Reversed stance

[GotaDeGuerra]

I’ve read that Lee generally fought with his ‘good’ hand and foot forward, with the concept that ‘if it’s doing more work, it should be closer to the target’.

Do any of you do this? I know the obvious pros/cons- I’m just wondering if it’s standard jkd practice or do you all maintain your more contemporary stances.

[m_calingo]

That's the way I do it now. It felt really strange at first, but just made sense afterwards. The strong hand is closer to the target for a quick power jab. When I throw a left the greater degree of hip rotation allows for more power there as well. After that I can follow up with a right hook for a finisher.

My only concern for the southpaw stance is if I had a holstered weapon, such as a pistol, on my strong side hip. That might make it easier for a BG to grab. However...I'm not an LEO, so I don't have that problem.

Leading with my strong leg allows me to throw a stop kick to the knee or groin more easily. There's no way I'd go back to using the orthodox stance by leading with my left. No way at all.

[7r14ngL3Ch0k3]

Are you saying the your leading leg is on the opposite side of your leading hand?

[kuk sool won]

I always just switch, if you can switch fight then you have a huge advantage over your opponent.

[akatrk]

My only concern for the southpaw stance is if I had a holstered weapon, such as a pistol, on my strong side hip. That might make it easier for a BG to grab. However...I'm not an LEO, so I don't have that problem.

I just started training in JKD in just a little over a month so I am a rookie when it comes down to martial arts. I am also a cop with ten years of experience on the street which I believe still makes me a rookie in combat.

I also was concerned about the southpaw stance being that I am a LEO. Although it would be advantageous to face off with my strong side forward in a fair fight, the problem is there are no fair fights. The fear of a perp reaching for my firearm is something that is ingrained through a cop's mind since the time of the academy.

During sparring, I lead off orthodox and try to stay cognizant that if in a real confrontation, I have my gun on my side. If the situation arises that I am facing southpaw, I make due of the situation, but I try to return to an orthodox stance.

[thtackett]

The basic idea of JKD is to intercept your opponent's attack before it gets to you with enough power to knock him out. To do this efficiently you need to be able to control the distance, and to get the power needed Bruce taught that you should have your strong hand forward.

[ecamd1025]

I was originally left lead. But I switched to check it out and i liked it more. I was training on that for some time, and I lost the ability to use the left properly. So I am switching back and forth now.

I also noticed for me, that my left was a stronger finisher. It had more snap and power but was smaller in size. But my right is a better lead. Good overall but a much better lead. The right leg is much stronger than left.

What about the power on the left is it not important for movement so when you are cocked you move faster. Did lee consider that?

[thtackett]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. For our guys the strong hand forward works best. If you don't have the basic structure of JKD, then what art are you doing? Can something be JKD if it doesn't follow the basic principles of JKD?

[ecamd1025]

Originally Posted by thtackett

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. For our guys the strong hand forward works best. If you don't have the basic structure of JKD, then what art are you doing? Can something be JKD if it doesn't follow the basic principles of JKD?

I dont Do JKD.
What I meant by my question was. If you switch power forward. then your back leg which adds the movement and power is weaker, would it not be better to stay on power backward. Ofcourse you can increase the left leg fro more power and movement. What I really wanted to know is if bruce considered that by going Power forward teh speed and power coming from teh back leg is reduced. Take care

[m_calingo]

Originally Posted by 7r14ngL3Ch0k3

Are you saying the your leading leg is on the opposite side of your leading hand?

Like most folks, I'm right handed. With the unorthodox/southpaw stance, I lead with my right hand. My right leg is also in front.

[RedCrow]

In reply to;

What I really wanted to know is if bruce considered that by going Power forward teh speed and power coming from teh back leg is reduced.

Speed, no. His speed was almost instantaneous. He did not need the extra distance to build the speed. Bruce wanted the least amount of time for the opponent to react to his kick anyway. So his strong foot forward made perfect sense. Second, Bruce would constantly say "Slow down" to make the kick accurate as being more effective than fast and innacurate. Of course, he was the only one I have ever seen who could combine "fast and accurate" into such a consistent combination.

[ecamd1025]

Distance is time and speed. HAving a fast punch then combining it with a fast movement, creates more speed and reaches the target much faster.

Have you known bruce lee?

Im not saying he is wrong or challenging him. I am questioning wether this was considered. That the back leg being stronger will help you increased the speed.

Both stances are important to learn.

Im not clear on what slowing down means?

Since I do prefer right lead, and its stronger, that if you have a stronger base the branches would also be stronger.

take care

[GotaDeGuerra]

Originally Posted by ecamd1025

Im not clear on what slowing down means?

I think he's just talking about speed vs accuracy. Like in marksmanship (pistol, rifle, whatev), it's well known that when you rush, you miss the target more often. Instead, it's taught to slow down, acquire the target, slowly squeeze through the shot.

On a heavy bag, we see that throwing wild punches could result in injury to ourselves, let alone have little effect on the target. Even in weight training- we lift for form, not weight. Lighter weights with better form provides far better gains than heavier weights with bad form.

Gaining accuracy at the 'cost' of speed is a common training tactic.

In much of my military training, we use the axiom, "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast."

[ecamd1025]

Are you refering to the speed of your body, punches, kicks? Do you refer to them being slowed down so it can be more accurate?

take care

[GotaDeGuerra]

All kinds. If you want to talk generalities, we can talk generalities. If you want to talk specifics, we can talk specifics.

In the original example- [someone below] said Lee advised to focus on accuracy instead of speed. For a novice- it is absolutely impossible to kick something (consistently) with accuracy and speed. Depending of the difficulty of the kick, we're all novices to somebody, like say- Lee. Thus, to get better at a difficult kick (to the side of the head, for example), we should focus on accuracy. Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy. Inherently, we often won't go as fast as we like- it's the nature of the beast. But, speed will come with consistency.

It doesn't matter how fast you can pull the trigger if you can't hit the target.