I’m willing to bet that almost all of us women, at some point in our lives, have attended a self-defense class. Whether it was in a high school gym class, on a sorority retreat or even offered to females in your workplace, there are plenty of classes out there aiming to help women protect themselves from an attack. In these classes, they probably taught you techniques or “moves” to get you out from underneath an attacker or release you from his grip. But, did they ever discuss the moral affect of striking another person? Or tell you that if an attacker has made contact with you it’s actually a good thing?

Then your class wasn’t taught by Dominick Izzo. Izzo, founder of Izzo Training Systems, retired from the police force when he knew he wasn’t doing as much good as he had intended to when he became a police officer. “I was always stepping into these terrible situations after the fact. I wanted to show people that the common denominator in any violent act is them,” says Izzo.

We were lucky enough last week to find out about a free class being give by Izzo (produced by our friends at Raymi Productions) Izzo doesn’t really like to call what he teaches “self defense” but knows that’s what most people would file his class under. He believes that if you are trained properly, you will be in a position of offense, not defense, in an attack. And, because of that, no matter what the outcome, you will never be a victim.

He believes that many self defense classes fall short of preparing women for a real world attack. “By teaching such specific techniques, they do not take into account that every attack is going to be different and you need to be flexible if you want to survive,” he says. And, by flexible he does not mean you need to lift your legs behind your head.

He explains himself by sharing a story of his friend who was excited to share with him a technique she had learned to stop an attacker. She told Izzo to grab her wrist and she would escape. Izzo did grab her wrist as requested, but used his other arm to grab her throat. Suddenly, the woman did not know how to react since grabbing her throat was not part of her programmed technique. Since violent attacks are often very unpredictable, Izzo stresses that you need to be ready for anything and have the ability to roll with the punches (pun intended, pardon my poor taste). By teaching women the more general concepts of things like position and posturing, he is able to give them the tools they need to respond to a real life attack, no matter what the circumstances.

One of these concepts, which may be counterintuitive at first, is to not run away if your attacker makes contact. By going away from an attacker, you put yourself in a defensive position. Instead, you are better off facing your attacker, centering your body with his (or hers) and basically flipping the switch and attacking them first.

Izzo stresses the mental aspect of an attack just as much, if not more than, the physical. He says to tap into that instinct that allows women to protect their children at all costs, what he calls “grrrr.” He is also a big fan of “colorful expletives” shouted at an attacker. Izzo says that in the real world “a person attacks someone for one reason, they think they can.” If you can get down to his level and become as brutal and ruthless as the attacker himself, you stand a good chance of coming out of the situation unharmed. 

For more info on the Izzo Training System and where and to take classes, go to www.Izzo-Training.com.

This event was hosted by Raymi Productions, a boutique event consultancy. Raymi is known for hosting amazing free events (everything from this self defense class to shopping events). For more info on Raymi or to sign up for their newsletter, visit www.raymiproductions.com.

(Lacey Brenly)