How good was Bruce Lee??

[Xue Sheng]

Yes I'll translate into Americanese.

Yo yo baby , lets you and me hook up later and go back to my crib and do the wild thang.

From this I'm guessing you took American studies with Professor Tone Lōc

 

[mook jong man]

Suddenly the titles of some *ahem* movies I`ve seen are clear to me.

Do you have root beer down there by the way?

No , we usually drink beer and then root.
In fact its the copious quantities of beer consumed that enable ugly people in Australia to get a root in the first place..

They always get better looking when you've got your beer goggles on.

 

[mook jong man]

From this I'm guessing you took American studies with Professor Tone Lōc

Yes I majored in Funky Cold Medina.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Yes I majored in Funky Cold Medina.

:lol:

 

[Big Don]

Yes I majored in Funky Cold Medina.

No , we usually drink beer and then root.
In fact its the copious quantities of beer consumed that enable ugly people in Australia to get a root in the first place..

They always get better looking when you've got your beer goggles on.

From this I'm guessing you took American studies with Professor Tone Lōc

hahahaha

 

[Steve]

Yes I'll translate into Americanese.

In Australian:

Ow ya goin luv , hows about a root ?

In American:

Yo yo baby , lets you and me hook up later and go back to my crib and do the wild thang.

Lol. That's true if your version of american is entirely basses on the script from Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.

 

[InkedT]

This might be a bit out of line on this thread but since it's on the topic of Martial artists/ actors and how good they are. How good would Jet Li or Jackie Chan be in a real life situation or competition?

 

[Omar B]

This might be a bit out of line on this thread but since it's on the topic of Martial artists/ actors and how good they are. How good would Jet Li or Jackie Chan be in a real life situation or competition?

I don't know. We have all seen movie stars with zero fitness beat tons of guys to a pulp on screen. Fight choreography and actual fighting are very different animals. Jet has had extensive training in Wushu (I think Wushu), Jackie has had some training that I know of in Hapkido, but it's hard to judge ability when these people are the stars of movies and are meant to look good.

 

[InkedT]

Obviously they're movie stars. I was just wondering if anyone knew anything about their real world abilities. There are people who had competition experience who went into choreographed movies, not that many were sucessful though. But I don't know how good they were outside of the movies, that may be why they started movies in the first place.

 

[Omar B]

Jet competed as a child, even met President Nixon on tour with his group when he was a kid.

 

[MartialStudy]

As I understand it Jet Li excelled in his martial studies as a child, which is why he went on to tour with his group (didn't know he met Pres Nixon!) and went on to stardom in the HK film industry. Don't know about Jackie Chan.

Interestingly with Bruce Lee, while he had a great deal of respect amongst the Western Martial Arts community, you have to remember that Kung Fu hadn't existed in the US for that long when he brought it to the masses, so I wonder if it might be a case of "Wow! I've never seen anything like that before!".

Certainly I've read of a number of Martial Arts teachers who came over from HK and mainland China before or at the same time as Bruce Lee who didn't think much of his ability. For me the key is that an arrogance and desire to prove himself seemed to be what Bruce Lee was all about.

I actually wrote a small piece about how Bruce Lee may not have been as good as people thought the other day. The main point is looking at the fight between Wong Jack Man and Bruce Lee, and how the two men approached it. One looking to kill as they would do traditionally in China, the other more concious of the laws in the US.

 

[Heavenly Glory]

Rooting is not a concept unique to WC. I would think it is central to many, if not most arts.

I understand that. However, WC guys seem to make a big point about it.

Not saying right or wrong; just is.

 

[Cirdan]

I understand that. However, WC guys seem to make a big point about it.

Not saying right or wrong; just is.

But you don`t have it in JKD or is it just not regarded as important?
Just curious because many of Lee`s teachings are held in high regard where I train, and we also have a strong chineese influence.

 

[Heavenly Glory]

But you don`t have it in JKD or is it just not regarded as important?
Just curious because many of Lee`s teachings are held in high regard where I train, and we also have a strong chineese influence.

I trained in Wing Chun briefly about 12 years ago. Prior to that I trained in Lau Gar Kung Fu for about 18 months until the sifu decided he really couldn't be bothered with it all (he was going through yet another life crisis). I'd got my first four grades and working towards the 5th and don't recall ever hearing about structure and rootedness while doing Lau Gar.

I've only started in JKD recently, but as of yet, structure in the way that it is emphasised in WC, isn't dealt with in the same way.

