which is better Bruce Lee punch or kick?

[KennethKu]

Originally posted by akja ...His "original" primary training made great use of the hands and I personall think that his hands were more realisically effective and that would make them better!:asian: [/B]

Bruce Lee's fighting methods and fighting skills changed rapidly in his relatively short life. I don't understand the basis of hanging onto his "original" methods while he himself had discarded and moved on.

 

[sweeper]

I think Akja was saying his hands were better because he had more training with them.

 

[bob919]

if your going against a much larger stroger opponent thats slower than you then kicks are invaluable especcially aimed at their knees but if you going against someone smaller and faster than kicks are a bad idea.

 

[James Kovacich]

Originally posted by KennethKu
Bruce Lee's fighting methods and fighting skills changed rapidly in his relatively short life. I don't understand the basis of hanging onto his "original" methods while he himself had discarded and moved on.

I don't really think that Bruce "discarded his original methods and moved on," as you stated.

I beleive that Bruce did not let himself be "bound" by any technique.

To "use what is useful and reject what is useless" is misinterpeted in the sense that people think that we have to continually whittle down our technique in order to not be bound by our technique. And way to many people take Bruces words as the Bible of martial arts, (like) "if he said it then his must of done it."

I do know (from the mouth of my Sigung who was there) that Bruce did teach his original teachings all the way up to his death! Was that all he taught? No. But to achieve Jeet Kune Do we have to follow a process that begins with Jun Fan as a base. If we as individuals find that Jun Fan is "usefull," then there is no need to "discard" it.

Thats what its about. My Jeet Kune Do is not your Jeet Kune Do, it never will be, nor can it ever be close. Because it is in the mind just as much as it is in the body. But if anyone thinks that it is "all" in the mind and that there is no art, then they are wrong.

But to think that because Bruce evolved as an individual martial artist and that "he moved" and no longer practiced or taught his Jun Fan is rediculous.

 

[KennethKu]

With all due respect, what is ridiculous is the notion that Bruce Lee came up with JKD on day 1, that everything Lee ever touched was JKD. Just like everybody else who has invented or created or discovered something meaningful, Bruce Lee learned, experimented, discarded, and refined in an evolving process. If you asked Ted Wong, Bruce Lee's last private student as well as one of his closest friends, he would tell you that what Bruce Lee taught when he was in Seattle (all the Jun Fan stuffs) was vastly different from what he later taught when in LA. In the early days when in Seattle (supposedly what your instructor was involved in), Lee was more leaning to Wing Chun and other Chinese Kung Fu stuffs. His horizon boraden widely in time. JKD is the refined product, an improved version of Jun Fan. However, Bruce didn't leave a lot of materials, in terms of techniques, regarding JKD to be passed on. (His JKD Bible, "The Tao of JKD" is at least 30-40% nothing more than Lee's half-baked attempt at philosophy.) He wasn't thinking of preserving JKD as he wasn't thinking of dying so soon. JKD was a work-in-progress. So later on, people who want to make a living teaching JKD, find that JKD is very simple and there isn't much to teach, hence you can't really charge a lot of sessions. (JKD is simple, and you can ask Ted Wong to verify this.) So, they dig up Jun Fan and BINGO! You can make a lot of money teaching ChiSao and other Wing Chun stuffs that take forever to play around before the students wise up. The reality is, at the end, Lee deemphasized ChiSao. This comes straight from his confidents and private students, Takimura and Ted Wong's mouths. These two are his diehard loyalists and would never distort Lee's legacy.

 

[bob919]

john littles 'jeet kune do' is far better organised than tao of jeetkune do and just genrally better it basically has the same info but better organised and added to

BTW john little was just the editor but he did a great job

 

[James Kovacich]

