The Mission

The mission of the Izzo Training Systems is as focused and direct as the training itself...to EDUCATE and EMPOWER women!  The purpose of Izzo Training Systems is to promote the importance of Women's Self Defense by means of the body's natural ability, movement, martial arts and fitness.

Through self defense training, students discover a basic, primal and powerful way to increase confidence, awareness and attitude!  With Izzo Training Systems self defense programs, you will achieve an empowered spirit, an unstoppable will and the conviction to adopt the maxim:

"Not a Victim...Not Today!"

 

Philosophy of Women’s Self Defense

During my career as a police officer I was present at the scenes of many victims of many different types of physical abuse, none being more upsetting that the sight of a female attacked.  It was seeing these traumatic events which prompted me to put to use both my training as a police officer and skill as a martial artist in creating a program to teaching women to protect themselves against physical violence.

Law Enforcement taught me about dealing with the aftermath of a physical attack and the frustration of knowing how difficult it is to prevent such horror.  Police show up to scenes of violence mostly after the crime has been committed. 

My mission is to simply teach self defense and give someone a chance to empower themselves in knowing they can end violence to their person or even stop it from happening at all. Having the thought of empowering yourself to overpower an attacker is the key to self defense.  Relying on technique alone is a misconception most women have when finishing a self defense class.

A friend of mine took a women’s self defense class a few years ago.  She was so excited after the class that she wanted to show us the new technique she had learned that proved to be effective and painful to an attacker.  She was confident in her application of the technique and she extended her arm and offered me her wrist to grab to demonstrate the move showing that she could defeat an attacker.  I reached out and placed one hand on her wrist…then my other hand around her throat.  She froze…she wasn’t expecting that.

We discussed how some women’s self defense programs are taught in blocks of instruction around specific techniques or set positions.  For example, women taught how to escape from underneath an attacker while on the ground will start in a position from underneath an attacker while on the ground and women taught to escape from a choke will start with an instructor placing their hand on the student’s throat…I pose the question of what happened for her to get knocked to the ground in the first place and how can we prevent a hand reaching the throat?

Techniques practiced by students of a women’s self defense class need to be practical, specific to the dynamics of an attack, assertive, effective AND real to life.  Violence, when personified, is chaotic and unpredictable.  Those employing self defense techniques must adopt the mindset that violence is a living concept. In the real world, you cannot calculate the physical strength of an attacker, his potentially altered mental state, or his willingness to commit to the violent attack he has initiated.

Izzo Training Systems does not teach its students particular tactics that are useful in particular circumstances.  Rather, you are taught tactics that work no matter the circumstance keeping in mind the only common denominator in any attack is YOU. An attack is the most brutal, ruthless, and unforgiving event that can ever happen to you.  In the real world, a person attacks someone for only one reason... because he thinks he can. Izzo Training Systems teaches students to become brutal, ruthless, and unforgiving towards an attacker by means of effective techniques and practical physical concepts. Unlike the setting of a traditional martial arts class held in rank, belts or code and creeds, Izzo Training Systems teaches students to achieve practicality and matter-of-fact-ness and make personal safety the highest rank or “black belt” of the class.

Not a Victim...Not Today!

Dominick Izzo
Lead Instructor
Izzo Training Systems