POST FALLS, Idaho — Women Empowered is a specialized Gracie Jiu-Jitsu program designed for women to learn self-defense measures that actually work to prevent sexual assault and abduction. The program instructors, Amanda Thola and her husband Hernando Thola, own the Alpha Training Center, the only facility in the Inland Northwest with certified Gracie Jiu-Jitsu instructors.
Teaching self-defense in an environment that honors God and supports community and family.
Alpha Training Center Mission Statement
“Women Empowered is her thing,” stated Hernando about his wife’s passion for helping women learn how to protect themselves.
“Well, I couldn’t do it without you,” Amanda responded.
“Yeah, you beat me up, that’s it,” replied Hernando with a laugh.
The program was created by the Gracie family in the 1990s with the sole purpose to give women a fun and safe space to learn how to defend themselves. A high level of physical fitness is not required and women of all ages and fitness levels are welcome. Women will learn self-defense skills and how to effectively use the skills in real life scenarios. “It is made by women for women,” Hernando said. “The focus is teaching women to know what to do when a threat presents itself…maybe a boss who has drank too much.”
“We have the right to defend ourselves,” asserts Amanda. “We have the right to not wait for someone to come rescue us.” The couple stressed the importance of a woman understanding that she is worthy of being defended and worthy of defending herself. “It is never the woman’s fault that someone attacks her.”
We have the right to not wait to be saved.
Amanda Thola
“I did martial arts and kick-boxing stuff when I was younger,” shared Amanda in an exclusive interview with Kootenai Journal on November 12. “I wanted to be the cool Xena Warrior Princess.”
She said she was first introduced to Jiu-Jitsu when she was 24 and thought it was “super weird” based on her experience with striking martial arts, which is totally different from Jiu-Jitsu. “Then, I started to understand the self-defense aspect and I really wanted to know how to defend myself in a more realistic way.”
A life experience at the age of 19 taught Amanda the importance of awareness and self-defense. “I was taking trash out to a large dumpster and a van pulled up next to me with one guy driving and a second guy who jumped out.” She said she threw the trash bag and sprinted back to the safety of the building. “It was so real and scary.”
Amanda explained that while punching and kicking is fun, in a real world scenario a woman can punch and kick all she wants, but she’s likely to get knocked out by a grown man in no time flat. She said it was very apparent that her 5 foot 3 inch body was no match against a man in a physical fight. “It’s not practical to think I am going to knock out some 6 foot, 200 pound man.”
The Gracie Jiu-Jitsu program teaches women how to leverage their smaller, less powerful body to their advantage and how it is possible to breakaway, or even subdue, a larger and more powerful body. “The chances of me actually punching out a man are very, very slim,” Amanda said. “But I can choke him and I can put him to sleep, because I don’t need to be stronger than him to do that.”
“What I love about Jiu-Jitsu is that I’m not trying to move someone who’s bigger and stronger than me—I am moving myself. I’m understanding how to manage the distance and I am aware of setting boundaries.” These are all aspects of the program Amanda trains other women to know and apply. “Not only will women become more aware of their surroundings, but they will become very comfortable setting verbal boundaries.”
The Women Empowered program is structured in a way that allows skill building without a rigid step-by-step progression. This means the various skills can be learned in any order, making a missed class no big deal—the flexibility makes it possible for students, young mothers, and career women of all ages to build skills and confidence in each class without feeling like they are “falling behind.”
The program focuses on the 20 most common threat scenarios that women might face and teaches them the techniques needed to neutralize those threats—from someone encroaching on their personal space to an armed assailant. The program consists of 15 one-hour classes and each class focuses on two techniques. Participants can drop into the classes in any order without the need to complete any prerequisites or meet any fitness standards. Women can even earn a Pink Belt by completing each class 4 times then passing a test. Once the belt is earned, a woman can train for free in any Gracie Jiu-Jitsu program in the world for the rest of her life.
Amanda started out as an NASM certified fitness trainer and started Alpha Training Center with Hernando in May 2020. The couple’s shared faith in God is central to how they live, operate their business, and give back to the community. “About two years ago, the Lord met me at a level I’ve never met Him before,” shared Amanda. “I learned to ‘be still’ and not get caught up in performance and duties.” Every year, the couple donates all proceeds from the sale of merchandise during the month of August to anti-trafficking organizations like Helping Captives and Safe Harbor.
Be still and know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10a (GNV)
The couple married in 2016 after meeting through an online Christian dating platform. Amanda was only two years past an abusive relationship and thought, “there’s no way I am going to meet a Christian guy that’s not nerdy,” but joined the online platform for one month after receiving a spiritual prompting. “If we hadn’t been online at the same time, we never would have talked.” Three weeks later, Hernando showed up from California with “ring in hand…and proposed in front of my entire family.” Amanda said there were really only two things on her ‘must have list’ for a potential suitor and that she got more than she could have imagined in Hernando, who is a God-fearing gentleman of honor and integrity and well-trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Lord, I want a man who loves you more than anything…and I don’t want to be able to beat him up.
Amanda Thola
When Amanda was training to become a certified Gracie Jiu-Jitsu instructor, she admits it wasn’t easy dealing with the heavy topic of sexual assault and helping women understand threats and build skills to avoid becoming a victim. “One out of three women will be sexually assaulted, and three out of four of those will be from non-strangers—people they know and trust—and we don’t talk about that enough.”
It was especially hard for her to use and train the ‘feigning compliance’ technique, because it felt like giving up. “It was very, very difficult because it’s not in my DNA to give up.” To verbalize submission, even knowing it was a trick, didn’t sit right. “But if we don’t practice it, then we aren’t able to utilize it when we need it.”
Hernando emphasized that no experience is necessary to participate in any of the classes and not to be worried about fitness level. “No one is going to feel embarrassed and no one is going to get injured.” The trainers understand the fears many people associate with martial arts and self-defense training. “We do everything we can to make it both fun and safe and every class is designed for the beginner.”
The couple ensures a comfortable environment for women and reiterated that it is not an MMA school. “We are a family academy. We train people from 3 years old to 99. We have members who are 77 years old training with us, that’s how safe it is,” shared Amanda. “You do not have to ‘get in shape’ to do jiu-jitsu.”
We want to empower our community—that’s our vision, that’s our goal.
Hernando Thola
Women can sign up for a free Women Empowered seminar hosted by Amanda on Saturday, January 11 via this link. Girls over the age of 12 may participate with their mother. The center also has classes designed for children, men, and co-ed adult programs, which are run by Hernando who is certified in Gracie Combatives and Gracie Bullyproof. Find out more by visiting https://graciepostfalls.com/, emailing info@graciepostfalls.com, or calling (208) 415-1817.
