Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricky Ruelas
Ricky, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I not only live in Westchester, but that is where my martial arts journey started in 2009 learning Tae Kwon Do. Not long after, I started training Muay Thai, then Krav Maga, Boxing, & Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I truly fell in love with learning all these different arts and I would train up to 22 hours/week absorbing as much as I could. After teaching for other people for 8 years, I figured it was time for me to open up my own place. The reason I named it 360 Self Defense Academy is because I want my students to be well rounded. When all I knew was Tae Kwon Do, I went to try out Krav Maga, thinking I knew how to fight. But as soon as someone wrapped their hands around my neck, I realized I did not know how to defend against this attack, so I signed up immediately. After learning all the other arts, I signed up for an MMA competition. I was doing well, but the moment I got taken down to the ground and didn’t have an answer for it, I knew that I had a hole in my game. That’s when started learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In an effort to not have my students experience what I did, I wanted to open a place where my students would be well rounded and 360 Self Defense Academy was realized in March 2019.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road hasn’t been smooth, but it has definitely been worth it! We started off with four students and slowly built out from there. A year later, we finally became profitable after 12 months. Unfortunately, month 13 is when covid hit. When we got back up and running a couple months later, we only had two students, so we basically had to start up again. Luckily, we are now profitable again and more importantly, making a positive impact to both kids and adults in our community.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I teach people how to defend themselves and their loved ones. We teach all aspects of self defense from prevention, pre-fight cues, stand up fighting, ground fighting, and weapons defenses as well. Something that separates me from others is being able to break down intricate moves, concepts, and techniques into bite sized, easily learnable and retainable nuggets of information. Knowing the skills is one thing, but the transfer of knowledge is a completely different skill set altogether. I think it was to my benefit to be the oldest brother to much younger siblings because it required me to be able to break things down for them in a way that they can understand.
How do you think about happiness?
Luckily, there are a many things that make me happy, so I will name a few. Getting stuff done makes me happy because it makes me feel accomplished and I like seeing the end result which is a reason teaching makes me happy; it allows me to see the progression that students make from day one. In the broader sense, spending time with family and loved ones brings me an equal, but different type of happiness, especially with my wife and dog.
Contact Info:
– Website: https://360sdacademy.com
– Instagram: @360selfdefenseacademy
Pricing:
- First two weeks are FREE for kids and adults
- All of our monthly memberships come with unlimited classes
- You can pay by the class, by the year, and er very thing else in between.
- Once you’re a member if you get someone else to become a member you get your next month free.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://360sdacademy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/360selfdefenseacademy/
- Youtube: 360SelfDefenseAcademy
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/360-self-defense-academy-los-angeles?utm_source=ishare
