Episode 37: Self-Defense & Tactical Firearm Training: Why You Should Learn To Defend Yourself With Ivan Perdomo
In this age of increasing violence, if your house was to be broken into and the only thing between your innocent family and potential violent criminals was you, how would you defend yourself and your loved ones? Are you capable of basic or advanced self-defense measures? The sad truth is many of us are not, but the time is NOW to create a plan that could save the lives of loved ones and yourself. Avoid being a victim of violence.
Join Anand J. Sukhadia as he interviews Ivan Perdomo, the owner and head instructor at Prometheus Tactical. Ivan has been a practitioner and trainer in various styles of martial arts for over 40 yrs. He has an Instructor rating with the NRA for pistol, rifle, and shotgun and Range Safety Officer as well as a Tactical Combatives Instructor for NLB, which services military, federal, state, and local law enforcement and civilians.
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Self-Defense & Tactical Firearm Training: Why You Should Learn To Defend Yourself With Ivan Perdomo
In the age of increasing violence, if your house was to be broken into and the only thing between your innocent family and the potential violent criminals was you, how would you react and defend? Are you capable of even basic or advanced self-development measures? The sad truth is many of us are not, but the time is now to create a plan that can save the lives of your loved ones and yourself. In this episode, we are going to be learning from one of the world's best experts in self-defense and tactical firearms training. What we're going to be discussing is a matter of life and death with our guests and my good friend, Ivan Perdomo. Ivan is a husband and a father to 1 girl and 2 boys. They are his main focus when it comes to protection and training.
Ivan has been a practitioner of the martial arts and has been teaching martial arts and combatives for many years. He has a Divemaster rating with PADI for scuba diving for many years. He has an Instructor rating with the NRA for pistol, rifle and shotgun, and Range Safety Officer. He is a Level 1 Archer Instructor under the USA Archery Organization. He is a Tactical Combatives Instructor for NLB, which services military, federal, state, local law enforcement, and civilians. Ivan teaches hand-to-hand knife defense, CQB, pistol, rifle, carbine, shotgun tactics, structure clearing, solo active shooter engagement, workplace violence, high-threat vehicle engagement, instructs executives on safe ways to stay out of harm's way while traveling abroad and speaking on these topics to Fortune 500 companies. Welcome to the show, Ivan. How are you?
I'm doing well. Thank you, Anand. How are you doing?
Self-Defense: Only about 1% of those people will actually take that black belt test, take it to the next level.
I learned so much about you. I've known you for about fourteen years and I didn't know you did all that. All I know is that you're out every weekend and you're doing some training in all sorts of amazing things. Thank you for coming on the show. It's important that we talk about this topic. Tell us a little bit about your background so we can understand you better.
It all started when I was younger. My parents put me in martial arts in elementary school. I grew up like everybody back in the day. We're first-generation out of Colombia. My parents were Colombian. We were born here in the States in New York. My dad was a little heavy-handed with me. That's the way it was. If you did something wrong or he thought you did something wrong, you got a smack or 2 or 3. When he put me in martial arts, it's that emotional fear factor you get when someone is touching or hitting you, and I didn't have that. My dad was indoctrinating me in getting lumped up so I loved it. I enjoyed getting hit and hitting. I didn't have that fear factor and it has been a passion of mine now. For many years, I've been doing this and I love every moment of it.
What does living a limitless life mean to you?
For me, it's my perception of how I can stay focused and be positive regardless of what life throws at me. For example, I was working in the pharmaceutical industry after Wall Street. I was successful at it, and then we had this massive layoff. I was making millions of dollars from my company and I was like, "Nobody could touch me." I was making so much money and I got laid off. It put things in perspective for me. This whole time, it was easy for me to shout and tell everybody to be positive and stay focused because my life was good. Unfortunately, at the time I got laid off, my wife was two weeks shy of giving birth to our twins and it was a tough time.
It took me a little bit to do a soul search, dive into myself, and say, "What does that mean to me?" It was a cognizant thought process I went through and decided, "I've got to be positive right there. Good things happen. This may not look good right now, but I feel that God put that in my way to see how I react." I could react in several different ways but it's up to me. I stayed positive and focused on the good. Everything I do is through love. It has helped me and my family prosper.
A lot of times, anytime an obstacle comes in our way, it's always an opportunity. I remember we were doing a lot of workouts at that time when that happened. I loved the fact that you were positive about it and understanding like, "We have to reconcile at some point. If something gets put on our way, 'What is the next step?' All you had to do is think about all the things that you're good at and you create this amazing and incredible business from it." We'll get into the story of that but let's go back a little bit. What made you love doing martial arts? A lot of people learn martial arts when they're young, but you had a lifelong love affair with martial arts. Tell us about your inspiration for that.
