Mike Mandel is the only known Defendo Instructor Trainer in the world that learned directly from Bill Underwood.  Are you saying that you are teaching Bill Underwood’s Defendo?

Mike Mandel is the only known Defendo Instructor Trainer in the world that learned directly from Bill Underwood. In the early 1980’s Bill Underwood re-connected with his former student and paid instructor to ask Mike to once again instruct students at the Toronto School of Defendo. After Bill’s death in 1986, it is Mike Mandel alone who preserved the entire system. In 2002 Mike reconstructed the entire system and it can be easily demonstrated that all of Bill Underwood’s Defendo being taught worldwide today can be traced back directly through Mr. Mandel. Original Defendo is a principle based system and the principles of the human body including anatomical weaknesses have not changed. There are never patents given to body movements and British Jiu Jitsu does encompass principles from original Defendo however British Jiu Jitsu has made certain additions to evolve into the highly effective reality-based self-defense system it is today. That being said, no, we are not teaching Underwood Defendo. We honour the memory of Bill Underwood as a self-defense genius but we do not lay claim to the Underwood name and we do not use it in our promotional materials. We only speak of the true line of history and the roots in which British Jiu Jitsu has emerged; that history happens to include Bill Underwood and can easily be verified.

Is British Jiu Jitsu a Martial Art?

British Jiu Jitsu is not a Martial Art. It’s a system of self-protection that originated in a military close quarter fighting system designed to rapidly turn the attacker into the victim by using his weight, strength and momentum against him. British Jiu Jitsu is considered a Reality-Based Self-Defense system, as it is neither a Martial Art nor a Sport such as Mixed Martial Arts. We are big fans of watching MMA however the reality is that most violent encounters are finished in three seconds. A person must be able to shut their opponent down quickly while adapting to a high stress environment as their life is possibly threatened. British Jiu Jitsu training will easily allow a person to take complete control of their would-be attacker and facilitate rapid compliance by creating excruciating pain.

What separates British Jiu Jitsu from other self-defense systems?

Most students of martial arts and self-defense systems rely on techniques learned over an extensive amount of time that are static in nature. They learn if a person attacks one way, here is the counter-act to that movement. Teaching someone a technique in itself will be of use to people in defending themselves, provided they are attacked in the very same way they knowingly learned to apply this technique. The truth is we don’t live in a perfect world and if a violent situation arises, unfortunately we will never know what to expect, as the variables are numerous. British Jiu-Jitsu is a principle reality-based system and it is dynamic in nature. It is based on sound principles of leverage and autonomics. The techniques taught are used to demonstrate an application of the principles that take advantage of weaknesses in the human body including the central nervous system. These principles allow a person to be flexible while providing a physical and a psychological tactical advantage while having the confidence to diffuse a potentially harmful situation regardless of age, sex, strength, or body composition.

Will the British Jiu Jitsu system take me years to master?

British Jiu Jitsu is essentially a simple system due to its interlocking nature and easily manipulates the body while causing extreme pain with little effort and it does not take years to master. A person with no previous experience could easily learn the foundation of the system in as little as 2-3 months enabling them to use these principles effectively should a violent situation occur. As a person progresses through the levels, a student continues to build off the basic principles and incorporate advanced techniques including chokes, neurological attacks, throws, braces, locks and many others, even within their first year of training. British Jiu Jitsu is so impressive that an experienced martial artist from any other system can easily add our principles to their current system and we guarantee they will be exposed to techniques that they have never seen before.