When asked how Tuffgurlz came to be Lindsay described a training regiment that could only be described as tough. She and all of the black belts that tested under Hanshi Jerry Piddington had 3 days of hell. Enduring traditional a Native American sweat lodge, a 2 mile swim, Sanchin  (an exercise in which sticks are broken over various parts of their body), Mushin (an exercise when one places their head under a very cold waterfall and tries to meditate) this and many other requirements left a person feeling empowered and confident. "My instructor feels it very important for people to endure such martial arts testing practices which promote the courage needed to defend yourself and in particular women to defend themselves." When Lindsay opened her school in 2001 it was no different. She had one of the only schools to have just as many women as men. Former kickboxing champ and avid women rights activist Hall believed that girls need to be trained just as tough as the boys if not more. " The majority of violent crime is against females, we shouldn't caudle them we should teach them to fight back. The women that trained at our school were consistently underestimated which was a big mistake. Any man that stepped up to line to fight learned very quickly they were gonna have to defend themselves or get their asses handed to them" says Hall.   As reported by the National Organization for Women, every day four women die in this country as a result of domestic violence, the euphemism for murders and assaults by husbands and boyfriends. That's approximately 1,400 women a year, according to the FBI. The number of women who have been murdered by their intimate partners is greater than the number of soldiers killed in the Vietnam War. (www.now.com)

             So it was very clear why Lindsay chose to fly all the way down to Medford to use her students as representatives of Tuffgurlz. "My vision is very clear to me now. I want to Tuffgurlz to be an example to all women, we can be tough and sexy. That is the beauty of being a girl. We don't need to abandon our femininity to be able to prove we are worthy of being tough. "

Article by

Chayse Dawson