Is your "JKD" good enough?

With the rapid rise in popularity, and subsequently number of schools, do you feel like the "JKD" or other taining that you do is on par with current MMA training available? D

Honestly no. My limited experience with MMA style training exposed some missing elements of my game. Now however, I've started working on them.

We fight the same way we train, so training should be intense and should cover everything you would like to be able to do if you got into a fight.

At it's highest, JKD should be identical to MMA. But as we know, this isn't always the case. Its my opinion that ANY art should (or could) be trained in an MMA context. Once its understood that MMA just means, combining your stand-up fighting with takedowns and ground work, it should be obvious that ANY art could include that approach.

Agreed, Jkogas.

What about schools that train different areas seperately? Monday its boxing, tuesday jujitsu, etc,.? What about these schools because I see many that take this approach and I think that perhaps this is a flawed approach due to the lack of transitional work from one range to the next and back again.

That is exactly what my old JKD school did. I also think that approach is flawed, if you never integrate them.

Cory,

Matt is right on. Without the integration, you end up with "cross training" which isn't as effective at the end of the day.

Its better than nothing, but without integration (such as allowing strikes during jiu-jitsu), your game can develop in ways that would be less effective for the integrative purpose (a real fight).

If you train a lot of jiu-jitsu without the strikes, your guard game will suck when the heat is on. That's just an example.


-John

Are there other approaches than simply progressive sparring? Drills perhaps?

Drills are used to sharpen techniques and make smooth transition but nothing really adds to realism that sparring does.

What I've founded is one needs to spar outside of your gym, we can get caught in doing things a certain way or staying away from certain techniques. Some feel kicking or jabbing lead to easy takedowns and this is true if started off without a combination or takedowns are key to fighting.

But spar a club that stress using combinations and countering takedowns or that takedown it can be a long day of abuse/learning.

Exploring the possibilities outside your kwoon/dojo/gym should be considered. Because even if you THINK you are practicing a formless method, you do get stuck in its safe to do it this way. IMHO.

I think my grappling game has a lot of room for improvement but I agree with the MMA context and integration.

I'm mainly a striker so its important to learn to how transition from a more upright striking position to dropping your weight so that you're ready for some kind of grappling action.

And I agree with the sparring sessions. If not full out, at least spar with some deal of integration, so that you get a feel of using other tools available to you.

For the most part I think I am balanced enough to adapt to what's thrown at me.

I would like that to throw out that drills are as important as sparring.Possibly more so.IMO.
If you spar its random as to what will come at you.So if your bad at something,like being on the bottom grappling with striking allowed also,you might have to wait ages for that situation to come up in a spar.If it does at all..Then it might not happen for long.So you have not learnt what to do or got used to it.
Plus your only as good now as the opponent at that time.

But you can create a drill where your in that situation and do it over and over.And you can go at more intense realistic levels after getting used to it.
Half the story is not panicking and being able to be calm and say ''I can cope here ,iv been here loads of times at very high intensitys and not got hurt''.Hopefully the training partners put you through worse than what you would get for real,lol.

I agree drills help you smooth out your techniques and counters to an attacks. But I wouldn't say they are any more important as anyother training exercise such as shadow boxing. The combination of drills and shadow boxing(t.e.) equals a good workout but lack the spontaneous reaction that sparring offers. I've noticed that with some drill the partner knows the same and can counter your counter this can only really be discovered in spontaneous schuffles sometimes they smother your attempt before it happens.

I agree if you are caught in sparring partner mode you only going to be as good as your partner. But if you are intent on defeating your opponent or really testing yourself you will impose your will on your opponent dispite his skill level. Only in fighting or sparring does tenacity, aggression and the will to do your best can the same technique be nearly unstoppable. Even though both know the drill, one is able to force or impose his will on the other, in sparing/fighting.

This can't be expressed with the even trade off of even resistance drill training. IMHO.

I see what your saying.
I guess it depends on what the word 'drill' means to a person.
Im talking about high intensity drills where a situation is set and each has an objective.Anything can happen within that situation.
Not warm up drills or low level intensity compliant drills.

An example ,coming out of Judo training,would be two people in a clinch ,one tells the other he will be trying a particular sweep.So all he does is try to sweep the other guy.If he does it,they get up and go again.It can be done full on and at high intensitys over and over.
The key is that its harder to do something to someone when they know what your trying to do.THAT is skill.And the defender gets to learn defence against a guy very intensly doing it.So he intensly tries to stop him.

A wrestling drill example would be one is takedowns,one is takedown defence.Over and other.High intensity.

An MMA drill could be one has to takedown ,the other has to stay on his feet and can hand strike only .Both know what but not when or how so its free but adressing a particular weakness.
Or one is takedowns and has to submit the other,while One can only tie up and just stay up.They are both fighting intensily to get their goal.
It could be anything as long as its a situation that happens in a fight often enough to be worth knowing.

Personaly, I find these drills just as valuable as sparring,sometimes more so. I know top class MMA,Judoka,wrestlers,do these kind of things.

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With the rapid rise in popularity, and subsequently number of schools, do you feel like the "JKD" or other taining that you do is on par with current MMA training available? D

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Yes and no. Personally, injuries keep me from doing what I REALLY want to do. So I sort of increase the focus on what I CAN do. And what I can do is only similar to MMA training philosophy. Physical fitness wise, I dont do ANY MMA type drills like sprawls & pummeling, and any sparring I do now is light and specialized.

Pretty much all inclusive shadow fighting and high percentage techniques are what I take away from MMA or JKD the most.

While my training skills have diminished over the past few years, I feel like I used to train hard enough to be content with where I am currently, indeed light sparring can only garner so much, but observing what does and doesnt work for others helps greatly in deciding what really works and what I should work on. So in some respect light sparring does fullfill my full resistance/contact needs. But my needs are greatly different than most people. I honestly train with pure self preservation in mind, and to me that means death and health.

The more I think about it though, what I do is MMA, its just my MMA. Even when doing Kata or Poomse, I always have in mind the ever changing possibilities. And I think Jkogas is spot on once again, at its highest JKD should be MMA. I will boldly take this a step further and say any MA should be MMA at its highest.