What would happen if Bruce Lee was alive today?

diamondick · Orange Belt

Well said!!!
Only the good die young

BlackI · Orange Belt

You can say that you are not practcing because of Bruce. I will give you that, but I will say this, just think how easy it would be to practice if he did not have such an impact on the MA world in the states.

I am sure someone else may have had a great impact, it was bound to happen, but you can not deny the impact he had on MA in the USA

Martial_Artist · Pre-Black Belt

BlackI · Orange Belt

Sorry for the misunderstanding..

I was not speaking from a personal perspective. I was talking about his overall impact. When I made the reference to being easier I was not talking about your actual workout, but what has to come about for this workout to even happen. The need for a gym/study(which is supposed to have insurance, I lot of Ins Co. still give gym problems when it comes to getting coverage), gear, Instructors and students. I lot of people were actual inspired by Bruce, which inturn created a snowball effect for the rest of the MA world...

Martial_Artist · Pre-Black Belt

I see what you're saying. It applies to the MA community at large. For me, personally, even if Bruce Lee never existed nothing would change about my martial art training.
_________________
"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." Einstein

diamondick · Orange Belt

for some who are mislead ..an article By first Generation Student Patrick Strong.
BRUCE LEE
UNDERESTIMATED Pt 1 .
by: Patrick Strong

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Just the other day I received word from a European writer who has written a number of articles on Jeet Kune Do and, having known many of JKD's top people, is now completing a book on Bruce Lee and his Jeet Kune Do. I enjoyed the discussion, but there was something in te writer’s reporting that troubled me. It was the notion that Bruce Lee has been overestimated. Boy, how many times on different jkd forums have I read that very same thing.

My response was just the opposite. I maintained that Bruce was not overestimated but, in fact, that he was grossly UNDERESTIMATED! I went on to say that Bruce has never really received proper credit for the TRUE DEPTH of his KNOWLEDGE. What he has been credited for was an amazing exhibition of skills, breaking tradition, and the forming of a new martial art; and while these thoughts can be appreciated and are certainly true, they are, at very best, very shallow. In truth, Bruce had a scientific approach to martial art that began with a proven body of knowledge containing a host of pragmatic principles and startling mechanical advantages.

As a researcher, he was not only interested in experimenting with new ideas and concepts, but actually putting them to test and proving them out. As a young student of Wing Chun Gun Fu, he was driven to prove that what he learned in the kwoon would work in the street. In Hong Kong, Bruce Lee, his close friend and training partner, Hawkins Cheung, and a few other young men gained deserving reputations as "The Rooftop Fighters". When not fighting in the street, Bruce and Hawkins would meet go out of their way to meet other stylists on either a rooftop or is some darkened garage, as such fights in Hong Kong were illegal.

Whenever either one of them would run into a problem in a fight they would not rest until they figured out how to solve the problem. Fortunately, they had two wonderful sources to draw from. There was Wong Sheung Leung (Hawkins says he was known as, "Crazy Leung"), who was the most notorious battler of the Wing Chun clan, and one of the original Rooftop Fighters. Leung was older than Bruce and Hawkins, but he took an interest in them. Bruce and Hawkins, in turn, hung out with Leung to learn everything they could about real combat. Leung had been so respected as a fighter that even though he was a wing chun man, fighters from the other systems welcomed him as a referee even when fighting Wing Chun fighters. At the same time, Bruce and Hawkins would go to Master, Yip Man who, behind closed doors, would analyze their queries and give them special pointers to take into the street.

When Bruce packed his bags and left Hong Kong, he brought with him a unique fighting ability, based on a set of highly unique principles and mechanics. So unique were they, that martial artists in America would be amazed by his effectiveness. In 1959, Bruce gave a demonstration at Edison Technical School in Seattle where he met James DeMille, a former U.S. Army Heavy Weight boxing champion with over 100 fights in the ring. At 225 lbs, James was also a highly reputed and feared street fighter, yet he was no match for Bruce at around 135 lbs who could tie him knots and shut him down in an instant.

