Having a Hard Time Deciding What Style is Most Effective for Street Defense

[gungfuhero]

In JKD you should be hitting hard and fast. Don't favor one over the other because bother are important components.

Don't think that 6 months or a year of anything is all you need. To practice JKD you need to constantly sharpen your tools. Equate it to a boxer. Who says "yeah I did six months of the jab so I don't need to train it anymore"? It makes no sense.

If there's something from you Karate background that will help you hit harder, than by all means see how you can apply it to your personal JKD. Just don't get that complacency of "been there, done that."

[Gambino]

think about it for a minute... slow and hard hitting dont really go together very well.... power in your strike will be generated by speed. if i were to bump into you in a school bus going one mile an hour, or crash into you on a bike doing 65 miles an hour, which would be more effective?¿ develope speed and the "hard hitting" will be there naturally. speed is what will dominate your opponent. think how many people bruce lee defeated that were three times his size, with bulging muscular arms bigger than his waist. what good is hard hitting if you cant land a punch? personally, id stick with the JKD, but its all about whatever works better for you.

[Bruce_Fan]

Power and speed!

Hi all,


I think I finally put my finger on it as to why Mark Anthony might be experiencing less power in his JKD.
Could this be becaue of the more economical motions involved?
As opposed to cocking back your arms and leg and releasing?

I think Gambino made a good point about speed and power.

It reminds of Bruce talking about Power versus strength!
It's the story when Bruce and Dan were walking by the Dungeon gym and a gigantic bodybuilder walked out.
Dan said "Look at the arms on that guy."
Dan said he never forgot Bruce's reaction: Bruce Said, "Yes, he's big, but is he powerful? Can he use that extra muscle efficiently?"
Power according to Bruce, was demonstrated by an individual's ability to use strength developed in the gym quickly and efficiently for real-world purposes.
--------------
It sort of reminds me of the one-inch punch!!
While you can't use it in a fight, it's the concept that it's important: It's generating power from economical motions.

This is not easy as I am having to work on it myself. When you want to throw a powerful punch or kick, the natural tendency is cock back our hands and unleash a bug sweeping punch, for example.
It's trying to get the power from an economical motion that is the challenge.
In fact, if any of you have training tips, I'd gladly listen.


Take care
Bruce_Fan

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Ps. Hey, J.K! You made really good points. "Mark - You are missing the point - JKD is not a style - it has no limits. Its a matter of self discovery - trying to discover what will makes you best fighter. You are comparing karate to a philosophy."

I wish more people would understand that.

[Twisted up]

How about the style where you do some punching, some kicking/kneeing and some grappling training all mixed in?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?


WOW! What an idea!!! I think I'm on to something.

[sidder]

Sounds like it's time to check out a muay thai dojo. Can't get better standup than that

[Anal Scurvy]

What kind of punches do you use in your JKD? I work off a boxing stance and am thoroughly more powerful than when I studied karate. I would assume that you're working off a similar stance as well, unless your JKD uses a strictly Wing Chun stance (with Wing Chun punches).

In any case, I would recommend you take up a boxing class (if, as you said, you are predominately a puncher). Boxers don't need a great deal of muscle to rip a heavy bag apart, they're very good at utilizing their bodyweight. (But then, my philosophy suggests that an art devoted entirely to punching is bound to produce some of the best punchers in the world.)

[deadlyfist1485]

most of the time style in fights go out the window, in all the real fights ive seen most of the time people throw punches and I have even seen kungfu experts lose control and just punchs. Although the best technique i think would win in a 1v1 fight would be ju-jitsu.brazilian one.think about it.. takedowns,chokeholds,deathtouches,breakmoves. any1 ever seen ufc? ultimate fighting championships the brazilian ju-jitsu guy usally wins them,or shoot freestyle (tito ortiz).i mean jkd taught by the greatest(bruce lee) was a modifier to any arts you had before and on top of that it looked cool by bruce lee in all his movies. kicks usally are blocked in street fights unless your good at fakeing them out but takedowns work if you get experienced at them.My advice if you get into street fights, attack hard and accurate--10 direct hard balanced attacks is better than 20 lousy attacks. quality is better than quantity.One thing i really hate when watching fights is people fight there heads back and not balanced and swing there arms like crazy hopeing to hit anything or try to act like ceasar chaves and get clocked like mad and dont block or keep distances and flow with attacks.A key tip my dad taught me years ago if i ever got into a fight ,and my Opponent leaves an opening grab onto the throat and pull as hard as you can,and dont let go. its basic but works, either it kills them or they cry for mercy after struggling to get ya off. otherwise I have gone off on this subject.. dang im violent...peaceout

[gungfuhero]

To answer what style is most street effective:

1.The Flash could so beat Superman in a foot race...


2.Capt. Pikard is twice the star fleet commander Kirk could ever be...


3.So what if Bugs Bunny took on Tyson, but couldn't use dynamite...



The most effective style doesn't exist. Train hard and be yourself.

[mighty marr0w]

Yes Yes, Styles don't win fights, people win fights

marr0w

[ECS]

Hard time...

Hey Mark,

Just two things:
A) Speed equals power. The faster your punch is moving, the stronger the impact, so you may not be losing power, even if you feel like you have. It's really up to the person your sparring with to tell you how the strike feels to them!

B) Muhammad Ali was said to have been a not so powerful puncher because he was always dancing around and out of proper punching balance, however, upon closer inspection of his fights you can see that he would use movement to set up his power punching, at which point he would "ground-out" and fire the big shots. Hence alot of the replies about using the concept of no style. You can be light on your feet during the "pot-shotting" phase of an altercation, and then ground-out to launch the big blows when the opponent has been set up for them!

Hope it helps!

Adrian

[Jerik]

The guys are right, not the style wins, the Fighter wins.

I myself go with the Aikido style (yeah yeah, "blah, lame, unrealistic, dancing...), i will take it anyway

[Silent]

Newbie post, you are warned.

Get rid of the notion of style. Do that and you'll begin making REAL progress.

Styles were developed for a reason. If a style did not work, then it died on the battle feild along with its founder. If you are saying that styles don't exist merely because you have "seen a kung fu expert lose control and start punching" or have seen a "Kung Fu Master" get beat down, then think for a second. There are only two reasons why a Style does not work. The person using the style is weak or the style is weak against another. The styles today such as Praying Mantis and the Five Shaolin Animals exist because they were and are effective.

Just my $0.02

-Silent

[DragonGod]

Just remember this, "Strength matter none, if you're not fast enough to land the hit." (S.D.P) basically, you can be strong as an Ox, but if you attempt to strike the quick Dragon, your strength means exactly, dick. so think on that why you worry about your former strength. speed will win out over power. "I'd rather shoot with an automatic rifle, than with a magnum." (thanks Sifu U.) just a thought for you, speed is the better. by the way, i agree, your style cannot be best no matter what it is. the effectivity of your style is based upon you and your attributes. as well as the situation at hand. so the style of your opponent doesn't mean much if you can block and return every blow now does it?

[redeagle]

it is up to you

you can take this for what it is
it is how hard you want to work at it in any form or style
is your personality a hard or a soft personality
do you want it to be a part of your life style or not.
it is up to you
my back ground is in grapling and kung fu. grappling gives me gound work kung fu gives me stand up and mential focus

so what kind of a person are you?
red eagle