A lot of people get into it and they don't last. There's always the 1% rule in martial arts. Every martial arts is different as far as their ranking or belt system. The average is 5 to 8 years to get a black belt. You start with 100 people and you will probably end up with less than ten people that go that long. About 1% of those people will take that black belt test and take it to the next level. My first black belt was a huge ego boost to me because now I felt like, "I'm the man. I'm Bruce Lee. I'm a ninja. I'm ready to go after everyone." I'm a little kid. I barely know how to tie my shoes.
What am I doing? Now, I'm assisting an instructor. What does that mean at that age? I'm still cleaning the floors and picking up jeans and belts off the floor, but once in a while, the instructor will come over and have me do a teaching block. I found that at that age, helping people that weren't able to do something a couple of classes or go to accomplish that task not only did it make me feel good, but I saw my impact as a little kid on other little kids and older kids. I thought that was fantastic. That is one of my tenets that I've held very strong, close and dear to myself which is helping others to develop.
There's such a high that comes from it and they measured happiness levels. When you do something for other people or give a gift, that happiness rating is so much higher. It starts going to levels that are more than if you were to buy yourself something. It's the gift that keeps on giving. When you empower others, then they take that in their life, go forward with it and help other people. We're spreading like a wildfire of contribution towards other people. I know that a huge purpose and value in your life is helping others get to that place. Let’s transition now from martial arts. First of all, which martial arts did you practice?
Self-Defense: For the hundred people that get into martial arts, less than 10 people will go that long to get to the next level and get that black belt.
I was fortunate. I have practiced Taekwondo, Shiki Goju Ryu, American Judo, Aikido, Wing Chun, Western Boxing, Greco-Roman wrestling, Sambo, and one of my all-time favorites, American Kenpo. I've cross-trained with other combative and boxing instructors. I've had an extremely lucky ability to hook up with fantastic practitioners and fighters and train with them and under them. I started to develop my own little system. Now, that's what I do when I train. I train other fighters now.
It's great that you get to pull all those different styles together to bring it into more self-defense on a real-world example. Now, you're incorporating tactical firearms training. How did you get into that when it's such a taboo thing? Many years ago, when you first got into it, a lot of people are like, "Why would you ever want a gun? You shouldn't have a gun. That doesn't make any sense."
Here's the deal with firearms training. I was always interested in it. As a young boy, growing up our age, I've been watching the movie Starsky & Hutch. I didn't watch these cool movies that had guns and want to do that. My cousin and his wife, and me and my wife had nothing to do on a weekend. We wanted to do something different. I googled a gun class. I had no idea what was entailed. Long story short, we ended up going to New Jersey Firearms Academy where it was located at that time. We took a one-night class. It was eye-opening, to say the least. That night, our wives outshot us cold. Hands down, they were the best shooters.
My cousin never shot a gun and I didn't want to shoot a gun. When I first had that gun in my hand, I was like, "This has so much power." It scared me a little. After the class, the instructor and owner, Lateif Dickerson said, "Why don't you come back? We'll talk a little bit more and do some training." I was like, "I'm busy. I got work and a lot of stuff going on. How much is it going to cost?" He went, "Come in and we'll talk." I went back in and talked. He went, "I see something in you, the way you stand and hold the gun. I want to train you to see how far you can go." I was like, "What the heck?" I tried it.
Long story short, I become an instructor with him. I've become an NRA instructor for pistol, rifle and shotgun. I ended up teaching for him. I was there for quite some time until that location moved. I went on to do other things. That was it. It was one night shooting with my family and wife. I was a little nervous and it was very challenging for me at that time. I love the fact that it's not a team sport. I can't count on other people to help me. It's myself. It's where the round hits the paper. That's not subjective. That's actually the way it is. You can talk about everything you want, dress however you want or act however you want but if the round doesn't hit your target, it's all fluff. I enjoyed that.
I went shooting with you. It was one time we went down to the shooting range in South Jersey. I forget where it was. That was the first time I held a gun. It was crazy because first of all, it's heavy and then there's a lot of power in there. Handling it and putting bullets in, my hands were shaking a little bit. I've never experienced anything like that. You know what it possesses, the ability to take somebody down with it. They always say at firearm courses to never point the gun anywhere other than the target and to keep the gun in the holster.
It was very interesting. The more I got to experience it, the less I was afraid of it and looked at it as a tool. Money is a tool. It can be used for good or bad. It's the same thing with firearms, a knife or anything. It's that mental stigma. First of all, people have to get over the mental aspect of it psychologically, and then understanding that this is something that could protect you and innocent people. It's important to have some basic understanding of it.
You nailed it right on the head. It's exactly that. It's a tool. It could be used for good and things that are not so great just like a hammer, screwdriver or fists. I tell people, "It's not about the gun, ammo or the tools you're using. It's the intent people have behind those tools."
