Hi Sifu Davis

(And others who'd like to chime in)

A few things I've been thinking about.

I was thinking about the 3 second rule, and how certain JKD camps tend to do more in and out sport type of fighting, and I was wondering if the 3 second rule is more suited to bigger guys. After all, Sifu you are a big guy with huge muscles so it'd seem easier for you to finish people fast. Should smaller guys still adopt the philosophy of the 3 second rule?

Just as a sidenote, I remember always being inspired hearing about your fight stories. Have you ever considered writing a memoir about your life, including your martial arts journey and fights and such?

And finally are you still having that annual DVD Christmas sale this year?

Thanks,
Wei Lin

Hello Wei Lin!

While I must admit that my size has never hurt in a fight, you do not have to be big to apply the three second rule! It is what you do in that three seconds, not how much muscle you have to do it with! As for a book about my life and the fights I have been in, that may come later in life. Right now I am too busy writing technical articles! As for the annual DVD sale, yes, I will definitely be having it! It will be announced here first when the time comes!

Keep Blasting!
Sifu Lamar M. Davis II
Senior Instructor
HARDCORE JEET KUNE DO
sifu@HardcoreJKD.com
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"Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit First - ALWAYS!"

"The REAL future of Jeet Kune Do belongs to US, the few, the proud, the HARDCORE! Now, what are we going to do with it?" _ Sifu Lamar M. Davis II

Wei Lin: At his peak, Bruce Lee was only 5'7" 150 pounds, but that did not deter him from going on the attack in sparring and in the streets. JKD is all about constant forward pressure, intercepting your opponent's attack, and hitting your opponent until he is incapacitated. Bruce Lee had a number of students who were huge men, but he was still able to move them around with ease. Smaller individuals are able to move bigger guys around due to JKD's reliance on scientific principles. The Fencing footwork taught by the Ted Wong camp allows the JKD student to get within trapping range, but IMO, the Wong camp has forgotten about the COMBATIVE aspects of JKD. Bruce Lee consistently stressed to his students that once you're in trapping range, STAY in trapping range and end the fight IMMEDIATELY.

Thanks Sifu Davis and Philip for your responses!

It looks like in order to do all this one would have to be extremely skilled, especially in trapping unless you can do a KO within 1 shot or 1 combo. But like many people I've never seen trapping used in a real fight or sparring situation, because there's nothing like that up on Youtube. The closest I've seen is in myself a few months ago when I sparred with someone relatively unskilled - I've got to admit I didn't train much trapping (I train solo) and was focused more on practicing how to punch and kick, but I decided to try out something pretty common in demos, where when the opponent throws the one-two you pin each arm down so they cross in front of each other and then hit. It only worked once, but I could see his extreme surprise, and afterwards when it didn't work I had lost the element of surprise and I was trying to force it as well.

It's too bad that there aren't any examples of real fight trapping on Youtube though. I just watched a Fight Quest (Discovery Channel show where two guys go around to different countries, take a crash course in the art, then have a battle with some practitioners), where they went to Hong Kong and fought Wing Chun guys. The whole episode is on Youtube. The master's name was Leung Ting. I was pretty disappointed with the end fights because the Wing Chun guys didn't use any trapping! Everybody went in there and just tried to straight blast their opponent right away and kept going at it. You see, this is what I'm afraid of - they were all trying to finish their opponent fast but it quickly turned into a who can throw more punches harder and faster match, with the Americans pretty much beating them up through brute force. To the Hong Kongers' credit though, it seemed like they chose some less skilled students to fight the two Americans (who are pro fighters.) Seemed like the HK students were probably just normal people with other things to do like school or work and just took Wing Chun for fun. They were also wearing face cages which changes things a bit, the fights probably would be much faster without.

Do you guys have any opinion on why many people that practice trapping drills and forms seem to just revert to kickboxing in a real fight or sparring situation?

Wei Lin

I can not claim to have used JKD in a combative sense, but if one practices the energy/sensitivity drills enough, applying a trap can be a simple reflex. Pak sao and lop sao for example, when encountering a static/collapsing barrier and a hard pushing force (respectively) become second nature. I also find that the compound traps of pak sao to lin lop sao and double lop sao become very natural when you feel the opponent crossing center. Not being a big guy myself, I think that energy/senstivity training is important to maintaining the "3 second rule" - especially against the big guys. I may not be able to convincingly shut down a large opponent with a pak sao, but I sure can through in a half-beat bil jee to the eyes, and huen sao around that hand to punch him in the throat! There is always a soft target available, and while I don't want to trade punches with a big bruiser, that just makes me more likely to go for the quick finish - and you need to be inside and in contact with the opponent to feel the "emptiness" into which "it" can strike. Just some thoughts

- If something is on youtube does that make it legit? Should youtube be used a genuine reference? Remember all the video editing possibilities that exist.

- If a person was to get into an actual fight why would they pull out a camera and start filming? This is something kids do when everything is pre planned and there are many spectators. If a person has placed that much thought on the altercation it should have already been over or avoided in the first place.

- Take the percentage of people who study and practice WC; compared with number of people who study martial arts, compared with the percentage of people there are in this world. These numbers alone should give you an estimate of how often you would possibly see WC in a real fight.

- Most importantly you have already touched on it: The Human Element. In theory the person with the straightest punch should always hit first because the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Add the Human Element and all the variables come into play; length of arms, speed, accuracy, timing etc... This explains how a person with a better system / fighting theory can be beaten due to the The Human Element

Trapping is hard to learn and train without having an instructor with competent skills. Try learning trapping for yourself and you will no doubt reach a point where you cant get it right and it never seems to work. At this point you will have a choice

A) Give it up because it is flawed technique
B) Remember The Human Element and train harder

Positive Energy Activates Constant Elevation
P.E.A.C.E.

James and Andrew

Thanks for your responses.

I do believe trapping works. I hope after the Ip Man movies more people will be inspired to learn it and get it down.

People like Kimbo Slice would film fights ;)

And what I think is that really, a lot of people that train trapping don't have faith in their own trapping abilities. As anyone who has had that feeling of finally getting a technique to work in a fight knows, it requires one to not give into feelings of fear and panic - I think that most practitioners do have not sufficiently overcome this feeling to make their trapping work. But it's a hard place to get at, I'm definitely still working on that.

Wei Lin

Hey Wei Lin, what's good man?

I ask what is your motive for trapping, because well, there in lies your answer.

The in the Art of JKD your goal is to hit or intercept. Your traps will happen when you encounter the obstruction. You don't think about it, it will just happen. It is not faith in your own ability, it is more like "His movement becomes yours".

However, you will not understand this until you have some energy sensitivity training. If you are strapped for a partner just ask your dad or one of your friends to hold their hand out and ask them to move it toward you (and you Lop Sao) or fade back (and you Pak Sao). Work on this.

Once you get this, try this technique in sparring (I have used it and it works, I am a beginner too). Shoot a groin jab as a fake (this is an HIA normally I would say go ahead and smash the jewels, but you probably wouldn't have any training partners), if they block, do a low pak to a rolling back fist.

The other easy trap is when your partner is a jabber or a feeler (if you are both right leaders or in same stance) smack the the inside of his hand and rebound a back fist to the face (which is a beat or riposte) or do a Huen sao (circling hand) around his inner wrist to his outer wrist into a jao (or slap) to his groin.

Try this.