Best striking art

[Tant01]

Here, here!

Great (if a little predictable) answer Tim! I think a lot of the folks, especially here in the JKD (are we still allowed to say that?) forum would agree. However, it bears mentioning that Sijo Lee looked to boxing to fill in the gaps and deficiencies he felt existed in Wing Chun, yes? His training methods (heavy bag, skipping rope, focus mitts, the way he advocated sparring, and even his beginning position and footwork) came from studies and observations of boxing, didn't they?

Of course, I would have to agree that he did something remarkable in that he drew those training methods and concepts out of the simple realm of pure fisticuffs and showed how it applied across all the ranges. I also feel (intuitively, as I have no real way of knowing) that it may have been his observations of boxing - maybe even his brief Hong Kong experience with the sport - that influenced his stressing the preliminary conditioning of boxers as opposed to the less dynamic methods of more traditional martial arts.

Of course, we all have a great opportunity to learn from you as to whether or not I'm completely full of horse poop, since everything I just wrote is pure speculative personal opinion and you, after all, were there in the beginning. I can't speak for anyone else, but I would sincerely love to hear what you have to say on the matter as someone who saw JKD develop firsthand. If you'd be so kind as to entertain the request here, I for one would be eternally grateful.

Respectfully,
Mike Brewer

PS: I realize your post was written with the intent to point people a the obvious, and I didn't mean to kill the humor. I just saw a great opportunity to ask a question I've always wanted to ask.

I'll second your plea for good accurate knowlege!

[BeingAtOne]

Well its nice to see this thread is getting some good attention from some very talented MA's. I just wanted to explain a little about why I did not put Jeet Kune Do in my poll of striking arts. I think Jeet Kune Do is a great theory and Concept i train every day in its ideas and theories or atleast try to. But i dont just think of it as a striking art I mean it has alot of elements so I just wanted to focus on the arts that do nothing but train on striking or atleast make up 80% of its curriculum or more. But in retro spect maybe i should have put In Jeet Kune Do instead of Jun Fan. anyways Im still very pleased with all the input and i would like to hear more about your thoughts and opinions thanks.

[thtackett]

While I saw Bruce at the 67 Parker tournment, I didn't really start JKD until I got my Masters degree in 1970. I started in my teacher, Dan Inosanto's, backyard in 1971. At that time the only mention of Jun Fan was the name on the wall which said it was the Jun Fan Institute which meant the Bruce Lee institute. I had first met Dan in Nov of 1964 when I got back from the Air Force. He was a good friend before he became my teacher. What I learned in the backyard was called Jeet Kune Do. It was never called Jun Fan. My Senior 1st certificate was a copy of those given out in the Chinatown school except that it has Jeet Kune Do on the top of it. Dan gave me permission to teach Jeet Kune Do and call it that at all the summer camps, But he did not want any of the people at the camp to get a certificate that said JKD on it. All of them said Jun Fan. When I as taking JKD it was very clear that Bruce was greatly influenced by Western boxing and fencing. His genius was to take arts from both the East and the West and create something totally new. From boxing he got training methods, different ways to punch, and footwork. From fencing he got strong hand forward, 5 ways of attack, broken rhythm, focus on intercepting, fighting measure, hammer principle, etc Adding to that was just Bruce himself. For example his kicking is somewhat different from other arts. It may look like other arts but it is different.

[BeingAtOne]

I would like to here more about this and how bruce and dan created and inovated there style and what changes you noticed from the begining to well i dont want to say end but i guess what you see now, and if you think things have improved or not in the world of Jeet Kune Do Mr. Tackett Im very curious to hear your opinion on this matter.

[thtackett]

That's a large order! I remember that the first thing that Dan added to his teaching other than JKD was Kali. At that time he called it escrima. He taught it in the backyard for about 1 hour after the 2 hour JKD class, Not everybody stayed to take it. Bob Chapman and I did, but it meant that we didn't get home until 1 in the morning after our 90 mile drive home. I then got up a 5:45 to go and teach school the next day. After Bruce passed away Dan opened up the Kali Academy. Since he didn't want to teach JKD to the general public, he started teaching what he called Jun Fan Gung Fu. He divided it into 4 phases. The old backyard class moved to the new school. By that time there were 2 backyard classes. The new one had Teddy Lucay, Jeff Imada, Chris Kent and a few others. Dan then combined these 2 JKD classes into 1. It was a closed class . To get in to it you had to go through all 4 phases of the Jun Fan and then be voted in. We also all showed up on Sat for a semi private workout. Tony Luna also started a kickboxing class at that time on Sat. They were good times. I miss them.