Rising Phoenix gym working to help teach self defense across Tucson

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A local gym is teaching Krav Maga to community groups in Tucson.

Rising Phoenix gym is near the corner of Speedway and Swan.

And they offer community classes to Jewish, LGBTQ+ and women from the community.

“We have a no toxic people policy at this gym in general," said Victoria Suchanek, director of the women's program, "You don't have to be a member of that group to train it's open to everybody. As long as you know, you don't have a hateful attitude towards that group.”

The classes are donation based and are designed to be beginner friendly.

“You come in here for an hour, you'll already leave with skills that you can put to use right away,“ said Suchanek.

Krav Maga is a self defense technique that originated in Israel and focuses on real world situations.

Suchanek says it is designed so that everyone can use it.

"If your attacker is bigger and stronger than you, like, I don't want to go muscle for muscle if you I just don't, I'll lose like every day of the week, right," said Suchanek, "But if I start going after weak points, where it doesn't matter how big or how jacked your attacker is, you can still do damage."

Classes are donation based. More information on classes can be found on their Facebook.