Lee

Nunchucks are definately my favorite. Although you end up bludgening yourself bloody when you first use the real things, the results are worth it. Once you have proficiency with the Nunchucks and good footwork down you are a force to be reckoned with. Escrimas come in at a close second.

You need some sort of strength training to make yourself at the peak of your ability when doing Martial Arts. You are not performing the best you can unless you are phyisically fit. You also need to be in shape and strong so that you can perfect techniques. So really Karate, and most other MAs, along with the Gym, or any other kind of strength training and keeping fit, are necessary to be the best MA you can be. However, in my opinion, if I could only participate in one I would pick the MA, in this case Karate.

I thought it was a good movie. Especially since I am also a fan of the Once Upon A Time in China movies. It was no less corny and stupid than Matrix, so if you liked that movie then you should find something to desire in Iron Monkey.

I'm currently practicing Wing Chun. I use to do TKD. Also a little Northern Praying Mantis, Tai Chi, and Karate.

If you're new then I'd say TKD. JKD is more of a philosophy/concept/method of fighting, not an actual style. Therefore in order to effectively use JKD you need to know a MA style to apply JKD's teachings to it. JKD is like spices to enhance the flavor, it won't do much to the chicken if you haven't learned how to cook a chicken yet.

Yes, usage of the hips is very important in MA. My Sifu already knew this and so has added in usage of the hips in our Wing Chun training.

Nor could they keep up with the speed and elusiveness of Nike-do

LOL! And what, may I ask, makes you so qualified to make such a judgement on us?

Although this sounds a little bit simplistic....front kick. I use to like using roundhouses into the rip/lower chest area because it was my most powerful kick. However as soon as I went into Wing Chun they picked it apart easy. Front kick with the lead leg into the guys groin because it will be open mid roundhouse. The goal is to get this into a reflex or reaction, not a plan. As soon as you see him telegraph his roundhouse, front kick into his groin and he will be down because there is no way a good roundhouse can land as fast as an equally good front kick. Again, sorry if this sounds too simplistic or linear to work...but it will

The arts easily available in our area are: Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Wah Lum (a family version of Praying Mantis Gung Fu), Hapkido and Aikido. I'm not sure if he's interested in competion, self-defense, etc. I only know so far that he wants one that will suit his body size and personality (agressive).

My best friend recently became interested in Martial Arts. However he's not sure what one is good for him. He's a pretty big guy (6 foot) and does alot of weight training. He wants an art that focuses alot on punches but also has alot of good kicking. I advised either Karate or Tae Kwon Do, but I told him I'd post here so that he'd have more opinions from other martial artists.

There's nothing wrong with Traditional arts. They are no more effective or less effective than modern ones. Like others have said, something that was effective centuries ago should be useful now. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" However I do agree that you should change something that needs to be changed. Never stick to something just for the sake of Tradition if there's a better way of accomplishing the same objective. This is where exponent of the art matters more than the style because only the person using martial arts can decide what they think is the best application of techniques.

Ofcourse work has already been done, but by individuals for their own JKD. Just because they have done the work and found something that works for them and teach it to you does not mean it is the best or the correct technique. If whatever JKD school and instructor you went to did not emphasize this and simply told you this was the best, studies were made and this way to attack is the best so learn it, then it is not JKD. Take for example Dan Inosanto. While Bruce was alive and for a while after his death, Dan had kept using the more upright stance from Wing Chun that Bruce used and taught. It worked for him so Dan kept it. That is until he met up against a very good Muay Thai fighter (forgot his name, sorry) who whooped him up. When he asked the Thai fighter how he was beaten so easily and quickly, the fighter told Dan it was because of his stance. The Thai fighter simply made a shin kick to his thighs everytime Dan's legs came together for an attack. Students of the Thai fighter also defeated Dan's best students with relative ease. Dan realized the weakness in the stance he had been using and so modified it into a more square, Muay Thai stance. Dan changed it because it worked for him and he incorperated something into his personal JKD which was a better way of doing something, in this case the stance. Now did Dan teach his students this new stance? Yes. Did Dan tell them, "I lost to some Muay Thai fighters, so I changed my JKD to adapt to the weakness and so all of you should do and follow me because this is the best stance"? No. If the original JKD stance worked better for you then you should keep it. If Dan's more Muay Thai square stance worked for you better, than use it. If you prefer a Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Jiu Jitsu, etc. stance more than use it. The emphasis of JKD is to create your own personal expression of martial arts. If you simply go to a JKD class and mimic your peers and instructor techniques, who they themselves had to work to find what worked best for themselves, then you are not learning JKD. By following 100% what is taught by the instructor you are defeating the purpose of JKD and you in turn, like you said Ninjamaster, are learning a style. But it is not JKD, it is the specific style of the person (in your case the instructor) who you copied.

Congratz on the belt promotions!

