SOUTH BAY JEET KUNE DO ACADEMY

TRAINING PHILOSOPHY

We believe that martial arts training should be FIT, FUN, AND FUNCTIONAL.  The training should be FIT in that the workouts should help students to become more healthy, achieve better conditioning, and enhance their overall fitness.  The training should also be FUN in that classes should be fun and enjoyable.  Finally, the training should result in the development of FUNCTIONAL SKILLS, that is, skills which students can actually use for self-defense.

Toward these goals, we employ specialized training methods and equipment that are designed to strengthen a student's fitness, conditioning, and martial art abilities.  In the majority of classes, focus mitts and sometimes Thai pads are used so that students can develop power, speed, accuracy, and use of distance.  During more advanced training, boxing gloves and shin guards are worn so students can spar safely, without fear of injury.  We use kali/escrima sticks and safe training knives to help students learn how to deal with blunt and sharp weapons, with an emphasis on learning proper footwork, zoning, defenses, timing, and distance.  These training methods are not just for the young and athletic, but can help the average person become more fit and confident in a short amount of time. 

We recognize that each student is a person whose size, shape, strengths, weaknesses, personality, temperament, and physical abilities are unique to that person.  While we expose students to a wide variety of techniques, strategies, and tactics, we do not try to mold them into something that they are not.  For instance, some students may be better kickers than others, while others may be more adept at punching.  Rather than try to shape students into a specific mold, we encourage students to become as skilled as they can in all areas but to develop their own individual expression of fighting.  It is similar to teaching writing by exposing a student to different authors and styles, not so that the student will imitate any particular author, but so that the student can develop his or her own unique writing style or "voice."  Thus, students are encouraged to "research their own experience, absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is specifically their own." 

While we want students to develop useful skills that they can apply in real self-defense situations, we also want students to enjoy what they are doing and learning.  Thus, we generally shun the military, drill-sergeant, fear-based type of approach, as well as the more traditional, authoritarian master/student way of training.  Instead, we provide an informal, relaxed, and safe atmosphere where students can obtain a good workout within a structured, disciplined learning environment.

TRAINING CURRICULUM

The main arts that we teach are Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Kali Weaponry.

JEET KUNE DO:  This is the approach to combat that was founded and developed by the legendary martial artist, Bruce Lee (1940-1973) during his lifetime.  This scientific street-fighting art is designed to work in real situations involving empty-hand combat.  It synthesizes combative principles, training methods, techniques, and philosophies researched and complied by Lee during his lifetime.  Starting from his base in the close-quarter style of Wing Chun that he learned in Hong Kong, Lee incorporated the best of various martial arts, including Chinese gung-fu systems, Western Boxing, Kickboxing (including Northern Shaolin and French Savate), Wrestling, Grappling (particularly Japanese styles), and Western Fencing. 

The result of Lee's research and experimentation is an art comprised of specific principles and techniques that is simple, direct, fast, powerful, and deceptive.  Students who train in Jeet Kune Do learn various tools and techniques, including, long-range and short-range kicking, punching, trapping, elbow strikes, knee strikes, head butts, throwing, choking, strangling, tripping, locking, and grappling.  They learn the five ways of attack, namely, Single Direct Attack, Attack By Combination, Progressive Indirect Attack, Attack By Drawing, and Hand Immobilization Attack.  They also learn the various ways of defending, namely, footwork, parrying, evasion, and blocking.  Students also study offensive counterattacks (intercepting stop hits and stop kicks) and defensive-offensive counterattacks (evade and counter, parry and counter, jam and counter, and time-hit).  The important tactical considerations of distance, timing, and rhythm, are also examined in depth.

FILIPINO KALI WEAPONRY:  This is the term that we use for the various Filipino fighting arts of kali, escrima, and arnis.  The Filipino arts originate from the Philippine Islands and represent a diverse group of fighting systems that were developed as practical responses to situations faced by the peoples there.

We teach a compilation of Filipino systems from a number of influences.    The core of the systems that we teach are those that were passed on by Dan Inosanto.  This is the convergence of different kali/escrima systems that were researched and taught by Dan Inosanto in the 1970's and 1980's at his various Academies and passed on by his student Chris Kent.  These include foundational aspects such as proper triangular footwork, zoning, the basic angles of attack, basic defenses, disarms, and counterattacks.  Students learn how to attack and defend using the single stick and double stick.  They also train in methods of attack and defense involving edged weapons.  Stick and dagger methods are also studied.

DOG BROTHERS MARTIAL ARTS:  The Dog Brothers gained fame as a semi-underground group of men that engaged in regular bouts of escrima stick fighting.  Their brand of fighting, known as "real contact stickfighting," involves heavy sticks and minimal protective gear such as fencing masks, hockey gloves, and elbow and knee protection.  Although a sense of realism in stick fighting remains at the core of their philosophy, their approach has expanded to include the idea, "Walk as a warrior for all your days."  Thus, the art has expanded to accommodate the needs of individuals of all ages, in a way that they can continue practicing the art well into old age. This "system of many styles" incorporates influences from a number of sources.  Besides the Inosanto blend of kali (most of the original fighters came out of the Inosanto Academy in the 1980's), DBMA also draws from Pekiti-Tirsia escrima, Lameco escrima, Krabi Krabong (a weaponry art from Thailand), silat, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.  There is also an empty-hand component, called "Kali Tudo," which is based on kali movements.  As part of the weaponry training, students are exposed to various aspects of the DBMA. 

GRAPPLING ARTS:  To help round out the students's self-defense skills, training in different grappling-related arts is occasionally provided.  To train the clinch, or stand-up grappling, different techniques and concepts from Muay Thai and Greco-Roman wrestling are taught and practiced.  Also, to deal with groundfighting and escapes, basic techniques and principles drawn from Brazilian jiu-jitsu are introduced.

REALITY-BASED MARTIAL ARTS:  This is a distinctive approach to training that has been developed by Jim Wagner, who has extensive military and law-enforcement training and experience.  The emphasis of these courses is on understanding the pre-conflict, conflict, and post-conflict aspects of various situations.  Scenario training is stressed in which students engage in role play to simulate specific situations that they may face.  The idea is to help them understand the underlying dynamics of a situation and to maximize the probability of emerging without injury.