One thing I want to talk about is everyone knows that the last couple of years have been different on a level that we've never experienced before in the world. With that, there's a lot of scarcity of food and resources, and then a lot more violence, especially in major cities that were once thriving like New York and LA. There's much violence there. Chicago has always been violent but it's even more violent now.
Self-Defense: With firearms training, you can talk everything you want, dress however you want, or act however you want, but if the round doesn't hit your target, it's all fluff.
It's funny because a lot of these places are the ones with the strictest gun laws. How do we reconcile that when the people who have firearms are either the police or the criminals? Now, with the reduction in police resources and response times, it becomes a much more dangerous place. New York City in the '80s and '90s was not a safe place to be. It became safe. You could go out at 3:00 in the morning and not worry about walking anywhere in New York City. Now, it's not that anymore. Tell us about your perception of violence and what we can do to mitigate that.
It all starts with situational awareness. It's your mindset. Either you understand that guns, knives, pipes, bricks, bats or whatever it is you can pick up to defend yourself are just as good as you are. First, where's your mind at? Are you prepared, capable and willing? What's your readiness status to do real violence and confront violence with more effective violence? I would say that to my students. During the Rudy Giuliani era in New York, we cleaned up the streets. I remember you couldn't go down 42nd Street without getting harassed or even worse. Now, it's a little difficult. Prior to COVID, it was like Disney World. We took families down 42nd Street and they had a good time.
The world has changed. I don't think it has changed for the better with reduced police presence and resources. Now, we're at a point where the police have an inability to engage because of the personal risk that their actions can be associated with. It comes down to you. Are you situationally aware? Can you see something happening before it happens? How do you get to that point? If you can avoid something, then it's a win. Nowadays, it's a litigious society that if you get involved with something and you win a physical confrontation, you'll still lose. If the police showed up, you're both getting arrested. If you're 100% correct and within the law, you wasted a day or maybe a day and a half. If they find any grounds to charge you, then you'll be remanded and you're going to have to post bail. You have to get an attorney and everything that comes with that.
It's important to talk to everybody in developing your situational awareness. Understand certain things that will make certain individuals stand out in the crowd. For example, you're in Manhattan on a subway station and everything is hectic. People are moving and getting to where they got to go and they're faced into their smartphones. You have one person that's sticking out, standing there with his or her hands in his or her pockets and staring at everybody. Is that normal? Probably not. Does that mean you should be scared or alert? No, but at least you've taken a point of reference. You know where that individual is, where they're standing, and that they're not in the norm.
It should bring your level of awareness to a higher level for that individual on that side. Maybe you don't want to stand there. Maybe you want to stand on the other side of the platform or track where their hands are. If it's summer and they're wearing a baggy sweatshirt and their hands are inside their sweatshirt, that's not normal. You're standing next to somebody and they're sweating profusely. They can be sick, first of all. With COVID, that's a huge concern, but normal people don't sweat profusely. It's either they're sick, nervous or anxious. Why are they nervous and anxious?
It can be nothing. It could just be an anxiety situation they're dealing with. We don't know. It could be that they're up to something that's no good. Either way, you're taking notice of them. Maybe you don't stand near them, stand behind them, or keep on looking at the corners of your eyes and move around to get different angles on them to see if you can see what they are holding under their jacket. If they walk off that platform and leave a bag, that doesn't look good. You start to avoid and be a little proactive if you're situationally aware. We could probably avoid a solid 85% of all aggressions towards us without actually engaging.
The best-case scenario is to avoid the situation all in all. Whenever we're on the subway, I'll be with my girlfriend and we'll see somebody. Maybe he's psychologically deranged. We'll go to the other side or be far enough away from this person because what's the benefit of staying there? There's only downside to staying in a situation where the person is a little bit erratic, not to get too close to them, but also being aware because there could be other people there. Be ready in case you've got to help somebody out. Being on your phone in situations like that doesn't benefit you in any way. It puts you in more danger when you're not aware of what's going around.
To that point, at least in my lifetime, it's stigmatism. Everybody has a phone, video streams and texting. They have gotten the world essentially at their fingers, but the world has gotten so much smaller because of this technology. We're good people. We don't go out saying, "We're going to jack somebody up. We're not going to kill somebody, mug somebody or kidnap anyone. We're doing our job, working, paying our taxes, being good citizens and Americans, helping people when we can, but that's just a percentage of us. We have another side to the justice world.
I pointed that there are monsters that walk amongst us. They dress and talk like you and me. They drive cars and they're at stop signs right next to us. They're sitting across from us at restaurants. How do you distinguish between us and them? Being situationally aware. This new era of smartphones has encapsulated people into a bubble. Unless it comes through their feed, they read and give it attention, it's not happening. We'll go back to that platform in Manhattan at a train station. You're in your world right here and you don't see who is tracking you. These are people that made a living on this phone.
