise attacker is in fact THE scariest scenario that martial arts purports to deal with. KIF is the first program that really delivers. I have no doubt that KIF will end up actually saving people's lives who would otherwise die in such attacks.

Work you only see from Vladimir and as realistic as it gets.

As a seminar participant and instructor, it is great to have this material to review and share with my students. Vladimir captured a lot of depth in this video into the subtleties of relaxation and movement.

A great complement off Knife Mastery and Fundamentals of Knife Disarming.

Richard Mugica
Poznai Sebia Systema 33 (Bordeaux/Mérignac - France)

One of the best knife films I have seen, the instructions were clear, and very informative.

One of the great benifits that I found was the download version...
that was excellent.

It would be fantastic for more dowload videos like this and it was at a fantastic price as well.

Well done!

In 2003 I had drunk more than I should and committed domestic violence. Convicted I went to San Quentin in CA. While there my life was in great danger in a daily basis. But I continued practicing systema and had five encounters with individuals yielding "shanks". I suvive the ordeals and am glad to say, was it not for systema and knfe fighting skills, I would probably be a dead man today. Now that I'm out I Thank Vlad for his teachings and tapes, especially knife fighting..

I have watched it three times and have been absorbing it by teaching it in my regular classes and preparing to teach a seminar using the material.

Each time I go back to it I see something (well many things) new and understand it a little deeper.

It is like having Vlad in the room. It has all of Vlad's trademark clarity, humour, humanity and complete mastery of movement and teaching.

At this or any price don't think about it just get it.

Thanks Vlad for another amazing piece of magic.

This is just absolutely wonderful! At any time, I can pull out my phone and check out a small detail, a certain drill…it’s just so practical!

This was a really smart idea & I hope that you will be offering other videos like this in the future.

Also, once again, thanks so much for everything.

It was awesome!!! Great explanations & amazing demonstrations. Also very realistic drills and work. Great Video!

I guess there are more people like me who don't have an instructor nearby and all the videos are a great inspiration and bank of knowledge!
Cheers from Sweden.