If you mix and match martial arts on your own, can it still be called JKD?

[ICC1]

I think that it doesn't matter so much what you call it if it works then great. However, I suggest to be careful with calling it JKD because you are opening yourself up to scrutiny and backlash from many others out there that are just waiting to pounce. In fact, I recommend that you study under a good JKD representative and understand the ideas that make JKD what it is. There is so much division in the camps but when it comes to certain ideas they tend to all agree: efficiency, economy of motion, broken rhythm, interceptions, etc.

[Ben Grimm]

The concept of JKD is great but I wouldn't use the name JKD, simply because there is just too much political BS associated with it now.

[ICC1]

Originally Posted by Ben Grimm

The concept of JKD is great but I wouldn't use the name JKD, simply because there is just too much political BS associated with it now.

Besides, I really think there is too much "riding on JKD"- it is a "boat meant to get you across a river"..."Once on the other side, there is no use to carry it on your back".....(Bruce Lee effectually warned us not to put much stock in carrying enlightenment as a commodity because it is an ever evolving process that once solidified can lead no where but to dead routines and cold traditions.)

[Ben Grimm]

Which is something that has happened to JKD now. It's become more of a system rather than a concept. Pity.

[Tant01]

I think Sifu Tim Tackett said it best... JKD has a structure. If you're not USING the JKD structure can what you do be called Jeet Kune Do?

No.

[Ben Grimm]

But it has become too structured.

[Semper Fi]

Here is a good article that ties into this discussion.

Combat Journal - Martial Arts :: Interview with Richard Torres

[Max22]

Originally Posted by g-bells

wrong, jkd has a foundation and it includes economy of motion,directness,simplicity. To just mix and mash things together is'nt being formless it's just combinding. not to say it's bad but it's not jkd

I think the secret isn't so much in what you add or discard but the how and the why you discard it. First and foremost JKD is an art that is seriously focused on surviving an encounter that is real, rules-free, in which you could be seriously injured or killed.

If you are a boxer say, and you think, that your skills in the clinch don't work well for you outside your sport applications, and you study Muy Thai clinch work and add what you find effective, then regardless of what anyone else says you are practicing and applying JKD. So long, I think, as you are testing what works in hard sparring with few or no rules (but saftey equipment!) to test and verify. Without this all you are doing is hypothesizing from your arm chair in absence of real data.

Most people who practice JKD do, though do have a very useful foundation in Jun Fan. This is a good thing indeed, but not entirely necessary (Unless you want to be able to say, "I practice Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do.").

[Max22]

Originally Posted by g-bells

but jkd has a foundation and if you don't know it then how can you claim to be doing jkd? BL researched and came up with what he felt was best.it is up to the individual to get a good understanding of these base fundamentals and adapt them to fit your own way and as for as time changes so should your MA, well my understanding is a finger jab to the eyes/throat, kick to the groin, etc worked 1000 yrs agao and it still works today

So Jun Fan is utterly complete in every way?
This seems hardly the case. There is no review of defense or use agaisnt modern weapons. There was no decent grappling. Do you think trapping is still, in 2009, as effective as it was when everyone was still confined to largely classical systems? Do you think that any compound trapping is seriously effective?

[incineratexxx]

take in what is useful......discard what is useless......

[Michael Wright]

Mixing and matching martial arts is simply called cross training. People were doing it years, decades, and centuries before Bruce Lee, and many people have done it on their own terms since. Absorbing the useful elements of several arts, and discarding those that prove ineffective for the individual, is not a novel concept. This is an approach that most intelligent martial artists adopt at some stage in their journey.

The art of Jeet Kune Do has a set of specific concepts and principles behind its study that distinguish it from an arbitrary mixing of arts.

[rooke]

Mike's right. If you want to call it JKD, you need a basis in Jun Fan or JKD. THEN you can (if you're of the Concepts group) mix, add, subtract, and modify as you see fit, because you have the fundamental principles down and have been taught it.

Otherwise, call what you do your own style. If you're trying to associate with a system/style, you need to study it. I can't proclaim (with any degree of accuracy) that I'm doing "Street Muay Thai" if I've never studied Muay Thai. Especially if my exposure to Muay Thai may have only come from reading a book. "Well I have a jab too" doesn't cut it.

There's nothing wrong with mixing and matching on your own, and doing what you THINK may be economical. But it ain't JKD, unless you have a foundation in it.

Rooke

[PandaMan]

Very good points.
I also run into the same issue when people ask me what I know or what style I use... Because I've adopted the JKD principles and I've cross trained in a few different styles and adopted a few techniques from others, I feel it's not right to claim those styles. Nor do I claim I know JKD, because I just follow the principles, not taking the styles itself (outlined in "Tao of Jeet Kune Do")

For example, though I learned a humble year of Wing Chun... I don't claim I practice it, because I haven't reached a level of proficiency nor am I currently studying it. For me to claim it, will almost seem like an insult to the style, tradition and masters.

So I find myself just saying "I know Kung Fu" or a "a collection of martial arts" and careful not to say "Mixed Martial Arts"... even though technically it is. Or to those who know something about Bruce and JKD... I explain the principle of JKD.

But Bruce himself said "Jeet Kune Do, It's just a name, don't fuss over it."

my 2 cents.

[Michael Wright]

Originally Posted by PandaMan

But Bruce himself said "Jeet Kune Do, It's just a name, don't fuss over it."

He did, but like so many things Bruce Lee said, I always see glaring contradictions.

He placed enough importance on the name to issue formal rank and certification in it. He labelled it all over what was (at the time) very expensive marketing collateral, to promote the art to a growing roster of lucrative private clients. He also showcased and promoted the name of the art on American TV through Longstreet, and several high profile TV interviews.

And people criticise the art for becoming commercialised