Self-Defense: A firearm is a tool that can be used for good or bad. It's not about the gun, the ammo, or the tools being used; it’s the intent people have behind those tools.
If you're on the phone, you're not situationally aware. They got to keep an eye on you for a couple of minutes and they know that you're not situationally aware. "You've got nice shoes on and a purse. Look at that wedding ring and watch. What can we get from them?" You have people that are crazy, deranged, on drugs, mentally unstable and alcoholics. They could be drunk. If they want to start something and get it on with you, that's not normal behavior. You're situationally aware. If you can identify and stay away from them, that's a win, hands down.
There are so many different types of monsters amongst us out there. There are people who want to engage in violence. Some people are out drunk or on drugs and they don't know any better. There are also people who are cyber hackers that can steal your credit card information. There could be kidnappers out there that when you post like, "I'm in Central Park," they know exactly where you are by your picture. There are so many different ways. I know a lot of people these days that don't post exactly where they are or they'll do it a day later because people get stalkers online and social media has made everyone so accessible. You're intimately involved with people's life stories and then all of a sudden, you get some crazies in there that are tracking and watching. It's very important to understand that element to being situationally aware as well by not giving out so much information about yourself.
I tell a lot of my clients, "If you're going to go on vacation, everyone likes to post vacation pictures. Do it after you get home.” Do not do it like, “I checked in at Continental," as you're leaving because now your home is like, "Come get me," and posting your location. It's nice if you meet up with people that you want to meet up with, but you post a location. Now, somebody knows exactly where you are. Let's say you work in high-tech. You're going to be on your phone and laptop. You're going to be distracted. You're not home but they know where you are. They will jack you and do bad things to you. Why would you do that?
I know when the internet got big and Facebook came out with a location where you could check in. I was checking in everywhere. I was like, "Look at all these places I've been." When that stopped, I was like, "What am I doing? I'm working against myself for personal security and my family's security. I don't want to let people know that I'm away on a work trip and my family is home alone." They're capable and can take care of themselves. The house is secure but why do that? There's no reason to do that. If I want to contact somebody, I'll pick up the phone and call them. That was a great point. You don't want to give away all these great little secrets you need to have in order to keep a level of security.
Let's move into one of the big trigger words out there, the Second Amendment. Tell us why it's so important.
This country was founded on guns. That's what it comes down to. It was founded on the principles and ideals of great men, regardless of what they did or what happened in their personal lives. We revolted. We were being discriminated against by all the people that have come over. The British wanted to tax us more, take away more rights, and wanted to control everything we had. At one point, people said, "Enough is enough. We no longer want you guys here. We're here in this new country. We want to be away from you, guys." The words didn't work so they had to pick up their arms. Without arms, they couldn't defend themselves.
The Second Amendment is to better off what this country was founded on. If you have a government that gets too strong and corrupt, the people have the right to stand up against the government without fear of retribution, where the government is going to say, "We're right. You're wrong," when the government works for the people. At certain times, people forget that. Without arms to defend yourself, our way of life and freedoms, it's a slippery slope.
Biden said something like, "Nobody should own guns. These people who say that the Second Amendment was against a tyrannical government need FFTs and nuclear bombs."
Self-Defense: You can use guns, knives, pipes, or whatever it is to defend yourself, but are you prepared, capable, and willing to confront violence?
First of all, you take Biden with a grain of salt. He’s our President. I respect the office. I don't have to respect or like the person in that seat but I respect the office. Certain things that people say have always truth to them, at least to a certain degree. That comment was off the cuff and emotional response. It gave us a little insight into how he thinks. The government is so powerful that realistically, modern citizens had no way of protecting themselves regardless of how many guns and how much ammo they have against a government that is so powerful. Are we behind on it? Possibly, but that doesn't keep us from arming ourselves to defend against these monsters that walk amongst us that are not only individuals but there are gangs. There are people who make a living out of hurting other people.
I made a decision long ago that I will not allow myself to be a victim easily. I'm the first and last line of defense for my family. My thought process behind training other people and myself is, "I want to make myself as capable as possible so that every day, my clients, customers, students and myself included, we can make it home regardless of what happens." When you walk out the door, you hope for the best, but hope isn't a tactic for staying safe. You train the right people, keep that diligent and stay focused on that. You keep yourself, your family and those around you that you love safe.
I think so much of America is getting on that same point that you made because as crimes go up, firearm sales are at their highest ever. Ammunition is getting so expensive because there's no supply. I was reading something where it's not even just people who are pro-NRA or Republicans who are going after it. The Democrats are buying more guns in Democratic cities. LGBTQ, gay people are buying more guns as well. People understand the need to protect themselves, especially when they could be a target out there. Police response times are so much lower.
