Awwwwh Awwwwh They call me Bruce

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by jmdrake
Gee. When I was in my formal JKD training we never did "savate kicks" or "silat kicks" or "thai kicks".

We did. They didn't categorize them - like putting in a syllabus that we must learn x number of kicks from x different styles, but if it was a teep, for example, they would tell us that it was a muay thai kick.


(Well, I can speak confidently about not doing thai kicks since I've done enough Thai recently to know that the way I kick is "wrong" MT wise. For one thing MT kicks "spin through" if they miss).

yes and no. Typically, when you miss with the kick, the force will continue your spin. But, I've recently been exposed to people who don't do it that way. I was at a seminar with a muay thai champ named manu ntoh. He is a big proponent of being able to stop the kick as opposed to continuing the spin. He showed us some video of fighters in thailand doing it as well. The reason makes sense - when you spin around, it's pretty much a given that you will have a kick coming to either your legs, kidney or head. Some people will continue the spin and bring up a leg check as they are completing the turn. Others will simply duck and turn. Manu prefers that you not turn at all. I can't stop a hard kick in mid kick like that, however. Not yet, anyway.



Of course that gets into the whole "what is JKD" and "OJKD vs JKDC" stuff. Still while I won't say you AREN'T a JKD practioner if you prefer MT, Silat or Savate kicks, there's nothing written in stone that says you HAVE to kick that way. I use front, straight, hook, side and oblique kicks.

agreed. I use most of those also.

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by Siu Lum Fighter
So, why is there a Jeet Kune Do Federation? Daoism teaches us that once the nameless is named then it is no longer nameless or eternal. So Jeet Kune Do can't be a "style without a style" because the minute Bruce called it Jeet Kune Do it became something outside of the eternal Tao. In other words IT BECAME A STYLE!! Wing Chun was it's mothers milk with all of the other stuff glued on to it.

it's not a style - it's a framework, a concept. It can't become something it's not. What he did was give name to his concept. His concept was based on wing chun.

The tao has a name...how can it be eternal?

If Bruce didn't want you to fight like he did and come up with your own completely different expression, my question is this: If you didn't use any Wing Chun techniques at all and you were a follower of Bruce's philosofies and "style", could you still call your own expression of kung fu Jeet kune Do?

I would say yes. As I stated earlier, I hate trapping with a passion. If I were to return to jkd and get certified, I would not teach the WC aspects. I would be teaching my interpretation of the framework - what I feel is useful. mat thornton's camp utilizes boxing, wrestling, bjj and muay thai. their "trapping" is mainly muay thai and greco clinch work.


I cross train in Ba Gua, Tai Chi, and Northern Shaolin and I certainly wouldn't call my style or expression Jeet Kune Do. But then again, why wouldn't I? I use what works for me. It's my own expression.

just as taiji utilizes principles - yielding, borrowing, ward off, etc. JKD does as well. attack by combinataion, attack by drawing, etc. These concepts are what you are studying. The method you use to employ them is your choice, I would imagine.

[Sumatie]

Originally posted by SanSoo Student
I wonder how JKD would've evolved if Bruce was still around...?

As far as I know Bruce Lee disbanded JKD a couple of years before he died, stating he did not want to become stylised!

[Siu Lum Fighter]

Sumatie,

So is that to say that JKD only exists today because Inosanto and the others who trained under Bruce wanted to pay homage to him (and maybe make bucket loads of money in the process) and not because Bruce wanted JKD's legacy to live on?

[Sumatie]

Originally posted by Siu Lum Fighter
Sumatie,

So is that to say that JKD only exists today because Inosanto and the others who trained under Bruce wanted to pay homage to him (and maybe make bucket loads of money in the process) and not because Bruce wanted JKD's legacy to live on?

Simple answer 'yes'!

Before he died Bruce said he thought what they were doing had too much probability of becoming stylised.

Though I have to say Inosanato's love of MA is clearly evident, for him and least, and I dare say most of the other instructors, if it wasn't JKD it would have been something else anyway.

[Sumatie]

On a personal level I think Bruce would not have approved, I think he would have felt trapped and stagnant doing the same things.
From a MAists point of view I think he would have understood and probably allowed it.