Self-defense pro says pepper spray is not enough protection :: 02/16/2016

Local self-defense experts say relying on a stun gun or pepper spray is not enough to truly keep yourself safe from a potential attacker.

It's dark. You're alone walking to your car at night. It can be an unsettling feeling for anyone, especially women.

There are all kinds of products on the market you can carry to make you feel safer; but for some women, their best defense is training. "If I'm attacked by someone who does not have a weapon, I'm going to fight him."

"If I'm attacked by someone who does not have a weapon, I'm going to fight him."

That may sound like a bold statement. But Julie Sandberg knows what she is saying. She got her start 20 years ago, after taking a self-defense seminar. She has never stopped training in martial arts.

Her skills,  and most of all her confidence, were put to the test the night a man tried to follow her out of a store. She says she put her hand on the door to leave, then gave the man a stern and serious look.

"He put his head down and went back in," she recalls. "I demonstrated I am not the person. Don't do it."

Julie didn't have to throw a single punch that night. But now she makes sure to spread the word that women do not have to be victims. 

In one exercise, Julie demonstrates how to disarm an attacker threatening you with a knife. She puts quick pressure on each side of his wrist, forcing the knife out of his hand. With each round she practices, John Morrow is preaching muscle memory.

"Repetition. Repetition. Repetition," he says with a laugh. "It takes time and work. Kung fu means time and work."  The practice trains the body to react before you realize anything is happening.

What he doesn't want is for women to rely on crutches, like pepper spray or stun guns.

He says it is all about readiness and reflexes.

"If you have to reach for something, it could already be too late," he says.

http://wqad.com/2016/02/15/self-defense-pro-says-pepper-spray-is-not-enough-protection/