And Each one will not work properly without the other.
Like our feet. Left and Right works together,
and without the other, we won't be walking, we will be hopping instead.
For us to be able to walk and run, we need both the left and the right.
JKD is the same.
We have the PHILOSOPHY of JKD.
and then we have JKD as a fighting method.
The Philosophy of JKD is briefly summarized by these principles.
RESEARCH YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE
Bruce Lee taught his students that in order to learn how to swim,
you need to get wet :) Therefore in order to learn how to fight, we need to spar and engage ourselves in drills that mimic real street attacks.
We are not to just engage in "dry swimming" or just doing Kata, Poomse or Taolu.
We really need to get with a training partner and spar realistically.
How do we do it without killing each other? By using protection;
Headgear, mouthguard, body armour, groin guard, knee and shin guard, gloves.
By doing so, we can train without the fear of killing our friend.
Without armour, we will end up doing what Karate fighters used to do, no-touch sparring. Looks fun but without truly hitting your sparring partner, how do you know if your moves are actually working? And if you don't know, how do you trust your techniques when it matters most in a street fight or self defense situation?
During this process, you will begin to formulate your own style of Jeet Kune Do.
That is why each of Bruce Lee's original student's styles are unique.
They may be similar because all went through the same journey in
JUN FAN GUNG FU, but ultimately, each one, based on their body type and personality ended up creating a style unique to themselves. Ultimately, each of us will have to do the same.
JUN FAN GUNG FU is Bruce Lee's own martial art. And for a person to really say that he studies JKD, he must start with Jun Fan. It is a martial art that is just like any other art out there with its own system of progression. Jun Fan Gung Fu is the martial art side of Jeet Kune Do. Efficiency, Directness, Simplicity and Non-Classical Movement is the core of this martial art.
Absorb what is useful
In your journey, you will realize that some techniques work really well for you. Others, you have to struggle to master. This is because each of us is unique. We each have a unique body type and we all think differently. No two person is exactly the same. Even twins aren't. Each person is unique. Yes we maybe similar in some things, and in special cases be 90% similar. But no one is 100% the same.
So therefore, in your journey, as you spar, as you do drills, as you study JKD and other arts, you will have to absorb techniques, tricks, and whatnot that works well for you, creating your own unique JKD style.
You should also Reject what is useless to you
Like I said, you will realize that some techniques work really well for you. While others, you may have to struggle to do. Then some, just don't work. Reality presents itself when you really practice fighting. All the fantasy moves disappear into thin air when you have an opponent who actually hits back.
People who don't spar and instead spends all their time doing fantasy training will have a rude awakening when their skills are truly tested. If there is a referee, then great! Someone can save them from their foolishness, but what if it was the street where there are no rules and no referee to save them?
So it is very important to really spar regularly and safely.
When we spar, it is not to show our classmate that we are better than him.
There is no ego involved here.
Our goal during sparring is to overcome our own weaknesses.
So don't go fighting as if you are UFC fighters competing for the championship belt.
Don't aim to knock out your training partner. Aim to master interception and other skills instead.
Now about discarding techniques, before you discard, make sure that the technique didn't work because it was flawed and not because of your own limitations.
Sometimes, a head kick seems useless because it is slow to deliver. But maybe, it seems slow to you because you lack flexibility or do not have enough muscle development to whip your foot the way Sijo Bruce Lee did.
In practice, you can kick as high as you can because you are training, you are learning. But in the street, keep your kicks below the belt.
Finally, you must ADD what is specifically your own
Your journey in JKD, must start with mastery of what is natural to you first, then work on your weakness and make it strong as well. You want to be functional as soon as possible.
Then after you are done mastering both your strengths and weaknesses and mastering JUN FAN GUNG FU, you can start branching out into other arts as well as experimenting on tricks you can further add to your arsenal.
You cannot be stuck in JUN FAN GUNG FU. You have to grow, otherwise you would be going against what Bruce Lee was teaching. He wanted his students to grow. He didn't want them to get stuck in just what he taught them.
Bruce Lee is not a god and JKD is not a religion. It is not a sin to branch out and learn other arts provided that you have mastered Jun Fan Gung Fu already. Bruce Lee taught that JKD is like a finger pointing to the moon.
JKD is just a pointer to truth. But it is not Truth itself. Truth in combat is constantly evolving. What might have work in 1960 may not work as well in 2018.
In the old days, thugs don't know MMA. They do not know double leg takedown or do a lot of ground and pound. It was more of a stand up fight like that of Boxers. But today, you will see a lot of untrained people actually shoot for a takedown or do ground and pound.
If all you have are techniques to counter boxer type attacks, then you will get killed when your attacker uses MMA tactics. That is why you have to evolve as well. Whatever it is, if it works, then add it to your arsenal.
JKD is like a boat, Sifu Rocky told me once. While at sea, it is very important that you stay on it and it may be fatal for you to jump off and try to swim instead. But once you reach land, the boat needs to be left behind not carried on one's back.
While you are just starting your journey, stick to JUN FAN GUNG FU.
But once mastery is achieved, you can start sampling other arts to enhance your current skills.
Many would argue that mastery in JUN FAN can never be achieved, and so therefore we must spend the rest of our lives stuck in it.
While that is true that mastery in Jun Fan Gung Fu is a bottomless well, there will come a time, when you will realize that no amount of repetition of the technique can improve you anymore. Time will come when you will realize that Bruce Lee didn't have all the answers. Like I said, he is not a god and JKD should not be treated like a religion.
Jun Fan Gung Fu for example lack significant amount of ground skills or weapon disarming.
How do you prepare then for a thug who have watched too many UFC fights and know how to grapple? What do you do, when you find yourself in the bottom of the mount receiving a barage of hammer fists on your face? Or what do you do when your attacker has a loaded Glock pointed at you in close range?
Jun Fan is mainly a striking art. That is why Sijo Bruce was researching grappling a few years before his untimely death because he knew the limitations of Jun Fan as he created it then.
The Gracie family proved to the world that even if you have tremendous skills on your feet, all those abilities become useless when you are already on the ground. And unless you are trained in ground fighting, you cannot stop a grappler from taking you down.
Sijo Bruce was really ahead of his time.
Because while the rest of America was kicking and punching, he was already researching grappling. He knew of its effectiveness. He was the one who told Sigung Larry Hartsell to further develop the grappling phase of JKD. Larry was the most adept at grappling in all of the original JKD Students that is why he was chosen by the founder to do just that.
The result is JKD Grappling.
Remember how I said, each of Bruce's student developed their own style of JKD? That is why Larry's style defers from JKD styles of Sifu Jerry Poteet and Sifu Ted Wong which both specialize in JKD as a stand up art.
JEET KUNE DO IS A PERSONAL JOURNEY
We will all pass through the same road, but each of us will see things differently. You may focus on the beautiful sky and clouds, while others will see more of the flowers growing by the side of the road. And after the journey, each of us will report things differently when asked about our journey.
The same it will be for our JKD.
So remember the core principles of Jeet Kune Do,
Research your own experience, Absorbs what is useful, Reject what is useless,
and ADD what is specifically your own.
Jeet Kune Do has two parts,
The Philosophy and the Martial Art.
To be a true student of JKD, you need to know both.
