Does anyone know anything about the Steve Powell gym in manchester? I'm thinking about going down and enrolling tonight as i cant study ninjutsu anymore due to work constraints? Is it a respected gym, or are there any others i should be looking for? Thanks
I have heard about Steve Powell, and he is well respected in the JKD circle. He has trained with some of the best JKD guys in the business. Check him out, and have fun. As you're new to JKD, you should check out this thread. It is a work in progress, but will hopefully be a great source of information for beginners and even experienced JKD practitioners. http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66717 Anyway, enough plugging. Let me know how it goes. Regards Emil
You should also try the Straight Blast Gym in manchester, just pop in for a lesson, the teaching methodology and depth of arts taught are second to none, there also very friendly guys! http://www.sbguk.co.uk/
I have known Steve since 1983. He is a great guy, one of the most down to earth instructors I know. You can't go wrong with him, he's the best. He teaches weapons on saturdays as well. He opened doors for me in terms of meeting people like Dan Inosanto, Rick Young, Rick Faye and Dan Lee.
hes certified by rick young so you cant get a better recommendation than that, if i was in mancs id train there, luckily ive found a similarily bona fide place in birmingham and am loving it!
Try Steve Powell or others there. If it's really JKD you are after avoid Straight Blast Gym they are really good at what they do but it is more MMA than anything else. Matt Thornton who wasn't up to much standard wise in JKD learnt from one of Paul Vunak's students; Matt thinks trapping is nonsense, if Bruce Lee was alive his opinion would get radically altered, the guy that taught Matt wasn't meant to be that hot on the trapping, hence his opinion of it. But if you don't mind there not being much JKD in there & more MMA then give Straight Blast Gym a try there. Give ones you want to go to a call, try get free trial lesson or just go watch one, then decide which one is best for you.
What no glowing endorsment of Straight Blast Gym? How much personal based experience with them do you base that bias against on? Have you trained with Matt or any of his students? What about Paul Vunak? Have you ever trained with him? Becasue I have and Paul is damn good at trapping. Why does the JKD forum get so many trolls who love Wing Chun and bash everything else? Same troll just different name perhaps?
Windtalker, You are in KY, USA & you are commenting on a thread on Manchester , UK, so which classes or Instructors do you recommend in Manchester? I never said anything about Paul Vunak not being good at Trapping, he is, and he trained with Wing Chun people Wlliam Cheung , Hawkins Cheung, as well as JKD people like Dan Inosanto, etc and in FMA trapping as well. Here is Matt Thorntons take on Trapping which he has described as 'nonsense' : http://www.straightblastgym.com/interview01.htm Matt Thorntons opinion on Trapping and its value differs vastly from Bruce Lee's / Dan Inosantos / & Paul Vunak's. Matt trained primarily with a student of Paul Vunak's , not with Paul Vunak himself. Is he right with his opinion? Thats not the issue , people are free to believe or not believe what he says, it's more a question of is it still JKD if you eliminate a lot of the structure of it? Functional JKD as some term it, remove Trapping , add a lot of BJJ, etc; if the structure changes completely is it still JKD? Yes, you could say philosophically he is following 'absorb what is useful reject....' principle and putting his take on it, which is great but if the structure changes so drastically does it still have much to do with Bruce Lee's JKD? People like Dan Inosanto has said people mistakenly do MMA or combine a few arts and call it JKD , and he has said philosophically for them you could say it was their JKD but it is not BL's JKD. Others like Tim Tackett have said similar also, that if you completely change the structure of JKD it is no longer JKD at least not BL's JKD. If for example you removed Bai Jong, used another stance , no emphasis on lead hand & leg development , removed Trapping almost completely, added a lot of BJJ, just did normal boxing punches no straight lead or straight blast, took kicks from Muay Thai & Karate mainly - would it still be JKD? Maybe for you , but it would have little to do with BL's JKD, & why bother to still term it JKD when you have changed it so much, other than marketing & business purposes?, just call it MMA or similar & you could say it was influenced by many arts incl. JKD. Matt Thornton emphasises 'aliveness' what he sees as aliveness , and is really good at what he does, but what he sees as aliveness is different than what Paul Vunak sees as aliveness, or others. There are many strong JKD fighters that strive to be 'alive' and focus on 'aliveness' in training such as Erik Paulson, who competed in MMA, but what Erik Paulson sees as 'aliveness' is different to what Matt Thornton sees as being 'alive', and Erik Paulson does value trapping & regard it as practical , and he does do drills which Matt discards. If you only did what SBG teaches you would miss out on a lot of JKD as Bruce Lee, Dan Inosanto , etc advocated, and would not know Jun Fan Gung Fu as Inosanto group term it or Original JKD as others term it. Nothing wrong with that , but if you are going to term what you do JKD , always good to have the historical knowledge from all eras of Bruce Lee's life Seattle, Oakland, LA., etc, as opposed to saying something along the lines of 'we don't bother with much of that these days or I don't know much about that stuff as Bruce Lee practiced in his lifetime, here's how we do it these days'. Ironic, you go on about who have you trained with, your style is listed as Krav Maga, no mention of JKD there, you mentioned here you trained with Paul Vunak though not if it was with him for years or few seminars, and do not mention your experience in JKD. Have been to seminars with Paul Vunak -excellent Instructor & martial artist, and very knowldegable, overall on JKD hiis knowledge on JKD is stronger than Matt Thornton's. Met one of Matt Thorntons guys, talked and exchanged techniques did not train with him very much, enough to see SBG perspective and also have seen Matt's DVD's. Where you are getting love Wing Chun and bash everything else, I do not know? Dan Inosanto has said Wing Chun forms the Nucleus of JKD it plays an important part, and it is good to see where Bruce Lee came from & his thought process, I don't love Wing Chun and bash everything else there are some very good Wing Chun guys out there I have seen such as Randy Williams, Emin Boztepe, etc and if you get the chance it is worth seeing what they do, people like Ron Balicki has taken the time to train with Randy Williams, Dan Inosanto trained with Hawkins Cheung, William Cheung, etc. People like Erik Paulson and I don't like to get into the who's better type nonsense , but overall as a martial artist he is probably better at all ranges in combat than Randy Williams, Emin Boztepe, etc, such as on the ground or kicking range or kickboxing. So I don't love Wing Chun and bash others, I think Erik Paulson, etc are more complete fighters and martial artists than most Wing Chun guys, but I don't share the opinion than Wing Chun is not very good for self defence or fighting, some in the MMA world regard it as BS basically, there are those like Randy Williams, etc that can make it work and just because it has little in common with MMA doesn't necessitate it doesn't work.