What are you supposed to do? I got into a small little accident. Somebody hit me from behind and I was waiting for the police to arrive. It was about an hour and a half before they even came. This was Downtown Jersey City. I don't know what they're doing or if they have a lot of other things that they have to deal with but imagine if it was an actual emergency. There's no way you can go an hour and a half against some violent criminal and try to protect yourself or wait for the cops to come and help you out.
One of the first things I talked to my students who do security assessments on their homes, I always ask them, "Do you know what the local response time for your neighborhood is for the police?" They're like, "No, I have no idea." I'm like, "Let's say your door gets kicked in. Somebody breaks into your house. It's 2:00 in the morning and you call the police. What's the average response time? Let's say they're supermen and women and it's five minutes." They don't realize that because their point of reference are movies, TV shows, and all these stories they hear. Unfortunately, it's not the case.
The first cop that gets here does not have to go in. If they see a door broken in and they've got a family, they may think of the family going home at night. What are they going to do? They're going to pull security and call for backup. The backup gets there. Let's say they're a superman too. They get there three minutes later. That's eight minutes now. You now have two officers. One takes the rear. One takes the front. They started checking things out a minute or two, then they went in through the front door and started clearing the house.
Cops, unless they're in a specialized unit, don't have the training behind them to go in, especially with another cop that they haven't trained with before and start clearing a house effectively. Let's say they do and get into the house. Let's say it takes them another three minutes to get upstairs. That's three minutes on top of eight. That's eleven minutes for the best response time in the world and you don't have a plan. You don't have any tools or training. Your family is upstairs, all hiding in one room. You don't have a secure door. That door gets kicked in. What happens? It's eleven minutes with you from the time you made the call. You got 1 or 2 people or more in your house and you're waiting for the cops to get there.
I'm not saying that's not what you should do. You should definitely call the cops, but it's incumbent upon us as good Americans to protect ourselves and our families. As a man, husband and father, that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to let anyone hurt my family. I'm not out there advocating, going out, and hurting people, but I'm certainly going to defend myself with anything or any tool I have. That is a false sense of confidence that people have that as long as they can pick up their phone and dial 911, they're going to be good. When you pick up the phone and dial 911, it doesn't put you in this forcefield for your family. They've got to go through protocols and it's going to take them however long it's going to take them to get there. That is always a big eye-opening conversation I had with a lot of my clients.
Self-Defense: We're now at a point where police have the inability to engage because of the personal risk that their actions can be associated with.
I truly believe that the only condoned violence is when you're protecting yourself, loved ones and innocent people when there's an aggressor out there. I don't know any responsible gun owners that are going out and doing harm. It's only the people that have illegal guns that are going out and doing harm. That's a very important distinction to understand. People who have guns, all they want to do is to protect themselves and be secure because people who are self-responsible are not allowing or waiting for outside entities to go in and help them because maybe, the agendas aren't aligned in that regard.
A lot of the people that are anti-gun or they may not be anti-gun but they don't want guns in their life, that's great. We live in a free country where everybody can feel and say what they want. People forget that guns are also used for hunting, target practice and competition. We have colleges give out scholarships for shooters. People forget that that's another way of using these tools. It's not just the daily violence we're getting from Chicago, New York City, LA or San Francisco. Unfortunately, less than 1% of all that violence comes from registered and licensed gun owners. It's all the people that get these guns and tools on the street and are using them for nefarious purposes.
It's a lot of propaganda coming out of media and the government on one particular side that wants all the guns off the street. They're saying, "This person has it legally and then he went and did a mass shooting." It doesn't work like that. It's so politically motivated. The funny thing is the people that are protecting these politicians and the media have armed security with guns. They also have private police that is protecting them. It's not even they are like, "Nobody needs a gun. I'm going to walk the streets." They're hypocrites.
That's a great point because a lot of these politicians don't send their kids to a public school. They send them to a private school and a private school has security. If you're a higher-level official then you have a protective detail, not only for yourself but for your family. They can afford to make their comments and feel the way they do but they are being protected by people who are trained to defend their families for them. They happen to have guns and other things to defend against those monsters that are out there. Why can't you and I have that?
Let's get into Prometheus Tactical, your business. Tell us about it. How long has it been around?'
Prometheus Tactical started a few years ago. We are now a military contractor. We run the gamut. I'm blessed that I stay in my lane but it's wide. We do hand-to-hand knife defense and full combatives which are rifle, pistol, shotgun, blunted objects and bladed tools. We do solo engagement for active shooters. If you live in a state where you can concealed-carry and there is an active shooter situation, we train you on how to respond and engage. We do workplace violence seminars and teach people certain cues to identify threats before they get physical. We offer an array of courses, classes and seminars. They go from one-day classes to weekend seminars. Weekend courses are certified. We teach civilians, law enforcement and the military. We work on contract and with personal training for individuals. We have a wide breadth of the security aspect of training.