Originally posted by KennethKu
With all due respect, what is ridiculous is the notion that Bruce Lee came up with JKD on day 1, that everything Lee ever touched was JKD. Just like everybody else who has invented or created or discovered something meaningful, Bruce Lee learned, experimented, discarded, and refined in an evolving process. If you asked Ted Wong, Bruce Lee's last private student as well as one of his closest friends, he would tell you that what Bruce Lee taught when he was in Seattle (all the Jun Fan stuffs) was vastly different from what he later taught when in LA. In the early days when in Seattle (supposedly what your instructor was involved in), Lee was more leaning to Wing Chun and other Chinese Kung Fu stuffs. His horizon boraden widely in time. JKD is the refined product, an improved version of Jun Fan. However, Bruce didn't leave a lot of materials, in terms of techniques, regarding JKD to be passed on. (His JKD Bible, "The Tao of JKD" is at least 30-40% nothing more than Lee's half-baked attempt at philosophy.) He wasn't thinking of preserving JKD as he wasn't thinking of dying so soon. JKD was a work-in-progress. So later on, people who want to make a living teaching JKD, find that JKD is very simple and there isn't much to teach, hence you can't really charge a lot of sessions. (JKD is simple, and you can ask Ted Wong to verify this.) So, they dig up Jun Fan and BINGO! You can make a lot of money teaching ChiSao and other Wing Chun stuffs that take forever to play around before the students wise up. The reality is, at the end, Lee deemphasized ChiSao. This comes straight from his confidents and private students, Takimura and Ted Wong's mouths. These two are his diehard loyalists and would never distort Lee's legacy.

First, my instructor was not "supposedly" in the Seattle school. My Sigung was James Lees student before Bruce came to Oakland from Seattle and he was James student until James died in 1972. Heres his sons (my Sifu) site:
http://www.geocities.com/Tao_Of_Gung_Fu/The_Nucleus_Of_Gung_Fu.html

Like I stated, if the Jun Fan is still useful, there is NO need to reject it.

If you like, there was an article that was published of my Sifu and Sigung in Jeet Kune Do magazine on my site. Click the .pdf file, its good reading.
http://www.scientific-streetfighting.com/SIFUSTORY.html

I know about Ted Wong, a few of the original JKD guys are associated with him and I am a serious "follower" of Dan Inosantos teachings, thats what sets me apart from my Sifu besides the fact that he could knock me silly!!
:asian:

 

[Withered Soul]

His punches were fast as hell. But so were his kicks. I'd have to say his kicks because he could kick head height with devastating power. And you don't want to be at the receiving end of one of those.

 

[Zepp]

I remember a documentary I saw on Bruce Lee over a year ago or so on A&E, where they stated that to the person holding the kicking bag, Bruce Lee's sidekick felt like being hit by a truck. I don't know who they were supposedly quoting, but if that's an accurate quote from one of Lee's training partners or students, I think it says something about the degree of training he put into his kicks.

 

[Deathtrap101]

punch or kicks, either way i sure as hell wouldn't have wanted to fight him.

 

[bob919]

nome neither. strangething: i'm twice bruce lees weight but it sounds as if he has so much more power than me its really amazing that he was so powerful at 130lbs that shows how much training he did

 

[MA-Caver]

I saw a MA documentary (pardon that I forget the name) but it had a short interview with Sammo Hung. He was speaking of the first time he met Bruce Lee. I'll not quote verbatum here but in effect he said that he was introduced by a fellow actor on the set of Enter the Dragon.
Names were exchanged and Lee looked Sammo up and down and asked "what do you want?" Taken aback Sammo said "Spar?"
So they got into position. Sammo then remarked that by the time he lifted his leg to do a kick, Lee had effectively slapped him in the face with his foot and was back in his original stance.

But the question was which was better the punch or the kick? Not which was faster. All are very familiar with his famous "one-inch-punch", and most of us would agree that given a choice Lee probably would've preferred to punch from six or eight inches because the power of the strike would've been more effective.

Still, one of the best things I learned from ETD was his "art of fighting without fighting". This shows that his MIND was better than his punches or kicks.

IMHO :asian:

 

[Eldritch Knight]

His original style, Wing Chun, was mainly concentrated on punches, so I'd say that his punch was definetely better.

 

[Black Bear]

On one level the question is absurd, on the level of a person asking "which is a better piece of furniture--a table, or a chair"?

However, if I understand the question properly, I guess punches. Bruce Lee's boxing-jab-like lead and straight blast have much more currency today than, say, his trademark side-kick.