Bruce Tegner

monkey

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Bruce recieved a black belt from Judith Tegner in Judo(this was his mother) as I have the film & it shows ranks of hers & his.They demo a lot & well.Now for the multi books H e had no training in Karate or the other arts the books came out in.It was all basicly judo with some veriation to look like other arts.
 

jukado1

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frank raud: My name is Bob Rosenbaum, I was a student under Bruce Tegner, The information from monkey is incorrect, While Bruce's main instructors were his father Jon, And his mom, June Tegner, He also trained with many other very good, High ranking masters from other arts, Including Canadian savate instructors, Japanese weapons instructors, And karate instructors, Bruce's primary advanced instructor was, T. Shozo Kuwashima one of the top judo/fighting Black Belts in the U. S. at that time, Bruce was the California state judo champion at 17 years of age, And the youngest 2nd dan judo Black Belt in the U. S. After which he retired from competition to devote full time to teaching. As far as Bruce's lack of training in other arts, First Bruce was trained in the full spectrum of judo training, Covering the striking, kicking, nerve centers and pressure points that were atami, think karate, the holds and locks and chokes of jiu jitsu, Think Aikido, And the fighting that was called hand to hand combat, Which is just jiu jitsu fighting,
 

tshadowchaser

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His books (good or bad) inspired me to learn more about the martial arts and gave me one of my first looks at karate. At the time he published them there was darn little out there in english in the USA for people to read.
As for ranks and knowledge, i don't care, because it was more than I had at the time and a place to start.
 

monkey

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Jukado1 I did not mean to offend you or Bruce.I got the info Showing his rank from the dvd I have from his mom June.The dvd is sold threw George Alexander.I might be able to make you a copy of the rank part.
 

Kreth

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monkey said:
Jukado1 I did not mean to offend you or Bruce.I got the info Showing his rank from the dvd I have from his mom June.The dvd is sold threw George Alexander.I might be able to make you a copy of the rank part.
If it's a commercial DVD, that would be copyright infringement.
 

jukado1

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Mr. Carnes: I'm sorry my reply sounded rude, But for many years there have been those who take great joy in putting Bruce down, Unfortunately they have no knowledge of Bruce outside of his books, The books he wrote were for people with no knowledge or very little knowledge of martial arts, None of his books were meant to make experts out of the readers, But to allow those with limited athletic ability to learn to defend themselves from the average attacker, And just maybe discover a fun and useful hobby/sport to enjoy as the average person today enjoys golf or tennis, For fun and health. Bruce In his era was not loved by the martial arts Establishment because he broke from the party line, That to learn Martial arts you had to give your live to martial arts, There was no half stepping, You ether trained to become an expert, Or you didn't train. Bruce was innovative, And taught students to think for themselves, Something the masters of the day did not want to see, While Bruce would probably not win in the UFC, For his time he was a proficient fighter. Thanks for your time.
 

Marvin

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Back in the day, Bruce Tegner was all that we had! There was very little else out there. We were glad to get that LOL!!
 

pstarr

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I have to give Mr. Tegner credit for introducing martial arts to many, many people. Much of what he taught is still very useful today.

That said, he should have steered clear of doing books on aikido and kung-fu...
 

Jonathan Randall

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frank raud said:
What do people on this forum think of Bruce Tegner?

I personally think very highly of him and his contibutions. He advocated simplicity in self-defence as well as recommending a well rounded program of both grappling and striking years before either MMA or Bruce Lee appeared on the scene.
 

jukado1

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Mr. Starr: The 2 books you mention, The kung fu and the aikido books, While using his name were written by individuals with rank in those subjects, The aikido book was written by a gentleman named Augusto Lodi who was an aikido Black Belt from South America, Who met and became friends with Bruce, He used Bruce's school to teach an aikido class for his student's, And allowed any of Bruce's students to train, The book was written in Bruce's name because Bruce was a known name while Mr. Lodi was not. Mr. Lodi passed away from a hart attack while teaching a class at the school, He was a soft spoken, Very nice man. As for the kung fu book, The man writing the kung fu book was a student, And friend of Bruce's named Dr. Val Christensen, Who after training with Bruce wanted to learn kung fu, As in those days there was NO information on kung fu, Dr. Christensen trained with Ark Wong in Hollywood Ca. After gaining rank with Mr. Wong, Dr. Christensen suggested to Bruce that they do a book on kung fu, While I can't guarantee that this was the first book mass produced on kung fu, It might have been, And again, It was just meant to shed some light on something that was at that time still super secret.
 

pstarr

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Very interesting. Still, Bruce shouldn't have put his name on the books as it made it appear that he was alleging to have authored these books himself.