It's not even you're just training civilians. You're also working with the military and police. How do you get to a level where you can start training those types of people?
It becomes a business. You have to be able to network correctly and take on contracts or fill those contracts 110% to get a good rating and get called back. Most of all, you have to keep your skillset up. You can't take on a contract where people don't know you. They're willing to dice that you are legit. They look for your certifications or background. They can look at getting reviews because you're new and you blow it because you can't articulate correctly. Everyone learns differently. You can't communicate effectively to everybody in a class, half the class gets it and the other class doesn't. They're paying you so that every officer, soldier or person in that course gets it and completes that course.
At least, for us, we're blessed. We come from a sales background and a strict background from compliance on Wall Street. We're able to take that mindset, bond and stick with our curriculum. We're able to change that curriculum on the fly if people are not getting it and adjust to make sure that everybody understands what we're going through, and accomplish whatever tasks they need to accomplish in order to finish that course to get certified or finish that seminar. That is something that helps us distinguish ourselves from the rest of the competition out there.
Self-Defense: If you can avoid something, it's a win because nowadays, it's such a litigious society that if you get involved with something and you win a physical confrontation, you'll still lose.
I know Prometheus Tactical has a whole spectrum of stuff that you do. You talked about the high-level stuff with law enforcement and the military. You also told me a story about a private seminar you held for a mom and some of her friends. Tell us about that because I thought that was such a powerful way to introduce your business to people who are wanting to get into the training.
It was a referral and recommendation from somebody I went to high school with. They referred her friend and she wanted some training in firearms. She had been shooting for a long time. I got her and we were able to bond over several courses. She is shooting way better. She liked the way I was able to articulate and demonstrate. She liked my personality and said, "What else do you do?" I referred her to my website. An issue I've had my whole life, I don't like to talk much about myself. First, I don't even like my voice and hearing myself on recordings. It's a little hard for me at times. Bear with me, please.
Long story short, she saw the website and the reviews. She said, "Would you be interested in putting together a women's self-defense course?" I said, "Absolutely. Let's do it." We got together. It was a bunch of moms and daughters from the age of eleven. The oldest mom there was 49. It was three moms and a bunch of kids. I always had a curriculum but I had to rewrite it for that age group. When we got there, I brought my video guy, Bruce. He is phenomenally talented. He runs my media and does all my social media, pictures and videos.
We get there and shortly after I introduced myself, that curriculum goes out the window because it's all questions and answers. It's young teenagers on their cell phones. They don't want to be there. The only reason they're there is because their mom is making them come and they drove them there. It was a real testament to how you're able to reach everyone. I hit something again on the fly. I grabbed the ladies and asked them. I said, "I want you to experience, as well as your kids, something here that's real. If you get attacked, you're going to get choked. I would rather you experience it here, so you got the point of reference. In the future, when you do get choked, you'll remember this class and that you don't have to panic. Even though we don't have an emotional response, you're going to have time regardless of how effective that choke is. Your kids, the girls, will benefit from seeing how their moms are able to effectively react or think through that situation."
Long story short, I choked all three moms out. As they were coming through, I was talking them through. They woke up. They had some tears and snot. They were a little emotional because it was an emotional event. I had them talk to their daughters about how they felt emotionally and physically. All of the young girls put their phones down and some were crying. It defined the parameters that we were going to train them moving forward to the rest of the day. I got such positive feedback from not only the moms but from the girls. I got text messages from the moms telling me that.
During dinner, the majority of teenagers, what do they have? They sit down with their phone. Their daughters were engaging them in conversation about how they're going to change and become more situational-aware and how they were not going to walk directly to the car in a parking lot. They were going to look around. They were telling their moms the little takeaways they took away from the class and it made their moms feel incredible. First, they're initiating a conversation during dinner. It's about an event that they went through, what they learned, and the positive takeaways. Getting those phone calls and texts from the moms affirms what I'm doing.
I'm doing something right. I'm reaching and helping people out there understand the possibilities of what you can do if you got engaged in a physical confrontation, from a little girl all the way to an older lady, a middle-aged lady that may not have any kind of karate or jiu-jitsu experience, but they need something effective. Something that the moment the class is over, they can do it because we teach conceptually. We don't just teach specific skills where you throw a punch and then I do this. They don't throw the punch that way or they throw in the other hand. It's not your dominant side. You got to go to your non-dominant side. We teach an array of different ways of helping the students understand the concepts and skills that it takes to accomplish those concepts. That class was probably one of the better classes we've done since we started this company.
At the very minimum, even if they don't take the self-defense on with them, but at least the situational awareness. These girls someday are going to go to college. They could be at a bar in an uncomfortable situation. They at least can know how to protect themselves in a situation like that. You also mentioned one other aspect of the training where there was a husband watching the training. Tell us about that part of it.
