About the Instructor
Ria is passionate about self defense and empowering those who need it the most through positive and realistic training.
As a cybersecurity professional and a kravist, tactical and strategic defense is both her career and her hobby.
Ria is a black belt in krav maga and has over 10 years combined experience in krav maga, boxing, muay thai, jiu jitsu, and judo.
She likes being physically active and consistently attends self-defense and martial arts seminars. She believes that cross training in different martial arts and self defense platforms gives her first hand experience of the myriad of styles of training, teaching, and techniques - what works and why.
Ria is also an active volunteer / civil first responder for organizations such as Operation Underground Railroad, Mutual Ground, Women's At Risk, Samaritan's Purse and others.
Ria is a United States Krav Maga Association certified instructor and affiliate. A certified rape prevention instructor, founding member for Janie's Fund, and is currently the Executive Director for American Women's Self Defense Association.
Curriculum
Level 1 Curriculum
Level 2 Curriculum
Level 3 Curriculum
Level 4 Curriculum
Level 5 Curriculum
United States Krav Maga Association
The United States Krav Maga Association’s techniques are, we believe, the most battle tested, most up to date and most effective self-defense techniques you’ll find in any system. We tweak, change and add to our curriculum continuously. We aren’t locked into a system that honors a founder, we want to keep people safe and teach the best, easiest to learn, easiest to recall and most effective techniques possible. We want the fewest answers to the most questions…for example, our handgun and knife disarms are basically one technique that can be used in several situations and scenarios (our cupping handgun technique works if the handgun is from the front, side, we are on our knees, we are mounted, the gunman is standing over us as we are on the ground, etc). Having one technique to remember under stress is magic. After saying all of this about our techniques please note that Krav Maga isn’t about techniques. It is a philosophy based system.
Self-defense (to us in the USKMA) is the ability to have our ‘flinch’ reaction take us from overwhelmed, terrified and uncomprehending to going forward with hatred and rage to do the most damage in the minimum amount of time possible. Krav Maga’s techniques will not save anyone, they are not magic. Techniques will degrade under stress and exhaustion… a bunch! Mixing our techniques (which are easy to learn, easy to remember, use gross, whole body motions and are designed to do as much damage as possible) with going off like a bomb bringing out all the anger and rage we can muster is the best chance any of us have at surviving violence. Ask any law enforcement officer whom they would rather face; 1) a very proficient and talented martial artist or 2) some crazy who wants to claw off their face and chew on their eyes. They would much rather face the martial artist every time. If we can be both the crazy person and be proficient with our techniques we will be a scary opponent indeed.
We bring this out in our classes by not just learning techniques but by putting what we learn under stress and exhaustion. We run drills in our class that wear students out and push them to where most people would quit. At that point it is all heart that gets them through and heart on the street is worth more than any technique or system. We train this way because we will be much safer on the street when it’s for real and we have that “been there, done that” feeling. Criminals use violence as a weapon, we must perfect that weapon and wield it better than they do.
Contact us for:
Women’s Self-Defense Seminars
Private/One-on-One Self-Defense Training
Men/Women Group Self-Defense Seminars
Age Group:
13-17 with a parent
18 and older
Principles of Krav Maga
Krav Maga is a tactical mixed-martial art/combative and self-defense system that combines boxing, judo, jujitsu, and aikido. In recent years, other martial arts have been incorporated into Krav Maga such as Muay Thai and Wing Chun.
Neutralize the threat. The primary goal in Krav Maga is to neutralize your threat as quickly as possible. This overarching goal governs all the other principles of Krav Maga. Because your aim is to dominate and incapacitate your attacker as soon as possible, pretty much anything goes in Krav Maga. You can’t worry about fighting etiquette when your life's on the line. You do whatever you have to do to preserve your life.
Keep it simple. There aren’t katas or patterns in Krav Maga. Just strikes, holds, and blocks. Krav Maga was designed so that it could be put to use as soon as possible.
Simultaneous defense and attack. Many martial arts treat defensive and offensive moves as separate and discrete actions, e.g., first you block (defensive), then you kick when you find an opening (offensive). The downside of this approach is that it’s reactive and you typically just end up in a cycle of never-ending defensive movements. In Krav Maga, the defender looks to combine an offensive movement with every defensive movement — he wants to disrupt the attack and simultaneously counterattack. For example, if an attacker goes for your throat, you’d not only try to deflect his attack, but also simultaneously counterattack by going for his eyes, groin, or throat. The goal is to neutralize your threat as quickly as possible. (Sidenote: Wing Chun also has a similar simultaneous defensive/offensive principle.)
Retzev, or continuous motion. Related to the principles of simultaneous defense and attack is retzev, a Hebrew word for “continuous motion.” David Kahn describes retzev as a “seamless explosion of violence,” in which the goal is to neutralize your attacker with a continuous series of aggressive defensive and offensive movements. As your attacker reacts to your counterattacks, you’ll respond with more punches, kicks, and headbutts until the attacker is no longer a threat. Retzev requires a fighter to work from instinct and not rely on a pre-set routine. A well-trained practitioner of Krav Maga will know how to react to any type of threat without hesitation.
Use of weapons of opportunity. You can easily incorporate firearms and knives into Krav Maga. Besides these traditional weapons, Krav Maga also teaches practitioners to improvise and use any object at their disposal as a weapon. Keys, pens, belts, and chairs can all be incorporated into Krav Maga techniques in order to neutralize your opponent as quickly as possible.
Weapon defense. Besides teaching students how to use weapons, Krav Maga also shows how to defend yourself from an armed attack.
Focus on vulnerable soft tissue and pressure points. A well-known principle of Krav Maga is its emphasis on attacking vulnerable soft tissue and pressure points. Many counter attacks involve eye gouging, groin attacks, and strikes to the throat. Some criticize Krav Maga for this, arguing that “it’s not manly to punch a guy in the nuts.” Krav Maga’s goal is to neutralize a dangerous attacker as quickly as possible. Plain and simple. Sometimes a strike to the groin is the best option to neutralize an attack. When you’re violently attacked in the street, the person attacking you isn’t following some sportsman’s code of chivalry — he wants to hurt, maim, or possibly kill you — so why should you give him the courtesy of not punching below the belt? You can’t worry about fighting etiquette or what’s ‘manly’ when your life is at stake.
Subduing techniques.In addition to striking attacks, Krav Maga also utilizes subduing techniques in order to de-escalate a violent confrontation. Joint locks and various grabs are used to exert control over your attacker and put you in a position to end the threat.