Jay

I have more success too. I prefer a diagonal lead roundhouse and a Thai horizontal rear one.

I agree to a certain extent, hence why I thought it was better he got a little bit of instruction first. I don't particularily have a grappling background either, its just about being sensible with your partner. Don't go over the top when appling locks when it hurts you listen the other guy taps no problem. Plus you can usually feel when you are about to break something, its a good medium to learn from as long as you progress slowly. But he should at least get some training first to start with.

Yeah IRON MAN:) Dum Dum Der Der Der...........

If I remember my history correctly I think TopTomCat is pretty close to what I would have said. It came about because of sport fighting. Im almost sure that originally particularily shotokan all kicks were kept low on the whole.

True, but it has videos on how to do the takedowns and someone explains on how preform themWho will be your partner, though? If my brother will agree to it then him. Even though he hasn't ever done anything as far as Judo or any other style like that, we would be able to practice one specific takedown in various postitionsYou will not learn anything useful, and you will have a high chance of hurting either yourself or your brother. I cannot stress this enough- find a place to train. There really is no other way. Find a dojo, please. To the OP I think you should do whatever you feel happiest with and what satifies your goals best. Why are you doing it? Competition? Defense? Fitness? These will help you narrow your choices a bit. In terms of video instruction, its harder than being taught live and in the beginning its best to get some knowledge. But once you have the basics down there is no reason to learn from videos. I do it alot, again it depends what technique. For example I taught myself an ankle lock the other day didn't know how to do it before. I just played around with it until I got it down(Good Partner is needed). If you do this you must be precise. Filming yourself performing is a good way and then checking it to the original video. Good Luck

I agree that they do like to test things, but again thats my point. I was just suggesting that this technique 'could' come in handy when in the street. My point was that I was just observing what is. MMA has limitations, all martial arts and people do, I was merly pointing them out, in this case I do not think I was being closed minded at all. Sure I can be closed minded, but this particular time I was just saying it as it was. I was just suggesting another option, it would be up to him to test it out if he so wished.

I think I know what kick you mean Its kind of like a cresent kick with a flick at the end inwards. Am I correct? You could use this for a knife defence but I wouldn't advise using it. I advise using it only if you can't run away and are at kicking range and are fighting someone who is holding the knife very low and/or crouching. Running away is always best.

I was just thinking today about a conversation I had with someone. I was in a line to go to my student union when as usual being a little intoxicated find myself speaking to almost everyone around me. I spoke to this one guy about martial arts, he was an MMA student at the local club. Now we got into conversation about MMA and I conspired to say that I thought MMA was great but I felt it lacked a little bit when it came to the street and certain rules prevented me from using a finger jab. I implied that they do not learn little things like this which may come in handy on the street. He didn't seen very amused with me, maybe it was my wording but he thought I was bascially rubbishing MMA which was not the case at all. He just seemed to think to me that he was not open to what I was saying at all. Now trying not to single a group of people out which I hate to do, but I was reading a post on another forum and again the attitude tends to be a you are doing a classical martial art, I rubbish you type thing from the MMA guys. Now this of course is all down to the evolution of the UFC and MMA in general. Im not saying anyone on this forum is like that but just observing what I saw. These guys are the ones who originally thought that mixing and being open minded was a good thing. But now with BJJ and Thai Boxing being predominant they have just stuck with that. Again trying not to say they, some martial artists rubbish other arts that have been working for hundereds of years. Open mindedness turned into, 'I ,have found a partial answer all other answers are wrong'. Has anyone else found this at all. Jay

I prefer bottom three however its up to you I did top 2 for a while as well. Just make sure that you hit with the knuckles rather than the fingers thats all. Alot of people don't isolate them from your fingers enough.

I have always thought that no first strike meant there is no set first attack, not that you don't attack first.

Great Choice!!! Go for it. If its what you wanna do let no one tell you otherwise.

I read a little book by Bruce Lee called commentaries on the martial way at my friends house. Have been hooked since.

I have done some aikido although not necessarily in an aikido school. My previous instructor hybrided it with shotokan, tai chi and wing chun although we essentially did shotokan. We tended to use the aikido stuff for break falls. Defenses against pushing and generally they grab you, you hit them and put a lock on type stuff. Its a good art but again everything is about getting a good teacher so check it out and make sure the teacher can make it work.

Good Question, I have this problem too! Usually I just play around with my friends but no one is really interested like I am so its hard. I would train every hour of every day if I could but alas you can't always do what you want.

