(Originally posted in Facebook in 2011) Ted Wong stated that, according to Bruce Lee, the highest quality that any martial artist can possess is adaptability; to be able to adapt to any opponent and any situation. When it comes to any combative situation, there are numerous variables that you do not get to dictate. These variables include such things as: • The size, weight, and body-type of the opponent -- tall and long-limbed, short and stocky, heavy, skinny, etc. • The opponent’s mental or emotional state -- cool and calm, angry, nervous and agitated, etc. • The relative speed, power and agility of the opponent • What lead (if any) the opponent chooses to fight from -- right l
The following is a blog I originally wrote in December, 2011. In the book I co-authored with Tim Tackett “Jun Fan/Jeet Kune Do -- The Textbook” which was originally published in 1988, and then re-published in 2008 and re-titled, Jeet Kune Do -- The Textbook,” we wrote that in JKD one should have the ability to flow from one martial art to another, and then listed several photographic sequences as examples, such as flowing from a JKD hook kick to a Thai elbow to a Silat sweep. Personally (and I cannot and would not speak for Tim), I now believe this to be incorrect and that it can lead to misperceptions regarding what JKD is all about. My intention was to ask for it to be removed from the re
This is a reposting of a blog I wrote for Facebook in 2012. Imagine this nightmare scenario. You take your car to a mechanic for a maintenance and tune-up. When you go back several hours late to pick up the vehicle, you cannot find it anywhere. When you ask the mechanic where it is, he points to a collection of various pieces spread all over the garage floor and tells, “It’s right there, man.” He’s right, your car is there, but it’s no longer what it was designed to be, a single, useful entity that functions efficiently and effectively. The same can be said about the art of Jeet Kune Do. The primary physical objective of JKD training is to finish up a single, useful entity that works effic
Take two individuals who are both learning to play the guitar. Person A takes a lesson once a week, and does nothing with the guitar the rest of the time. Person B takes a lesson, and then also spends 10-15 minutes everyday playing around on the guitar, going over what they learned in the lesson and experimenting on their own. Now putting aside individual differences, which person do you think is going to make better progress and develop their guitar-playing skills faster? The answer is obvious. The same is true with regard to martial art training. Class training combined with personal training will give you much better results than class training by itself. While taking classes will supp
Numerous blogs and articles have been appearing recently concerning JKD, Bruce Lee, and the practice of forms. Most of them have dealt with the practice of a form known as the “Ung Moon Form” (which I wrote a short blog about awhile ago). I thought it might be helpful to post a copy of one of Sifu Dan Inosanto’s articles from a column he wrote for Inside Kung Fu magazine some time ago. In it he discusses not only Bruce’s attitude toward forms, but also his own attitude toward them. Here it is: Was Bruce Lee Anti-Form? By Dan Inosanto A misconception exists that people who study Jeet Kune Do are anti-form. Nothing could be further from the truth. They have an understanding of form, and as su
Originally published in July 2015 Okay, I know for certain that this blog is going to upset a number of people (so what else is new, right?), but here goes -- Is “classicalization” threatening to take hold in JKD? Is there a new “classical mess” in the making? It seems to me that for the past number of years there has been a sort of movement underway, the goal of which appears to be, for wont of a better term, to “re-classicalize” Jeet Kune Do. What do I mean by this? For a start, let’s take a look at all of the Chinese terminology now being brought back into full use and pushed on people for everything related to JKD, from the names of tools one uses (jeong = palm), to the names of variou
The following is a re-post of a blog I wrote back in 2010. I recently had a conversation the other with a very nice gentleman who informed me that he currently practiced two systems of martial arts and was thinking about adding Jeet Kune Do, and wanted to know what I thought about the idea. I told him that my frame of thinking was probably very different from his (and a vast majority of other people it seems) with regard to what JKD was all about. That is the theme of this posting. Even with the incredible amount of information that exists about Jeet Kune Do today, I feel that there are still many misperceptions with regard to what it is and what it isn’t. To truly understand what JKD is all
Here is a re-post of a blog I wrote back in December, 2011. “Breakfast of Champions” We know that breakfast is considered one of, if not the most important meals of the day. It helps you get a new day started after a night’s rest. In the same way that what you put into your body is important, what you feed or put into your mind at the start of each day is equally important. Beginning your day by feeding your mind positive, ideas, etc. can go a long way in helping you deal with the challenges and stress you may find yourself coming up against during the day. It doesn’t matter where the food comes from, positive thinking books, spiritual writings, books of quotes, etc.; the container is not wh
