A local self defense expert says she couldn’t have given better advice to a woman who beat an intruder with a bedpost.

Victoria Jones said she was getting into the shower when Lucio Miranda came down the hall, past her young son and sister, and lunged at her. She had seconds to react when she grabbed the bedpost and hit Miranda.

Kathy Olevsky is general manager and owner of Karate International in Raleigh. She teaches self defense classes and said people should be prepared for an attack like Jones faced.

Olevsky recommends going room to room and know what objects to grab to fight an attacker.

“It’s basically about putting distance between you and the attacker. So, picking up something long is great. If you have a tennis racket, a golf club, baseball bat, bed post,” she said.

“If you’ve actually gone through your house and looked at these things, you feel a little bit more in control than if you’re flying by the seat of your pants,” Olevsky said.

Brenna Crowson started taking self defense classes at Karate International six years ago at age 49.

"Two of my very good friends were raped on the greenway at Shelley Lake,” she said.

She’s now an instructor and a “second degree black belt.”

Her training paid off just four months into her martial arts experience. Crowson said she was on a trail where a middle school girl’s track team ran every afternoon. She saw a man with his pants down appearing to wait on the team.

Crowson started yelling, which she said is called Kiai in martial arts.

“It’s that internal weapon everybody has,” she said.

Students of martial arts and self defense learn to get comfortable with yelling because it’s often the first step when there’s an attack.

“It just came out. I didn’t even think about it. It just came out. The word that I yelled wasn’t that big of a deal, but the way it came out, he backed out of the way, pulled his pants up, backed out of the way, and backed into a sticker bush,” she said.

Crowson said she then saw a limb on a tree she could grab and use as a weapon and distance herself if needed.

“That came to my mind right away. That’s what I was going to grab and then which way was I going to go?” she said.

Running away is key if possible, Olevsky said.

If a person appears to be after your belongings, “Throw it away from them and away from you. That gives you an opportunity to turn and run,” she said.

If it comes down to physical contact, there are many ways to fight the attacker off, depending on the situation.

Olevsky said the knees are usually the easiest and best target.

“The knees almost always present themselves in almost every physical situation. Being grabbed from front, from behind, from the side,” she said.

“It’s also the most accessible thing in any self defense situation. Maybe you could hit somebody in the eyes. Maybe you could hit somebody in the nose. Maybe you could hit somebody in the groin, but maybe not. They’re not usually protecting their knees,” Olevsky said.

The bottom line, Olevsky said, is martial arts allow a person to grow confident and learn to be prepared, not paranoid.

That’s something Jayleen Couture has learned from her regular self defense classes.

"I'm very shy and just coming in here was a little bit much for me just because it’s so many people. But coming in here, I'm comfortable. I feel ready to do anything. It's a great confidence builder,” she said.

“Being able to look somebody in the eye, like if they’re walking my way and having that confidence lets them know, ‘You don’t want to mess with me’ basically,” Couture said.

One of the keys of self defense is to prevent ever needing the moves. You do that by being aware, Crowson said.

If you're out running or walking, take off the headphones so you can hear what's going on around you, she said.

Be unpredictable and change up your routine.

Remember to keep windows and doors locked.

A Raleigh Police spokesman said every case is different and a person should make a judgment call to protect themselves and others when facing a possible attacker.

So to what extreme can you take self defense? The state allows a person to use deadly force against someone breaking into their home. As of last month the law applies to vehicles and places of work.

Olevsky said self defense classes are offered through Meredith College and that Karate International offers a course that’s four classes long.