How does BGZ train you for knifefighting?

[MonkeySlap Too]

I'm curious - would not the emphasis on Chan San Jin expose your bleeders? Do you practice with modern weapons or do you practice only 'classical' weapons?

[Chris McKinley]

Put simply, no. I practice and teach Baguazhang for real world combat. I'm also one of the few on this forum who has faced actual bladed combat more than once. I also have the perspective of being a Kali instructor as well. IME, I've found that the addition, and sometimes substitution, of Baguazhang methods and principles made my already devastating blade art of Kali even more functional for real world use. The conservation of momentum that comes with moving along curves and arcs rather than the stop-start-stop of purely linear motion is a major factor. While I realize that Kali does already employ certain circular movement methods, nothing makes a specialty of it like Bagua does.

Additionally, since the blade is a contact rather than impact weapon, the ungodly fast strikes and redirections of motion possible with keeping the limbs untensed and using the waist as the power generator (a la Neijia arts) yields not only deceptively powerful pounds/thrust over tiny distances, it also does it all while keeping the blade oriented toward the opponent at all times, should one choose. This maximizes the speed of the straight thrust, obviously, but it also makes possible the use of very powerful oblique angle attacks with very small arcs and therefore minimal visual cue to the opponent.

As to your last question, yes....I only train for real world modern bladed weapons since that is what I have used/will have in any actual street encounter. IMO, using Baguazhang with bladed weapons is optimal with fixed blades that have a hilt-point balance and are generally 5-7 inches in blade length.