Is Jeet Kune Do a Legit System?

Training
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[quote]jj-dude wrote:

[quote]Grimlorn wrote:
To the OP. If you want to learn how to fight then take boxing or Muay Thai. A striking art is going to be fine in most situations for self defense barring weapons. Just make sure you’re sparring regularly. You won’t learn to fight if you’re not sparring. [/quote]

Fight? Funny… I’ve only been in a handful of them – so I’m no expert – and they all turned into really sloppy sumo after about 3 seconds. People that want to duel will square off and continue to punch or kick if that is their training. People that want to assault you throw a punch or two then grab you so you can’t hit back, if you’re still standing. Course, YMMV. So are we talking about duelling or assaulting here?

I never even got remotely close to doing a kick in any of them (and I got a 2nd degree Black belt in TKD, did kickboxing tournies for a few years, so I’m a pretty passable kicker too. Whether that type of kicking will stop someone is one question, my point is that picking up a foot that high was at no point a good option. You can’t absorb real powerful hits so well perched on one leg.) Not too much punching either (and I did boxing for a couple of years too and love it dearly.) The encounters ended with either me TKO-ing the guy with a hard throw (few times), a choke and one time I busted the guy’s arm really good. Sparring helped me think on my feet, but virtually none of those tools transferred directly… Striking arts, by and large, are great for starting fights where you can throw the first punch or 5, but not so good if the other guy starts. Sparring is easy. Hitting someone back who’s hellbent on beating you to a pulp is harder than you think, and kicking them ain’t gonna happen unless it’s a fluke.

– jj[/quote]I stand by what I said. Your post has nothing to do with what I said.

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[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]Sentoguy wrote:

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
I wasn’t breaking your balls about the “how many fights have you been in” question. Honestly, I don’t even disagree with what you’re saying. I think I maybe I just have forum fatigue on the whole issue and the martial arts in general… this whole idea of people training in “systems” where the instructors argue over who is right and who owns it and whether this technique is right or wrong or was added after the guy died… ugh. It’s just all so ridiculous considering the original intent of all of this was to defend yourself from dying.

It’s especially ridiculous because there’s only so many ways to punch, kick, and block. So they’re all arguing over… what? How they’re strung together?

It’s part of the reason that I like boxing as much as I do (besides the part where you don’t bow to foreign flags) - there’s six punches, and even though you can alter them a little bit here and there, NOBODY claims to OWN those six punches and then tells everyone else they’re doing it wrong.

And nobody pretends that the six punches you learn in sport fighting are any different than the punches you learn in a “reality based self defense” course or in Krav Maga or whatever either. They’re just punches. They land or they don’t. You knock the guy down, or you don’t. You live or you don’t.

Sorry for the rambling. Just tired of these goofy people in these goofy arts.[/quote]

I hear you man, the emphasis should be on effectiveness, not tradition or place of origin.

[/quote]

I really don’t understand any more why people with solid backgrounds in the arts aren’t constantly creating their own arts.

This is the reason that I really do actually like MMA and the training it involves - everyone is creating their own mini-system that’s based on what they find useful, what their background is in, etc. If you get guys like Bas Rutten incorporating more street-useful techniques, you really get some badass ways of fighting.

I’m hoping it kills the idea of “Well, I do Goju-ryu/kyokushin/krav maga/whatever and my way is the right way and the only way.” It won’t, but I hope it does.[/quote]

Actually that does happen quite often, some are subsystems like 10th Planet JJJ and some are completely separate arts like Dynamic Combat Method.

Tthe truth is though that like you said, there are only so many ways you can punch, kick, block, take someone down, gouge, bite, stab, etc… There are obviously going to be different ways of putting the stuff together and different emphasis depending on desired arena of application or environmental considerations.

There is also the fact that some people luck into beginning their training from a very early age and just seem to have a mind for putting things together and as a result make great systems. Most people are less fortunate and start later in life and as a result don’t make as good of systems or just train under those who do.

Finally the really good systems are constantly evolving and looking for better ways of doing things or have enough depth and method behind them to allow each individual to tailor the system to fit them as an individual. Take boxing for example, like you said there are only roughly 6 (maybe 8 if you count overhands), only so many defensive motions and only so many footwork patterns, but each successful boxer adapts those skills to fit their individual physical traits, emotional profile, and opponent. The same can be said of any good method based system.

83

Jeet Kune Do is built on explosiveness, power, endurance, dynamism and spontaneity.
It’s great training and will round out any weak links in your fight game.
The training will condition you to deliver powerful blows from the underbelly of your opponent’s striking range, which makes you inaccessible in many cases. The training is useful but I wouldn’t recommend repetitive striking. The energy expenditure is too costly. It’s best to utilize that power and speed primarily to intercept an attack, then transition into a grapple straight away. Saves time, energy and unnecessary bloodshed. Keep it classy.

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Jeet Kune Do is a legit system, but you have to watch out!
These days you got to be very careful about martial arts like JKD. If you meet your local teacher ask him to show you his lineage. That means up from Sigung Li till now-how does his JKD DNA look like?
Just to name a couple of legit teachers: Tommy Caruthers, Jesse Glover (passed away last year), Dan Inosanto, Patrick Strong, Chuck Norris…
Make sure you dont get into some kind of f*cked up Leung ting Wing Chun class. These guys often claim to practice what Bruce did.
Today everybody can make up some sort of graduation or found his own “liberated JKD system”(that already happened several times). What counts the most if you want to really learn Jun Fan Gung Fu or JKD is to find a good teacher with some real JKD background. Unfortunately there are not many people left who can really speak of themselves as “true” JKD practitioners.

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[quote]Kensington wrote:
Jeet Kune Do is built on explosiveness, power, endurance, dynamism and spontaneity.
It’s great training and will round out any weak links in your fight game.
The training will condition you to deliver powerful blows from the underbelly of your opponent’s striking range, which makes you inaccessible in many cases. The training is useful but I wouldn’t recommend repetitive striking. The energy expenditure is too costly. It’s best to utilize that power and speed primarily to intercept an attack, then transition into a grapple straight away. Saves time, energy and unnecessary bloodshed. Keep it classy.
[/quote]

Not trying to be a dick, but what is “the underbelly of your opponent’s striking range”?

Also, in order for interception to be a viable option one must either be tremendously quick like Lee himself, have a large gap between you and your opponent (which is not the norm for where most real fights start but can be effective once in the “Active Combat” phase of fighting), or one must strike preemptively ( which is a great tactical option, but a poor choice from a legal/moral standpoint).

Lastly, how exactly is grappling going to save time? A hard concussive blow to the brain is going to be the fastest method of ending a fight (well, other than avoiding it altogether or talking your way out of it). Grappling is going to generally increase time frame and entanglement, not the best idea in a real encounter (unless perhaps you’re law enforcement/security and it’s your job to apprehend the assailant and you’ve almost certainly got back up on the way). If you’re talking about sport, then sure, that could be a good strategy.