This one stands out first for me, Jay, because during the time I was studying JKD, my instructor made a point of how it cuts out any time lag. Lee wasn't into the classical approach to MA when he was designing Jeet Kune Do, and the classical is pretty much, as I see it, block then strike. If you keep practicing it that way, training hours that way, you'll do it that way with the time lag built in. During that time, you're a target. With the simultaneous approach, which is not hard to learn, it just shouts out "common sense." I remember working with a partner who had two focus mitts, one for the parry and the other for the simultaneous attack (punch), and then we'd switch. It surprised me how quickly it can be caught on to. Really nothing revolutionary here actually. In my opinion this stems from Bruce's background in Wing Chun and such. Basic stuff and hardly a thing that JKD is alone in advocating. Yes it does actually come from Wing Chun, Lin Sil Di Dar and no its not revolutionary. But at the time in the 60's it was, most people were karate students and traditionally they don't do this so it was quite new at the time. Again its also something that most people don't actually do.

I was bored so I thought I would just outline a few of the principles of JKD and see if anyone would like to have a play with them in their training. Nearest Weapon To Closest Target- This principle stems from the 'Interceptng Part'. The idea is to use your closest weapon to strike the closest most vunearable target. For instance if at long range you would use your side kick to strike the opponents shin/knee. Or at closer range if someone is grabbing your hand, you could use your leg and kick them in the groin. Strongest Side Forward- During fighting Bruce believed that you use your forward leg and forward foot the most. Thus he decided to adapt his stance to fight with his strong side forward. Thus resulting in two rather equally strong hands rather than one less and the other more. Independant Hand/Body Movement-For instance when firing a punch in order to be as non telegraphic as possible you move the punching hand first before the body. This one is extreamly hard have never seen anyone do it properly except Bruce Lee. A good example is his fight with Ohara in Enter The Dragon. Broken Rhythm- Instead a fighting in a linear fashion you try and mix things up as much as possible. For instance when moving quick changes of direction while in the middle of a step would constitute to this. Quick changes of level, for instance while throwing a hand combination insert a kick in the middle of it and then continue to punch. Feints and Fakes also constitute to broken rhythm. There are many ways to do this and is fun to mess around with. Keep Your hands Moving-While moving around vary your hand position by making small circular movements, also you can move your body like you are slippling a punch. This helps you be predictable. Simultanous Defence and Attack-In JKD we try not to parry, you should always be looking to intercept, however you will have to parry sometimes and when you do parry you should strike at the same time. Once this is practiced enough you should be striking first and then just leaving a covering hand this is the so called 'Intercepting Fist'. Economy Of Motion-This is related to the first principle, whenever you try to do a technique cut down on any excessive motion. For instance pulling back when you strike, you should fire it fro whereever your hand or foot is at the time. You should try to refine every technique by going as direct to the technique as possible. A straight line is always faster than a curved line. This can result in you using 'hybrid' techniques. For instance depending on the angle your hook kick may be a cross between a front and a hook kick (you may know as roundhouse),so it could be diagonal in nature. I hope some of you find something interesting from these and play with them even if you know them under a different name.

Yea, Joesteph I do JKD. Previously I have done alot of kata I did shotokan for years. Forms and Kata are fairly interesting. Im still trying to learn the Yang Style Tai Chi form as I never learnt it all. Im also trying to learn Siu Nim Tau which is the first Wing Chun Form. You mentioned the Pinan/Heian kata. If I remember correctly they all come from Kanku Dai (or whatever you respectivly call it) Thus if you know Kanku Dai you understand all of the Pinan/Heian Kata. Kanku Dai was always my favourite. Also Very 'Tai Chi' in its movements.

Maybe only to your bank balance. Seriously though you do only do it for about 3 weeks. Some people have been doing this for years. Its only a few extra calroies for the short term its not a long term thing which is where problems would occur. Its also obviously not advisable if you are lactose intolerant but that would be stupid.

Personally I don't find Kata useful anymore. I think because I did years of it. Its not like I don't respect people that do it, I actually quite like it but doesn't fit my goals anymore. I prefer to drill things like punches and kicks. I assume they are simiar to the shotokan kata's plus probably a few that I don't know.

I have alot of these probably everytime I train. Its always in my nature to try different things. For instance was working out on the bag yesterday and was experimenting with different amounts of follow through. I added a couple of inches more follow through and I have added more power, not alot but definatly gives my strikes more 'shock'

In Jeet Kune Do there is a version of this called the oblique kick. At relatively close range you stomp on the oppoenents knee or shin. Its effective, to the foot not so much but it could be effectve, just wouldn't be what I would do.

Gallon of Milk A Day Look up stronglifts routine, google it.

If you want to do them everyday you can its not a problem. Look up Pavel Tsatouline 'Grease The Groove' Very good technique. Using it to work up to a one arm pull up and have made very good progress.

I haven't been on here for a bit. It was in London. My teacher represents Tim's Wednesday Night Group here in UK. It was a very good seminar 2 days although I only went on the sunday, was a little expensive. We mostly worked on kicking techniques they did hands on the saturday. It was Tim's last in the UK. I may have to come over to the states to train at some point JKD is just so far away. I miss when I have a club just down the road and can train whenever I want to.

I have the book. I don't think im going to get the DVD. I have done alot of the material with Tim at a seminar I went too. Im looking forward to the new book though. It sounds really good.