I remember when a karate sensei came over from Japan and challenged Bruce to a fight. After the fight, the Sensei explained his injuries as being in a car accident. It is reported that Bruce, after his fight with Won Jack Man, had been displeased with his performance and that is why he began to change his art. I recall having had dinner with Bruce shortly after that fight. At that moment, he had been most pleased with himself, considering that Won Jack Man was so very difficult to hit because he kept running and spinning and way from Bruce’s attack. It wasn't until Bruce was finally able to catch up to Man that they went to the ground where Bruce finished the fight. Knowing Bruce, I give Won Jack Man tremendous credit for his skills in avoidance. I think he was smart not to stand his ground with someone the likes of Bruce. At this period in Bruce’s life, he believed in ending the fight quick within the first few seconds. But this fight went on a bit with Bruce chasing his adversary with chain punches (straight blast). Anyone who has ever thrown bunches of chain punches knows how easy it is to tire quickly, since the activity requires involvement of Type II, Fast Twitch B muscle fibres for explosive outburst. Those type of fibres do indeed tire quickly before giving over to Type II, Fast Twitch A fibres, that also tire fast. Nevertheless, the outcome of a somewhat prolonged fight would have been adequate reason for Bruce Lee to more closely examine his method. Obviously, he viewed it as a problem and, like in the past, he set out to solve the problem.

I have told the story of how when in 1964 Ed Parker presented his first International Karate Tournament in Long Beach, where he invited a young and virtually unknown Bruce Lee to come and demonstrate his gung fu. For his demonstrators and forms competitors, Ed had had made available a special room where they could rehearse. In the room surveying the talent was Sensei Oshima, direct descendent of Funakoshi. Accompanying Sensei, Oshima was his highest ranking black belt, Caylor Atkins, a legend in his own right, who told me this story. At the time, neither Oshima nor Caylor had ever heard of Bruce Lee, nor had just about anyone else in the auditorium. Only Ed Parker knew of Bruce's economy of motion, speed, and power that were so incredibly unbelievable. Oshima and Atkins were standing in the center of the room when Oshima's eyes fastened on a handsome young man. As Bruce walked past, Oshima pointed his finger and said, "That one.. He is the only one here who can do anything"! Without having before ever seen Bruce Lee, Oshima was able to sense the young man’s ability simply by the way he carried his body. My friends, this was in 1964. Jeet Kune Do, as such, had not yet been invented.

Punchdrunk · Orange Belt

Thanks DD athose are exactly the kind of stories I come on to these forums to learn about and enjoy.

I think Bruce might have been a sought after trainer for MMA fighters. He had already started improving his grappling with Gene LaBelle before he died. The NHB and Vale Tudo boom would have given him an opportunity to test his theories on a big stage. He would have been to old to fight himself so he would need students to fight for him.

sk0t · Orange Belt

Whether or not your instructors have used the influence that Bruce Lee has created is irrelevant. Being Martial Artists, we all know Bruce Lee...and who is to say that an instructor didnt change something based on Sifu Lee's example doesnt matter, and who is to say that he heard what Sifu Lee said and just ignored it...

Does it really matter? Bruce was good yes, but he wasnt the end all be all of Martial Artitsts. Yes I am a fan, but he is gone, and his legend lives on. Need we say more?
_________________
sk0t

"I shall not be judged by what style I know, but how I apply that style againsts yours..."

Arys · Yellow Belt

Well, first of all I totally agree with LeaF... Bruce Lee wasnt as great a Martial Artist as we all think he was.. He was in great shape and all formed his own art (er.. more of a philosophy), but when you get deep into it when he went into the movie business he lost his first and main art, Wing Chun. Grand Master Yip Man cut him off after he tried to go back to him one day for the Grandmaster to teach him the last form and the end of the style. He offered Yip Man a house and money which greatly offended the GrandMaster. That is why he formed Jeet Kune Do to fill in the holes.. Maybe if he didnt go into the movie business and finished his style he would've actually been the best and then perfected the best with JKD... Ah... and if he was alive till' now he would just be another Jackie Chan and Jet Li.. sure they are popular but he became a legend by dieng the time that he did..

-Kuba
P.S. If I got any of the info wrong correct me please?

Arys · Yellow Belt

Woah.. Didnt see Diamondick's post..

Yep... you've changed my point of view..

Even though I still think he wasnt te best in the world and a bit overestimated..

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