One of the ladies, the host, had her husband there. He wanted to be around to see what guy is training his wife and daughters. There came a point where I thought it would be more realistic to have a man defend or attack me than one of the young ladies or moms. I put myself in a compromised position where he's on top of me and I started up because we had a couple of girls that were going to be going off to college. I was like, "Something realistic is you're lying down whether you're on the grass having a picnic in the middle of a college campus. You're in your dorm and somebody comes in and they get on top of you."
Was this a full guard position?
Yes. For everyone that doesn't know what a full guard position is, it's one person, usually, it's the victim lying on their back. You have somebody that comes on. They put their knees to the side of your body and lay on top of you. That is what's called a full guard. That is a scary position to be in if you've never had that happened to you and you never had that training, especially if it's a surprise.
Self-Defense: Normal people don't sweat profusely. They’re either sick, nervous, or anxious about a situation they're dealing with or up to something that's no good.
It's above the legs. This way, you don't have any of your legs.
I had him come over. He was gracious enough to volunteer and gave me all his energy. As he was giving me all the energy, I was able to practice and I'm experienced. As I was holding him at bay, I was able to articulate to their daughters and the moms there what they should be doing. With a little quick bump with a little hip thrust, I got him off. Everybody's eyes opened up because he was bigger than me and they saw how easy it is to defend against that situation.
We got into another situation where it was bad, where if you're on your stomach and someone mounts you from behind with a knife to your throat, how do you get out of that? Everyone was like, "You don't. You have to give in." I was like, "Right but if you're able to create the right opening, you could defend against that." You could defend if you're able to move and create that opening. It's all through training. I had him volunteered again and defended against it. Everybody's eyes opened up even more. That was after lunch and it was a long day. It opened everybody's eyes again and set the tone for the rest of the course, which is awesome.
The dad was very impressed with how you taught his daughter and his wife.
He was so impressed that he gave me a tip. He was kind and generous. It was the largest tip I've ever gotten. It's phenomenal.
I don't know anyone in their right mind who wouldn't want their kids and their spouse to be protected with basic self-defense skills. I believe it should be a requirement in schools. They should teach this stuff. You should have the skillsets rather than not have the skillsets. Whether you want to use them or not, it's up to you.
One of the things that I changed from the beginning is it wasn't a women's self-defense course. It was a women's fighting course because it's important to differentiate that you're never going to win by defending. Maybe a guy slips and falls into you but you need to fight. At some point, you need to flip that switch and become the aggressor and more efficient at violence in order to stave off that attack. We no longer call it self-defense. We call it a fighting course. You have fighting women. It was a women's course and they learned how to fight. That changes their perception. Their mindset starts moving in the right direction. We added on the concepts and scenarios. It worked out great.
Self-Defense: This new era of smartphones has encapsulated people into a bubble who think that unless something comes through their feed and they give it attention, it's not happening.
From a psychological point of view, self-defense is almost like, "Stay back," but fighting is like, "I am going to defend the fuck out of myself." How can we learn more about Prometheus Tactical? Who are the type of people that you work with?
We're on social media and that is our biggest avenue for communication. It's Facebook, @PrometheusTactical. Instagram, it's @PrometheusTacticalTraining. We started on Twitter for Prometheus Tactical. Our website is www.PTacticalTraining.com. When you go on there, it gives you all the courses, reviews, what we do, why we do it, and the whole history of the company. We have an email and a phone number. All of that is on the website. A few times a week, these aren't even customers yet or clients. They're calling just to find out information. I'm available throughout the day. If you leave me a message, I get back to you within the day. Emails are within the day. Texts are within a few hours.
People are asking me about guns, rifles, ammo and self-defense. They asked me questions about the laws. I'm not an attorney. I don't ever say I'm giving out legal advice because I'm not but I help. I direct them to the right places and share with them my experiences. A lot of those phone calls, emails or texts over time had become customers and clients because I didn't just put them off or give them a quick response. I gave them time like a person because we're all human. We all want to be safe and interact with each other. We don't want someone else picking up the phone or writing a very aloof response. You want to make contact with people, get to know them and bond with them.
Know that there are good people because there are good people out there. Those are the types of people we want to train with. On the other end, unfortunately, starting this company, I had a bunch of people that had contacted me for different reasons and I had to not move forward with training these people. When you have those hairs in the back of your neck stand up and get those Spidey-senses, I stay away from them. Those are people that are asking me, "I took this class to defend myself but I want to learn how to snap someone's neck or hurt somebody." I'm like, "That's not what we do. That is something that can happen when you're fighting but we're not going to teach you that. If that's what you're interested in, you got to go somewhere else."
