just checking in to see who consider themself old school jkd jun fan and who has taken their own rou

Was just reminded of a section on a website below, this is pretty much my stance, I have studied Jun fan old school jkd and concepts

Jeet Kune Do should be considered as the "Root" that was established by Bruce Lee, and NOT the ultimate goal of any practitioner, as students are expected to modify, add, and delete all aspects of Jeet Kune Do until they develop something that is uniquely their own (You the individual become, through this process of self-discovery, your own best teacher).

 

As you can see I am under a Guro Dan Inosanto school, as well as Guru Balicki . So it would be JKD Concepts or JKD/Kali. My school has separate classes however for JKD vs Kali, and also classes in MT and BJJ. I also had the pleasure of training and meeting with Guru Chris Kent who had a recent article on defining JKD.

www.ckjkd.com | Chris Kent Jeet Kune Do

In the end the concepts of what it all means, what it is called, does not really matter to me. I wanted to learn various mixed elements of striking/boxing, kick boxing/MT, grappling, and weapons in a way that works for me. In addition I wanted simulated street encounters. I have this all at my school. I am at a point now where after three years of blended JKD and Kali, I will likely focus on JKD just based on how things fit for me at the school.

At some point in the future I may begin to further focus down on things that work best for me.

 

I haven't studied JKD because the closet school is in Philly and without rush hour traffic it would take me 45 minutes to get there BUT it is a school that teaches JKD and Lacoste-Inosanto Kali. I only point that out because of Something Guro Dan once said. He said "when people ask me 'can you teach it' yeah I can teach it, 'but can you standardize it' no I can't standardize it because you standardize by principle and concept but it still has to fit the individual, you can't force a person..."

Now you would be a better judge Diamond as you study Guro Dan's JKD (I do study his Kali, that school is only 20 minutes away in rush hour, 10-15 with out) but I get the feeling from his statements that he teaches it with the individual in mind, where as I have a friend who studies "Original" JKD and the making it your own comes at the end, on your own in his school. I don't know how I feel about the later because we often have "blocks" and may miss hidden strengths, worse over estimate strengths (pride is a *****) ...a good Guro/Sifu can help us find the truths of our strength and weaknesses.

 

I am not a JKD student, but from what I understand..."original JKD" is what Bruce was doing at the time of his death. Am I right? If so, then teaching that way seems to go against everything Bruce stood for because, if he were here today, he would not be doing things the same way. His art was fluid, alive, constantly changing. So to teach only what he was doing until he died seems to go right in the face of his philosophy.

 

Its actually better to say it was what Ted Wong was taught imo. Lee taught them all differently, that was the entire point of JKD.

 

What little I trained was on the Jerry Poteet side of things, and I liked it. Nothing against what Dan Inosanto does. I would have trained with him if I ever had the chance, but I like the whole close to the root thing and then applying what Lee said "Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one's back."

I have to tell you, my short time in JKD taught me a heck of a lot about other arts I had trained, especially Xingyiquan

 

There is an Albany JKD school. I've been thinking about going to check it out.

 

It is Guru Dan JKD. Nothing against it, but that is where it comes from

There is another guy around Albany that is JKD, but I cannot find him anymore and I can't remember his name, but I am still looking. The Jerry Poteet student left the area, but some of his guys were still training in a group together last I knew, but they are about 20 miles north of Albany. If your interested, let me know.

 

Sure, wouldn't hurt to check it out.

 

Bruce Lee took those things that he could use, and discarded what was useless to him. By doing that he developed Jeet Koon Do, which is a very flexible method of fighting, and ferociously effective when Bruce employed it. If I studied that school, I would find out what he did and learn that, then modify it to fit me. A good Jeet fighter will find out how to do that, and will be a formidable opponent. and to me, that is the point of learning any style.

I agree with your conclusion, and I may have simply re-worded it. I just hope that I added something worthwhile. And last of all, I am a big fan of old school JKD, because it works.

 

First let me preface this by saying it's not a shot at JKD or Lee.

For over a year now I have been wondering "if JKD's philosophy" really that unique. I kinda brushed it off a bit because my Sifu/Guro was a LE Operator and studied under more than a few masters (Aiki-Jujutsu, Kali and 2 different styles of Wing Chun) maybe this is why he wasn't big on Dogma. However last weekend I went to a seminar at the School of Master Keith Mazza. He is the Head of TWC under William Cheung and the closed door student of the same. If anyone would be stuck in a style, or dogma, it would be this guy I thought. What did he say throughout the seminar? "There are lots of specific ways to do this. Whatever you do don't get trapped by dogma, if you have another technique that will set this up, tell me" and the ideas did flow.

