Ep 153 - Why Most Training Fails Under Extreme Pressure

Incidents like the Bondi and Westfield attacks demonstrate that extreme violence can happen anytime, anywhere, without warning. And in most cases, security personnel will be the first to respond. In this episode of the Security Insider podcast, we speak with Tony Blauer—CEO of Blauer Tactical Systems and founder of the SPEAR System—about “amygdala hijack”: the survival-driven takeover that can bypass cognition and degrade complex performance in fractions of a second. We unpack the startle–flinch response, why “technical” training often doesn’t transfer to real incidents, and how scenario-based training can be engineered to shorten reaction time and improve decision-making under extreme stress. If you run a security business and want training that holds up when it matters—this is the blueprint. For more podcasts like this one visit

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Ep 153 - Why Most Training Fails Under Extreme Pressure is an episode from ASIAL Security Insider by Australian Security Industry Association Limited.

This episode is 0:46:25 long.

This episode was published on Mar 8, 2026.

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