A major factor in gaining self empowerment is confidence in your ability to defend yourself. This is a big reason why women’s self defense courses are continuing to gain popularity around the country and throughout the world. The Sparks Tribune reports on this in a recent article titled “Women’s self defense takes a visible role in Sparks, Reno.”

Jen Simmons of the Sparks Tribune writes, “With one in four women facing the potential of being sexually assaulted in their lifetime, according to the American Women’s Self Defense Association, equipping individuals with self-defense tools might as well be considered a community service. So what is the Sparks and Reno community doing to help women become better equipped to meet an assailant? KAIA F.I.T., a women’s-specific fitness program with one of several locations in Sparks, has offered women’s self-defense workshops with former MMA fighter Rick Reeves, whose most recent win took place in April against James Terry. In April, Reeves also hosted the first workshop for KAIA where he taught 40 women the basics of self-defense. But KAIA F.I.T. owner Nathalie Atwell admits it was too short and invited Reeves to come back. Reeves came again this past weekend for a longer event, teaching 45 women and children his variation of the RAD acronym in self-defense; Respond to the threat; Attack to disable the attacker; Dash (run or leave).”

One of the things many of these self defense courses incorporate is knife training. Man Cave Daily profiles a woman who has received plenty of such training in a recent article titled “The Unstoppable Chanel Ryan.” According to Brendan McGinley of Man Cave Daily, “CR: I am! Full-on weapons training. It originally came out of a need for…I had a problem with a stalker, actually. And I was scared of guns originally. The fear came from not knowing how to use them. So I had a need to learn and learn very quickly because my life was in danger and I discovered I’m a great shot and I’m really good at it. I have a little bit of hand-to-hand training, knife training, but my specialty really lies in handguns, ARs, the whole thing. If I ever have time, we’re planning on doing a series of training videos. Everything from how to clear a room, how to clean a weapon…some guys have successfully put them out, but as far as I know, never a woman. I think there’s a need for it.”

If you’re looking to get into knife training and want a trusted weapon, you could use the Strike Back Emergency Knife from Armory Replicas. This knife features a nylon cord lanyard to wear around your neck or you can take the nylon cord and lace the sheath into your boot for a boot knife. It has even slits in the sheath to add straps to strap your knife to your leg. The dagger is constructed of stainless steel with a black finish and double edge. It has a fuller that runs down the center to lighten the blade. Also, the handle has been rubberized so you can keep a tight grip on your blade in any condition. Furthermore, at the end of the pommel a glass breaker is featured in case of emergencies. Lastly, the sheath is made of ABS and comes with flint for camp fires.

Whatever replica armory needs you might have, you can’t go wrong with Armory Replicas!