This brought back to my mind, "maybe it's not the art but the teacher" question.

 

That is a good teacher that you have there, he sounds like he knows what he is talking about. And I figure that he is no one to mess with.

 

Right on both counts. I actually searched for a new school for like a year until I stumbled across him. Beyond the obvious what i liked the most is that he will be explaining the Wing Chun or Kali techniques (both are taught in the same class) to everyone, then take me aside and teach me the variation that can be turned into LE applicable maneuvers depending on where I am on the Use of Force Continuum. That is then what I practice on my own in order to get the proper muscle memory.

I think one of the differences with him maybe that he runs the school as a "club". He doesn't expect a profit, so it's about passion and not revenue and that passion, imo, is what makes a true martial artist.

 

I have have taught JKD many many years ago and ran the school for my instructor for years. At one point we had 2 schools open. This was all I lived for and lead by example. Then Life happened. I have wanted to open a school on my own or do something out of a gym. I have been ask but never had the time to devote to it. It is a part of my DNA as a person on my path through life.

 

Totally agree. Bruce Lee wasn't trying to tell everyone that he is the best, just trying to tell his students to find their own path.
Forge your own path to understanding. We must not follow!

 

A good Sifu will probably see you strengths and weaknesses early on. And they might not direct you immediately to what is your strengths. You need a foundation to build off of. Once you have a good foundation then you can explore your own path. A good instructor will help guide you. Sometimes you are left to find it on your own. If you find it on your own you develop your own process to grow.

BTW.... Some people will also say that there are more than "Original JKD" and concepts. Some people will go into saying there is Jun Fan Gung Fu, Original, Concepts, China town JKD, and the "Nucleus". You have to keep in mind that Bruce was a moving target. He kept evolving. One day he would be working on one thing... Next day another. The original 5 who trained privately in his back yard saw a lot of what he was working on. People in his schools saw what was laid out to be taught. Students of his all saw different phases. So we have different names.

Leo Fong who was his friend and student told us a story where he left bruce a week. And bruce spent a week watching Ali on video bounced off a mirror to be in his right lead. And a result of that week was Bruce was moving like Ali in a week. Ever changing.

 

I've been exposed to Sifu Ted Wong style Jeet Kune Do and to Guru Dan Inosanto style Jeet Kune Do and both were very similar to me. They just had different ways of teaching, that's really the only difference I saw between them. Other than that, Sifu Ted Wong and Guru Dan Inosanto teach the same basic core principles and techniques. I think anyone who wants to get a better understanding of Jeet Kune Do needs to first let go of any and all prejudice. You can't just learn JKD from one of Bruce Lee's students. To fully understand it, you'd have to train with all of them and learn as many ways as possible. That's my opinion.

 

What was your experience with Ted Wong and Dan Insanto. Did you take seminars with them, were you a continuing student for a time, or did you experience them through books and videos?

 

Mostly through seminars in the early 2000's era. I had 3 seminars with Sifu Ted Wong (each one lasted about 4 hours) and 2 seminars with Guru Dan Inosanto (also about 4 hours each) so I had roughly about 12 hours of training with Sifu Wong and 8 hours with Guru Inosanto. Of course, I also watched videos and read a lot of books. I never got that far in JKD, so I don't really talk about it much. I can say this much about it though. It's the same style. Sifu Ted Wong and Guru Dan Inosanto taught the same basic JKD material when I was with them. I felt the need to say that, because I see a lot of MMA practitioners talking about the distinctions between them and how Dan Inosanto and Ted Wong hated each other and yadda yadda yadda. Bullcrap, that's just people being ignorant. Sifu Ted Wong and Guru Dan Inosanto respected each other very much. At least that was my personal experience with them, and I didn't see any differences between the JKD that Sifu Wong was teaching and the JKD that Guru Inosanto was teaching back in those days. It's the egotistical effort of 2nd generation instructors who totally lied to everyone and tried to make themselves sound more authentic and better than everyone else. Or at least that's what it seems like to me. I have a lot of respect for Sijo Bruce Lee, Sifu Ted Wong, Guru Dan Inosanto and everyone else from the original body of JKD, especially now that most of them are deceased. The last time I saw Sifu Ted Wong was in 2006 and he passed away in 2010, just four years later. He was a great man, loyal to the grave. Training with him was like training with Bruce Lee.

 

There's a lot of that going around!