That may be because it's still early days, we've been focusing on the Bai Jong, straight lead, basic footwork and basic trapping.

We started Sil Lim Tao last week and have learned the first half and started working on the second half - will have the whole thing my head this week, together with the application. With the modified WC element, it's possible that it is something we will go into. I will try and remember to ask my sifu when I have my next lesson later this week.

 

[bluewaveschool]

I understand that. However, WC guys seem to make a big point about it.

Not saying right or wrong; just is.

Most guys make a big point about rooting.

 

[Tez3]

Most guys make a big point about rooting.

Women do as well, especially the quality of it.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Jet competed as a child, even met President Nixon on tour with his group when he was a kid.

Jet Li, I have been told by people in Beijing, is the real deal as far as his martial arts goes. He may know actual fighting forms along with the modern Wushu stuff. I was told he actual followed a real live Sifu in his youth and the competition to get to Beijing required he knew real CMA not just performance stuff. And if nothing else he was likely heavily trained in Sports Sanda.

 

[Omar B]

http://jetli.com/jet/index.php?s=body&ss=wushuography

wushu-ography
The following is some information about Jet's training, styles he knows and his competitive career.
Jet's Coaches

Jet's primary coach was Wu Bin, who served as head coach of the Beijing Wushu Team from 1964 until the early part of the 21st century. While Wu Bin started training wushu athletes at the Beijing Sports School in 1964, the Beijing Wushu Team, as it is currently known, was not formally created until 1974. Jet, himself, started training in wushu in 1971 at the age of 8 years old.
During the early years of the team Cheng Huikun and Li Jinfeng also served on the coaching staff. In addition, many other coaches and teachers, each with their own specialty and area of expertise, visited the team to help train Jet and his teammates.
The original members of the Beijing Men's Wushu Team were Li Lianjie (Jet Li), Li Zhizhou, Li Jinheng, Tang Laiwei, Yu Shaowen, Wang Qun, Wang Jianjun, Sun Jiaming, Dong Honglin, Cui Yahui, Yang Yongli and Yan Ping. On the women's team were Li Xia, Hao Zhi Hua, Zhang Gui Feng, Wang Xiuping, Zhang Hong Mei, Ge Chunyan, Luu Yan, Hui Xuna, Huang Qiuyan, Zhou Jingpiong, Mi Jin, Huang Xiaofeng and Zhang Dehua.
Contrary to popular myth, Jet never trained at the Shaolin Temple. At the time Jet was training in wushu (late 60's and early 70's) there were no "fighting monks" living at the Shaolin Temple
​

Styles of Wushu

Jet specialized in the following styles:

• chang quan (long fist)
• dao (broadsword)
• gun (staff)
• fanzi quan (tumbling fist)
• 3-section staff
• pu dao (horse chopper)

And in addition, Jet also studied the following styles (some in more depth than others).

• taiji quan (the 5 main styles)
• xing yi quan
• bagua zhang
• jian (straightsword)
• qiang (spear)
• zui quan (drunken fist)
• tang lang quan (mantis fist)
• ying zhao quan (eagle claw boxing)
• zui jian (drunken sword)
• shuang dao (double broadswords)
• axe
• battle axe
• double hooks swords
• fork
• 9 section whip
• mace
• hammer
• talon
• trident-halberd
• long-handled spear
• short cudgel
• meteor hammer
• rope dart

Competition History

The following is a brief history of Jet's wushu career:

• 1971: Jet begins training in wushu at an after-school program at the Beijing Sports School.
• 1974: Jet joins the newly created Beijing Wushu Team and begins competing on a national level.
• 1974: Was awarded his first Men's National All-Around Championship title at the age of 12.
• 1975: Men's National All-Around Championship
• 1976: Men's National All-Around Championship
• 1977: Men's National All-Around Championship
• 1978: Men's National All-Around Championship
• 1979: Retired from professional wushu competition after a knee injury where he ripped his Anterior Crutiate Ligament (ACL) doing the jump inside kick to split.

I hate when they say things like All-Around Champion, to me that means forms and point fighting/sparring.

Or there's this - http://www.fightingmaster.com/actors/jetli/wushu.htm

 

[Cirdan]

Women do as well, especially the quality of it.

Tell me more about this high quality rooting...

 

[Xue Sheng]

1979: Retired from professional wushu competition after a knee injury where he ripped his Anterior Crutiate Ligament (ACL) doing the jump inside kick to split.

This has nothing to do with the thread but that bit of information, based on what Jet Li has been able to do since then, is a big help to me

Thanks