Self-Defense: If you’re situationally aware and can identify people with bad intent and stay away from them, that is a win, hands down.
Unfortunately, I've had women that are in a bad domestic situation at home and they want to learn how to shoot. I've had to redirect them and that is not what we jumped into right away. We had a young lady that reached out. She was in a domestic situation living with a boyfriend that was older than her. She came to me for some training and wanted to learn how to shoot. I said, "If you're in this situation, why don't you leave?" She went, "I'm in the process of leaving." I said, "Why don't we start training you on situational awareness empty hands? We'll do some bladed defense until you move. Once you move out of there and you want to progress, then we'll move on to shooting."
It was great. I'm glad to say that she did have a situation while she was training with me. She was able to defend herself and she got out of there. Those are the stories that make everything, all the grinding and training so worthwhile to see that this young lady was able to defend herself based on principles and concepts that we at Prometheus hold true and dear. We are able to communicate and transfer that knowledge to these people that they can do it and defend themselves and their families. It's all worth it when we hear stories like that.
Giving her that simple advice of like, "Don't go straight for the guns." That could have saved her a lot of trouble going forward. It's always the last line of defense. What does God or spirituality mean to you? What role did they play in your life?
God plays a big part in my life. When I was younger, it didn't play a bigger role because I was more self-centered and egotistic. The world revolved around me at a certain point and then I had my first son. I was a young kid. I was 21. Over time, it has helped me realize that the world doesn't revolve around me. The world is what it is. You make your own path. Good and bad things happened in my life and I started thinking, "Those are all because of the decisions I've made," but at certain points, I feel like I didn't make those decisions. I was pushed towards those decisions, whether they were moral, ethical or spiritual.
I decided that I would be more open to trying to start a relationship with God. My spirituality blossomed at that point. Knowing that there's something greater than myself, I'm just a cog in a giant wheel. It has helped me stay true to myself. It has helped me stay ethically and morally grounded to my family, friends and students. It has helped me evolve as a person. I'm thankful that I am around. I don't have a lot of friends and I certainly include you as one of those friends. At this point, I'm super old. I don't want to waste time. I only spend my time with good people who are genuine and loving.
By accepting God and trying to live by his laws, we're all fallible and human. To consistently come back to that love, truth and wholeness have helped me become a better person, friend, husband, father and instructor. I teach from the point of love that we don't go out to hurt anyone. We're defending. By defending, we have to turn the tables on our attackers and be on the offensive, but that is not who we are. It's part of who we are. I teach from the point of love, caring and knowing that there is something much greater than myself and my family. That keeps me humble, focused, in-tune and aware of what I need to do to get to that next point in my life.
Why did you come to Earth as Ivan Perdomo? What did you want to experience?
Self-Defense: Checking in with your location on Facebook or other social media platforms actually works against your personal security.
I strongly believe that we have several lives and we can relive certain lessons if we don't learn. I'm at a point in my life where I'm learning or I think that I have isolated what I need to learn in this life about myself to move to my next life and my higher spirituality. I attribute that by having good people like yourself around me, my wife and other key people that may or may not be here at the moment, but they've had a positive impact on my life when we were together. I strongly feel that in this life, I'm focused on giving, teaching and being true to myself.
I want to thank you for coming on the show. Thank you for being an amazing friend. I love you as a brother. Thank you for the work that you do as well because it's so needed. The world that we're living in has so much uncertainty. You bring a level of more confidence in people's lives if they know how to defend themselves. I highly encourage anyone out there who has confusion about everything in terms of self-defense and situational awareness, and if they want to start training tactical firearms training, Ivan is the guy. You could see how compassionate, educated and intelligent he is with the whole thing. That's your guy right there.
You're a tremendous friend and person. I love you. Thank you so much for inviting me on this little adventure we went on. I appreciate it. Anything that you need, I'm here for you.
Take care. I appreciate you.
Important Links:
@PrometheusTactical- Facebook
@PrometheusTacticalTraining - Instagram
About Ivan Perdomo
Ivan is a husband and a father to 1 girl and 2 boys. They are his main focus when it comes to protection and his inspiration for training others.
Ivan has been a practitioner & instructor in various disciplines of martial arts for over 40 years. Ivan is a DiveMaster rating with PADI for scuba diving for the last 25 years. He has an Instructor rating with the NRA for pistol, rifle and shotgun and Range Safety Officer, as well as a Tactical Combatives Instructor for NLB, which services military, federal, state and local law enforcement and civilians.
Ivan teaches hand to hand, knife defense, CQB, pistol, rifle, carbine, shotgun, tactics, structure clearing, solo active shooter engagement, workplace violence, high threat vehicle engagement, and instructs executives on safe ways to stay out of harm's way while traveling abroad. Ivan is also a public speaker on these topics to Fortune 500 companies.