Without a doubt the BEST guy to train under for REAL JKD is Mark Elliott's Impact martial arts academy! He is the real deal! All the other places in Manchester teach concepts and have no idea of what its really about! Go see for yourself if you do not believe me! People only talk about Steve as they had no previous knowledge and did not know any better! Now Mark has moved to Manchester things are going to change around there, once people get to know him and see how much more he knows!
these kinda posts really **** me off. All this real jkd garbage. this is a bruce lee quote: I have not invented a new style, composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from this method or that method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. And Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. This Mark Elliott might be good.don't know him, thats not the point im trying to make here.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-TZfcQQVQE"]JEET KUNE DO AND OTHER ARTS: IMPACT MARTIAL ARTS MANCHESTER - YouTube[/ame] For some reason, going off what I see written on the net, there appears to be a palapable amount of beefburger between the Impact people and the Steve Powell people. I've no idea what the source is, or why.
JKD is the most misinterpreted martial art ever!!!! Everyone says it has no way, but it does have a way! A VERY specific WAY! But at the same time it also has NO way! This is the duality of man! JKD has a way, and at the same time has no way! This is the point most people fail to recognize! They think they can patch a bunch of things together and call it JKD, and get away with it by using the term "concept"! There are many many many people out there who simply do NOT have a clue!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The VERY first thing you should look for is a right lead (powerside forward!)
how can jkd be trying to break a strucutre by having a specific way of doing it. yeah your right there are some people who don't get it and you are one of them. jkd was about what is useful for you. Bruce lee did not want people to copy him and he wanted them to find there own path. there should be a base system which is jun fan jkd but then you have to break from that and use what is useful for you, weather thats one system or three. when you say the concepts are wrong it shows you really don't know much. remember the concept is another word for what bruce was doing and the guy that used that term helped bruce create jkd. i don't like having ago at people but when you come on here and talk rubbish on your first few post, it does my head in :bang:
Whatever bro! You annoy me! How can you throw away UNIVERSAL TRUTHS that apply to EVERYONE in combat!!! There are certain truths you can not FAIL to ignore, but unfortunately MANY people do!!! Standing with the right foot forward and intercepting with the strongest possible structure, that allows a person to maximize their striking power is UNDENIABLY, the best way to win a fight! Hit someone first, hit them hard, and continue to hit them! How can you turn your back on this TRUTH? The bai jong facilitates this, and allows it to happen! Why would you EVER want to change that? Just so that you can say you have made something new up, or that it is your own personal expression, or you are liberated! The CONCEPT that the concept guys fail to COMPREHEND is the duality of man! How you can simultaneously be free from a structure, but also totally bound by one! Yin and Yang my brother, they exist at the same time! :bang::bang::bang::bang: Anyways, I know where this is going, so lets just leave it at that! Enjoy your martial journey, and hope that your martial art works for you shoule you ever need to use it!
yep agree, waste of time arguing, but hate it when people come on here and say real jkd is only what bruce lee taught.
"Bruce Lee's" JKD IS only what Bruce Lee taught! Anything else added to it to improve it (or to fill in any gaps) is that person's own interpretation or adaption of JKD to suit their own body shape etc. This I DO NOT have a problem with! Just don't call it Bruce Lee's JKD! Call it something else, and best of luck to you all!
See I think this is where you missed the point. the concept people call Bruce lee's methods and techniques jun fan gung fu, other call it jun fan jeet kune do or Bruce lee's jeet kune do. There are two reasons its called jun fan gung fu 1) Bruce asked Dan not to teach jkd to the masses because it would be taken as the way and it has e.g. real jkd, original jkd, etc 2) Because it separates the methods of Bruce lee that worked for him (jfjkd) and the principles of jkd ie the concepts, a way of thinking, a philosophy. Which Bruce lee wanted jkd to be. So when you learn the base system (jun fan) then when you add new stuff take away from the jun fan the stuff that does not work for you, you then use a different name, as then its your approach to jkd, but its still jkd
