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View Full Version : How do I balance JKD with useless garbage?



Daedalus
02-12-2001, 12:21 AM
I have been training in the martial arts for over 16 years. The majority of that time was spent in Isshin-ryu karate. I have also trained in Chinese Kempo. Just recently (1998),however, I began to study JKD (concepts & Jun Fan). Needless to say that it totally changed my outlook on martial arts. I personally would never go back into the bondage of the traditional systems, but I have students who do not like the changes that have taken place in me and want to remain with the traditional style.
I find it difficult to teach concepts and tactics that I don't believe in and know are useless, however this is what many of my students wish to learn.
Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated.

DragonzRage
02-12-2001, 01:17 AM
IMHO, to tell your students that their traditional training is completely useless is just as close minded and limiting as forcing them to conform completely to a traditional, ritualistic and formalized method of training. I share your enthusiasm for the JKD mindset, but I don't see why that should invalidate your prior years of training. All styles have their strengths and I'm sure that there is a wealth of useful knowledge, technique and experience that you can translate from your traditional years to your new outlook on martial arts. Just because your method is now JKD doesn't mean that you can't continue teaching karate. If your students originally came to you to learn karate, I think you owe it to them to teach them karate to the best of your ability. But I think you should, however, teach karate in such a way that it does not limit them or force them into a schema that is unnatural or impractical for their purposes. You should encourage freedom and a practical mindset. I originally came from a traditional background myself, and I really do not think that there is anything inherently wrong with the principles of karate or any other "traditional" art. All of these arts are to some degree, the product of true innovation and experimentation. They all have their value. It is the way we learn or teach these systems and the mindset by which we train in them that determines how beneficial they will be. A practically trained karate man is just as capable of fighting as a muay thai guy or a bjj guy.

"What makes me saddest, is to have to admit
that so much of what passes for budo is really nothing more than monkey business."
-Sensei Jon Bluming

HuangKaiVun
02-13-2001, 02:15 PM
I would suggest, Daedalus, that you apply the JKD attitude toward your traditional set training.

By doing so, you will discover for yourself what karate was REALLY supposed to be like - and I can guarantee you that it ISN'T like what you're currently familiar with.

There are tons of superb moves that work in all sorts of situations in Isshin Ryu. All you have to do is reexamine your fighting sets and see what the moves were REALLY intended for.

Do not confuse the inferiorities of the practitioners of a style with the style itself.

Paul Sharp
02-16-2001, 05:28 AM
If you can't do it with a clear conscience..., than you can't balance.

Dichotomy: division into two exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups.

Its not healthy for you and its not healthy for them.

You owe a debt to the truth. Not to any students or teachers or paying customers.

Be True to Yourself. In being true to yourself you will be true to them.

-Paul Sharp

Certificates don't count, Performance does...