Curvy attacks

Dear friends,

In the past, I have often published articles about knife attacks, in this
case, however, it is more about a form of attack that is not only used in the use of weapons.
I am also not interested in presenting special defense techniques here, this contradicts the Systema approach, which states that each attack must be considered on its own and countered accordingly without schemata.

However, in the past I have often found at seminars that the encounter of curvy attacks (these include cuts with a knife, blows with objects or even swinging with the fist) very often causes problems when they are presented with energy.
In my opinion, this is not due to a lack of technical execution of the defense, but to a fundamental misjudgment of this form of attack and its consequences.

In many martial arts, a curvy attack is countered by extending it in the direction of attack, then continuing the attacking hand in front of one's own body and then neutralizing the attack. Similar movements can also be observed when attacking with a knife (cutting movement), a machete or attacks with stick-like objects. (very common in Aikido and related martial arts)

Unfortunately, this kind of encounter of such attacks is rarely compatible with reality.
A resolutely presented attack from the forward movement is difficult or impossible to redirect into a deflecting movement in front of one's own body. This is associated with the very high risk, especially in the case of armed attacks (knives), that the deflection movement cannot be guided in such a way that the weapon does not hit one's own body. This is especially true, if the attacker proceeds massively or intensifies his efforts when the defensive movement is detected.
This does not mean that such a movement cannot be successful, but one should be aware of the risks, especially in reality.

In sketch 1 you can see, that the path of the attacking body part (or worse of a weapon) crosses your own body during this deflection movement. If the opponent pushes forward strongly or is simply physically stronger, there is a risk that the attack will still reach its target.

Sketch 2 is a variant, in which the attacking body part does not cross the body. The defender takes on the attacking body part (arm) in a movement similar to a traditional block. However, the movement is not blocked, but you follow the attacking movement a bit inwards and then change it again outwards and past your own body. Due to the pressure that the attacker exerts, he usually loses his form during this movement and is susceptible to counterattacks. Most importantly, however, the path of attack does not cross one's own body, which can be very important, especially in knife attacks (cutting movements).

Sketch 1:

Sketch 2: