Looking for training; and is this the right choice??

[pjc]

Good afternoon,

[This is my first post to these forums.]

I am moving to the Seattle area, and am looking for a JKD club to train at. Since I am new to the scene, it would be very nice to hear recommendations on clubs with honest and reality-grounded members and trainers who know what they are doing, in addition to offering high quality training. Could someone please give me some recommendations? Seattle should have no shortage of JKD for obvious reasons


Next, a bit of background to help with my next question, which should have come first. I've had 1yr 7-star Preying Mantis, and a few months of JKD and BJJ. The first seemed excellent for discipline and honing certain traits in the long-run, while the latter two seemed more immediately practical for my limited training.

In the past I've verbally avoided at least two fights (one against two, both randomly initiated), and of course avoidence and escape is a great outcome. Reality of street fights is completely different than Hollywood. I am willing to commit long-term training (i.e., life-long) in I _think_ JKD, primarily to aid in the confidence that if I absolutely had to, I could defend myself to some reasonable degree. This confidence also assists in verbally diffusing certain situations.

I know many people look to certain MAs because of their sport nature. Since I am heavily involved with fencing and other sports, I am not looking to JKD for physical workouts or discipline, although it is a welcome side-effect, but rather for practical street-fighting techniques, period.

I would like to ask your opinion on whether, based on what I am--and am not--looking for, JKD is a suitable training method.
Whatever method you suggest can pay off in many years, I don't need a solution-in-a-box, so keep that in mind. And I know JKD is certainly _not_

Thanks for your opinion and advice!

[pjc]

Any takers on this?

Paul

[doubleouch]

Frankly I would stay away from seattle jkd. Most of it is bruce lee from the 70's and hasn't evolved much. Look for a school that advertises mma training. Or look for a school that has alot of guys fighting nhb. These are really the best. There is a guy there who has a school that used to fight in Japan often. He still brings some of his fighters there. I can't seem to recal his name though. If I remember I'll get back to you.

[Aaron]

Most JKD isn't very good. I know, I have trained it. There is way too much emphasis on theory, trapping and energy drills, and way too little emphasis on punches and kicks, headbutts, knees and elbows. Most JKD people don't seem to sweat very much during training (this is important). They may be able to trap a limb in training, but would have major problems dealing with incoming blows in a real situation, and that's just the beginning. Some JKD people will do well in a fight, but only after many years on training, IMHO. I talked to a JKD teacher less than a year ago and he told me that training 3X per week, I could expect combat proficiency in 3-5 years!

I have trained with legendary JKD instructor Paul Vunak as well. He has filtered out virtually all the useless (or less useful) material and broken it down to just a few simple moves and concepts. He calls this system Rapid Assault Tactics, or RAT for short. It basically consists of interceptions and destructions for use against incoming blows, then the straight blast to close the distance, and HKE to finish him off. This system is very good, and is probably equal to a few years of regular JKD training, but without all the confusion.

If there are any JKD schools in your area affiliated with Vunak or PFS, I highly recommend them as opposed to other types of JKD. I would just probably stick with BJJ as opposed to most other JKD schools if not.

[cboog]

It depends what you want

[pjc]

Just wanted to thank the three of you for taking the time to reply. Your information makes a big difference: I'm looking at RAT and MMA in more detail now, and for sure will continue BJJ. [Especially Aaron, and doubleouch, thanks for the detailed reply]


Paul

[doubleouch]

OK, I finally remembered the name. Matt Hume. He made a good name for himself in the early days of NHB. He has fighters that fignt in ufc and japan events. http://www.pankration.com/
You might also check out Maurice Smith kickboxing. He was a ufc veteran. Marcello Alonso has a BJJ school there that kicks a$$. All 3 of those are great schools.

[NickJ5919]

I just joined this place, it seems pretty cool so far


http://www.shizendoseattle.com/Sifu%20Geroux.htm

[Ketsugo Master]

I have used pauls system many times in real life and have always come out on top of the stuation.

This is for real and I can tell you this for fact.

Joe

[El Mastero]

Edited: This threads pretty old.

[fcokeefe]

There is a school in Seattle that is apart of Rick Faye's Minnisota Kali Group. They are the Seattle MKG. You can find them on the web (http://www.mkgseattle.com/) and in the Qwest online phone book as well as the physical yellow pages. I have checked them out, as much as I can (I live in Las Vegas right now), and they seem to be good from what I can tell. I have stopped by while I was in Seattle and talked for a spell (please note I was not able to train with them at the time), nice people. My wife and I are moving to the Olympia area this summer and I was looking to train there. Check them out, you only get out what you put in to it.

[seany85]

what is the difference between Seattle JKD, and other types JKD (jun fan/jkd, jkd concept)?

is there a dramatic difference between seattle one or is it just minor things in the philosophy?