I would have to say that the JKD place you went to was probably not certified then. Either that, or it was taught by an instructor teaching his own JKD techniques and having others copy it, which is NOT real JKD. JKD has to be your own unique expression, not another's.

In Bruce Lee's defense: He never had a fight record because in his time the only form of fighting Tournaments were Karate no-contact sparring. Where the winner was decided by judges who determine who probably would have won by the attacks made but never landed. Lee thought this little more than controlled chaos because sparring of that kind could not teach you to fight in real life. That is why he does not have a fighting record, because that kind of sparring was too trivial to be of importance to him. However, Lee's prowess in fighting in the street is just as big a part of his legend. He was constantly getting in fights in the streets of Hong Kong and getting in trouble with the authorities. His own father eventually sent Bruce back to the US because of this. There he had to fight in public to prove the worth of "Gung Fu" (basically unknown to the US then) in fights against many Karate practicioners, and then even more so with his spawning of Jeet Kune Do. Each time he would get the knock-out win in around 10 seconds. Later on, towards the end of his years and becoming internationally famous as a Martial Artist, he was constantly being challenged to fights by various people of all backgrounds. They were made either by phone or mail, and too often Bruce accepted. Now to this day, after all the street fighting, knock-out demonstrations, and challenges there is not a single person who can claim to have beaten Bruce Lee in a fight (accept perhaps Wong Jack Man but that in itself is too controversial to be considered). P.S. - This post was not in anyway intended to disprove the worth of Karate. It is a great Martial Art and no matter which one you take it will be good. I was just pointing out the fact that when Bruce came to the US, Karate was basically the only MA around, and so the people he had defeated here were of that style.

Yeah pretty much! lol Jeet Kune Do is just a name, even Bruce acknowledged that. Infact he later regretted giving his art a name at all since by doing so people would automatically consider it a "style" instead of it being something unique to ones ownself, and therefore it would be just as restrictive as any other martial art style. It's all up to you, your JKD must be your own unique form of expression and art. However, I would not consider mixed martial arts as truly JKD unless you actually went to a real JKD class to get the philosophical aspects. It's the philosophy of JKD that seperates it from mixed martial arts.

Jeet Kune Do in my opinion is really a concept, not a style. You must be formless, flexible and able to adapt to any situation. You are not taught any moves, forms, routines, countermoves against other moves, etc. Instead you are taught how to go down the path to find out all these things for yourself. JKD encourages you to go out and expose yourself to other fighting arts, you should however definately not look on styles as seperate ways or doctrines, but rather as parts of the whole truth. Keep what is useful, disreguard what's not. However you must use your own judgement to decide. Therefore any person's JKD will be different from anothers, as JKD must be your own unique expression and ultimate truth accumulated from self discovered knowledge.

MA are probably at a neutral right now, they're not losing people or gaining them. I do believe that Martial Arts are showing up a lot more than you actually expect in movies nowadays. The only thing is that you don't have to be an action MA champion or super stunt man to perform it. A few kicks souped up by computers and anyone is a Martial Arts master (e.g. Matrix). But also it is showing up in unexpected genres as well, especially comedy (e.g. Austin Powers' Judo chop, etc.)

The cool thing about Bruce Lee is that he built up his muscles using almost exclusively his own body weight. Not going out to the gym to pump iron like a madman.

In my mind it's no contest. Bruce Lee all the way!

Bruce Lee (1940 - 1973) - Founder of Jeet Kune Do and Jun Fan Gung Fu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bruce Lee was one of the greatest Martial Artist of the 20th century. He is also considered the "FATHER" of the Modern Action Movie, made Kung Fu internationally famous, and brought realistic violence to Hong Kong movies. His personal training consisted of day-by-day exercising (500 kicks per leg and up to 2000 punches per day). This made Bruce Lee one of the deadliest and most physically fit man on the planet. An American born Chinese his original Martial Arts training was from Wing Chun, however Bruce would later incorporate techniques from many other fighting styles including Western Boxing and Fencing to create Jeet Kune Do (which means "Way of the Intercepting Fist"). Although Bruce had admiration for tradition, he was not a slave to it. If there was a better way to do something he would incorperate it into his Jeet Kune Do. Bruce saw the faults of many martial arts styles in that they were restrictive and had set routines that did not teach one the flexibility and adaptability needed in a real fight. Since every person is different there is no such thing as a technique or way of fighting that will suit or work on everyone, and so one should find for himself what techniques are right for him and effective. Bruce was perhaps the creater of sparring with protective gear because Bruce realized the necessity of real fighting experience for self-defense and for students to find for themselves what worked and what didn't. Decades after his death his art of Jeet Kune Do is still debated amongst the martial arts community (Is it an art, a method or concept). The reasons for these frequently asked questions were brought on by Bruce Lee's own description of Jeet Kune Do as "Using no way as way" and "Having no limitation as limitation". The most famous rule is "absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own." http://www.angelfire.com/fl/dawgpac/bruce02.jpg