To All JKD'ers

[NeedsPractice]

A few questions

1- How many of you have practiced other styles before JKD?and what style/art if you did .

2- Do you personally find JKD better for you personally than what you studied before if you did study something before.

3- Was/is Bruce Lee the main motivator for you to study JKD?

4- JKD seems to be of the same vein as mma/ UFC except UFC type stuff doesnt emphasize kali/escrima and trapping?


Looking for reasonable answers no troll stuff. Looking for answers based on your own experience, not interested in stuff about why bruce lee started jkd/ jun fan.

[yenhoi]

1- I studied Wing Chun before JKD.

2- Yes. Our JKD lacks a 'this is done because thats how it is' aspect. This is done because it works.

3- No. I study JKD because that is what my teacher teaches. He has kung-fu, and someday, so will I.

4- JKD is hard to clamp any sort of definition on. Goto any JKD school/academy and they will not be the same in very many aspects whatsoever. Not all JKD academys emphasize Kali/escrima, and some have discounted trapping altogether. Teachers teach, not styles.

[Darkwind3773]

1. I have any currently still am studying Tae Kwon Do.

2. Yes, mainly because (to me at least) experimentation is key. You look for what suites you best and then discard everything that is useless so that you can do the most with the least.

3. At first, yes, because of his amazing condition and martial abilities. Now, I look at him more as a guide, and he is no longer why I study. It's based more on the principles of directness and economy.

4. UFC stuff is more or less a ring sport, while JKD is for street use. Different situations bring about different solutions. So while MMA and JKD may be similar, you've got to remember that JKD cuts off what is unneccessary.

[LEGEND]

A few questions

1- How many of you have practiced other styles before JKD?and what style/art if you did .
" I studied TKD, Wing Chun, Boxing and BJJ."

2- Do you personally find JKD better for you personally than what you studied before if you did study something before.
"I personally like the VUNAK RAPID ASSAULT TACTICAL( RAT ). It's quite interesting. ANd can be used by both grapplers and/or striker oriented fighters!"

3- Was/is Bruce Lee the main motivator for you to study JKD?
"YES."

4- JKD seems to be of the same vein as mma/ UFC except UFC type stuff doesnt emphasize kali/escrima and trapping
"Actually it's quite different on the standup and ground! Relate it to guys constantly trying to hit u with similated groin strikers, headbutts, elbows, hair pull etc."

[SifuLMDII]

1- How many of you have practiced other styles before JKD?and what style/art if you did .

I studied many martial arts before JKD. They are:
Northern Shaolin Gung Fu
Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate
Shin Pao Chuan Gung Fu
Filipino Escrima
Filipino Kuntaw
Shotokan Karate
Yoshukai Karate
Tae Kwon Do
Tang Soo Do

2- Do you personally find JKD better for you personally than what you studied before if you did study something before.

Yes, I find it far superior for my person use than any of the other arts I have studied! That is why I have trained in Jun Fan/JKD for the past thirty-five years!

3- Was/is Bruce Lee the main motivator for you to study JKD?

When I was a boy I saw Bruce Lee as Kato on the Green Hornet. That is what originally generated my interest in the martial arts. Later, after seeing him on an episode of Longstreet, titled "Way of The Intercepting Fist", I knew that Jeet Kune Do is what I wanted to learn.

4- JKD seems to be of the same vein as mma/ UFC except UFC type stuff doesnt emphasize kali/escrima and trapping?

Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do doesn't emphasize kali/eskrima either! You are referring to JKD concepts when you talk about those arts! Also, as already stated by someone else, JKD is geared strictly for street self defense, and has no sport aspect to it whatsoever, therefore it cannot really be compared to UFC type events!

[Ryu]

1. Arts I studied before training in JKD concepts.....
5 animal kung fu
karate
Tae Kwon Do
Judo
very very small amount of wing chun.

During and "after" my initial study of JKD I began studying judo, BJJ, and wrestling immensely. Studied a bit of Muay Thai, boxing, and of course was taught Kali concepts too.
Since then I've been addressing my own "street" experience, studying pre-fight situations, criminal psychology, adrenaline dump response training, post-fight aftermath, legality of force, violence cues, etc. Been contacting and researching a lot of material from both Sammy Franco and Richard Dimitri as well (two very knowledgable guys)

2. Well, physically, to be honest, JKD itself (the Jun Fan aspect of it, as well as Paul's RAT system..) did give me a more realistic way of addressing fighting. However, I realized that it was more the attributes I possessed that made me 'good.' So I worked quite a bit on strength training, endurance training, speed, contact sparring, years of BJJ and judo grappling, etc.
My personality is very creative by nature.... I feel the need to express my emotions through movement anyway..... (and that's not always martial arts..... it can be through writing, drawing, etc.)
Plus, I have a very strong sense of justice and what is right and wrong, so I wanted a extremely realistic and effective way to protect not just myself... but more other people who may be in bad situations...... Since that doesn't happen all the time, I'm turning now to film-making ( a little bit) to express my emotions on such things...

3. Initially yes, but not in the way one may think.
My admiration of Bruce has nothing to do with his martial art or his philosophy... (it sorta does I guess, but not as much as my real reason) The real reason is because he accomplished every damm thing he set out to do. He was able to change the course of history in a way, and really break through stereotypes to show a positive role for people, morality, Asians, etc. all of it. That's what I really loved about him.

4. MMA is the "JKD" ideal. However it is still a venue of competition between two skilled hand to hand competitors. It has nothing to do with weapon skills, street awareness, etc. MMA can and is becoming a "style" unto itself. JKD, while mirroring the MMA ideal, goes beyond the stylistic aspect of it and continues to grow and find everything possible for reality training including now marksmanship, OC spray courses, rape prevention, adrenaline management, etc.

Ryu

[DragonzRage]

1) Before JKD I began MA as a child in a basic kids course that combined elements of karate and some style of kung fu. Through high school I studied Hung Ga Gung fu. Then came JKD. Since JKD I've trained Shooto, Bjj, Muay Thai. I was first exposed to these arts through JKD. Now I am pretty much Muay Thai, although I wanna get back into grappling as well.

2) I liked JKD more than the traditional stuff, in terms of practicality and well roundedness. However, I've since chosen a Muay Thai/MMA approach over JKD. There's things I don't like about the original Jun Fan stuff, and although the Concepts approach is well rounded and exposes you to a lot of different approaches, I think it lacks focus. A lot of Concepts guys dabble in everything but are good at nothing.

3) Yes and no. No because I didn't decide to study JKD just cuz I wanted to be like Bruce Lee. But yes because his ideas made a lot of sense to me and he was always an inspiration for me.

4) JKD has philosophical similarities to MMA in that it stresses well roundedness and using what works rather than just doing stuff for sake of the art (depending on who you talk to). But MMA is strictly a hand to hand fighting science...directed mainly towards the ring. JKD is not about the ring. And in the end is more about personal development than about fighting.