I know Mr. Tegner has received a lot of bad press over the years but people forget that he was one of the earliest martial arts pioneers in the U.S. and one of the first people to author martial arts textbooks.

Many of his basic self-defense techniques were/are very good and he did much to spread the word about the "mysterious" martial arts back in the day. His efforts should be appreciated by our current generation.
 

Shaolin Bushido

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pstarr said:
Very interesting. Still, Bruce shouldn't have put his name on the books as it made it appear that he was alleging to have authored these books himself.

I know Mr. Tegner has received a lot of bad press over the years but people forget that he was one of the earliest martial arts pioneers in the U.S. and one of the first people to author martial arts textbooks.

Many of his basic self-defense techniques were/are very good and he did much to spread the word about the "mysterious" martial arts back in the day. His efforts should be appreciated by our current generation.

I've learned to steer clear of the popular sentiments such as the one's solicited in this thread ... what is thought of Bruce Tegner regarding his expertise and credibility should be as varied as there are posters on this board. I have many of his books and never raised an eyebrow til I read somewhere of vague implications that he was something other than what he claimed.

You have to remember that many books in the old days generally were picture books that failed to effectively display the arts they were about. Ironically, I think his are better than most in that regard.
 
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frank raud

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Mr Rosenbaum, thank you for joining this thread. It is always a pleasure to have someone with actual experience in the art, or personal knowledge of the instructor add to the discussion.

I really enjoy many of Bruce Tegner's books, just got a second copy of Instant Self Defense. I think many of his books show a well thought out and effective
system of self defense. I really appreciate his book on pressure points, and hold it in high regard as it not only shows the expected results of an attack on a specific point, but how the size of the attacker vs the recepient makes a difference on how effective the technique will be.

A friend of mine told me about getting one of Tegner's books, and laughing because of the techniques shown being odd, like the clasped hand kick. I suggested he try it, he did, now teaches it to all beginning students.
 

jukado1

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Mr. Raud: There are and have been many fine martial arts/fighting instructors out there, But due to jealousy, and insecurity and students trying to raise their instructor, The way most try to accomplish this is to degrade others out there, As far as Bruce Tegner, Bruce was a good instructor and a good man, I never heard a negative word about Bruce from any that knew him, Only from those that were jealous, Or those that had known him only through his books and felt his teaching was different then theirs.

PS. Special thanks to Mr. Tom Carnes/monkey. Thank you for the information on the Tegners, It is something I will treasure.
 

Tegnerfan

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I am a huge fan of Bruce Tegner and his contributions to practical self-defense!He was not appreciated for what he did while he was here,which is a real shame.He was a pioneer of practical self-defense!
 

Jonathan Randall

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Tegnerfan said:
I am a huge fan of Bruce Tegner and his contributions to practical self-defense!He was not appreciated for what he did while he was here,which is a real shame.He was a pioneer of practical self-defense!

Agreed! He's an unsung pioneer of realistic self-defence training.
 

Shaolin Bushido

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Mr Tegner was able to learn Judo from his parents and share that love with them as well as become a top competitor, prolific writer and teacher ...

... I think there are less fulfilled lives ... he even impacted me, a guy he's never met but who will always have a good feeling whenever I hear of him or see one of his books.

Yes. I think he contributed much to the martial arts in the US and probably around the world. Who knows who else took up Judo after reading his books or will begin today!
 

bustr

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Shaolin Bushido said:
Mr Tegner was able to learn Judo from his parents and share that love with them as well as become a top competitor, prolific writer and teacher ...

... I think there are less fulfilled lives ... he even impacted me, a guy he's never met but who will always have a good feeling whenever I hear of him or see one of his books.

Yes. I think he contributed much to the martial arts in the US and probably around the world. Who knows who else took up Judo after reading his books or will begin today!

Amen there! Irregardless of what training he may or may not have had his books were a good source of information.
 

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