A question for you JKD guys

[M@T]

Do you do JKD just because Bruce Lee did it or because you like the art/style of it.

Did watching Lee in ETD make you want to train JKD ??

Just curious, dont mean to offend anyone

[roz]

Bruce was just unseen, did things at an awe. i was lucky enough to run in to a inosanto student and pfs'r back in '89 . attended one of his classes,( which i hadsno idea about inosanto or jkd ) he then explained to me that it was the creation of Lees' style of no style, and it was like everthing came together. i've been in love since. i'm still with that same humble instructor - Joe Soliz - and the passion is still at awe

[swan104]

I didn't start JKD because of Bruce Lee. I can see how and why some people start martial arts because of his films though. A picture of him is in almost every martial arts magazine since the 60s.

To sum up my time as a martial artist in brief, I became fascinated with martial arts from an early age, started with one martial art, and then gradually realised there was a whole sh*tload of other stuff out there to learn. Along that journey, I happened to encounter JKD. And thats it!!

[JKDilla]

I got into martial arts because of Bruce Lee and all the ninja and kung-fu flicks in the 80's. Started with Shotokan at age 11.

But after a year and a half also wanted to play football, basketball and baseball. No more time for karate, so took a break.

Started reading MA mags around my senior year of HS, and wanted to take up karate again. However, wanted something realistic. I could tell from my experience with karate before that I needed to go in different direction. From all the reading I did, saw JKD was best way. Obsession with Bruce Lee re-ignited.

Sought an Inosanto-affiliated school, found one that also had a strong muay thai curriculum. Fell in love with muay thai instantly. The whole time during this period i was putting Bruce Lee into idol status.

I always favored good old-fashioned sparring to all the energy and sombrada and hubud drills. Became frustrated with this method of training. Didn't feel I was really developing as a fighter.

Started kind getting un-interested with old-school JKD when started learning BJJ.

After a few years into future, Bruce Lee now figures little into why I train. I give him props for being ahead of his time and for starting the journey for me. But i prefer MMA-type approach to training as opposed to the Jun Fan/JKD stuff.

I'll reference Bruce's writings once in a while for cool quotes or to where he's borrowing from krishnamurti and other great thinkers. But for most part I've moved past the whole do-it like Bruce Lee thing.

I still lurk in JKD circles cuz there are still lots to take away from them. But I mostly seek instruction from anything associated with Erik Paulson, Matt Thornton or Burton Richardson. Throw Dog Brothers into the mix also. Also now getting exposed to Tony Blauer and Richard Dimitri stuff.

[lssanjose]

JKD intrigued me then, it still does that for me now. I've sought instructors for years since hs and just now i started actually training. Actually it was more so learning about JKD that got me more interested in Bruce Lee, not the other way around.

[Domstarr]

Of course, like most of our generation, I watched Bruce Lee movies which got me interested in martial arts. I had a friend who was a 3rd degree in Tae Kwon Do who taught at Chuck Norris' first studio on Ventura Blvd. the L.A. area. He trained me for a year and a half. We stopped when I was half way to my black belt.
When I was 40 yrs old, I started back at it and earned my
black belts in Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do. When I was almost at 2nd degree level, I realized that I was never going to get into a sword fight or use nunchucks for real, and did not want to continue learning weapons and more forms. I quit my school.
I wanted to learn a martial art that was going to be real life effective, not just for tournaments and movies. Obviously, had read a lot of Bruce Lee, "the tao of jeet kun do" etc. I was looking in a black belt magazine at the advertisements for different fight training, and came accross Paul Vunak, who studied under Dan Inosanto for ten years and also trained Navy SEALS in hand to hand combat for two years. I bought a bunch of his videos and trained the JKD street fighting tecniques with another black belt buddy. We found the JKD to be EXTREMELY effective and applicable. Then I went to spend two days with Paul one on one. The training with Paul was great. (I won't go into his unreliability factor or flakiness) But he is a great fight trainer.
JKD as a phylosophy is the most street applicable real life martial art. Bruce Lee was generations ahead of his time with his philosophy on martial arts. I now teach about ten guys, some with little fighting experience and some black belts. Everyone who I've trained has told me that what I'm teaching them is so logical and real life that they will never go back to learning anything else.

[brokenelbow]

Became a Lee fanatic when I saw him as Kato on the Green Hornet, and I'm not talking about on video. Then came the Longstreet episode with this new art he came up with. Spent years doing traditional arts before I finally found people teaching JKD. Great instructors but too many Lee wanna-be students. Also after awhile I realized that what was being taught was derived from traditional arts so why not go back to the source. Right now I look at Dan Inosanto as a great role model and the best example of what a JKD person should be.

[Domstarr]

Broken elbow,

I like your reply to this one. I agree 100%.

Domstarr

[Nutz]

I think I got into JKD not long after getting into boxing. At some point around the end of my senior year of high school I watched ETD with the same friend who got me into boxing. (this was about 9 years ago). We kept watching the scene with the pak sao against Bob Wall? and were just amazed at Bruce's speed. The other thing that drove my interest was his trapping. Until that point, I'd never even heard of trapping. The next week I looked up some instructors in the phone book. Unfortunately I could find any JKD guys. Eventually I wised up and called some of the local Karate joints, all of which recommended me to the same guy--Dave Durch. I checked him out and lo and behold he was the real deal. From there I was hooked, not only on the concepts, but the philosophy as well. I'm still amazed at how fast I progressed in actual usable ability. Thanks Dave!

[lssanjose]

cool nutz. He must be a great teacher. Stickler for the details.

[Nutz]

Originally posted by lssanjose
cool nutz. He must be a great teacher. Stickler for the details.

He still is from what I hear. He may not be well known, but his skill is top notch. I still find it funny that he was hired by the local Karate school about 12 years ago to teach the school's creater how to effectively punch (not naming names). They were cool in that way, ya know? A few of the schools back home were like that in helping each other expand their horizons.

[spiderchoke]

I tried a few things, and did not like it. It did not hold any interest for me. I found it very confining and not suited to my body style. I did not enjoy doing it.

Then I went to school with a friend and I loved it. JKD was one of the things trained. I was hooked. Bruce Lee to me was a by product of envolvment with the training I had been looking for.


"Everyday spent training is one day closer to learning something."
.....Spiderchoke