Bruce Lee underestimated

http://www.geocities.com/ghoyd/libra...restimated.htm

It's an article by one fo his students. Who is apparently writing a book on the internal and external aspects of martial arts.

What do you think?

His "Vital Structure" sounds like "holding to your center" or "keeping one-point".

Sounds like another articulation of good martial arts principals. Personally, I hope more and more people write about these subjects, since you never know who's explaination will make sense to you.

I have to say my view remains the same, I can not see how a MA with 2 years MA experince could be anything but overestmated having reached the high that Bruce did.

The student mentiones he brought this high level gung fu with him to America. That was 2 years of WC. As for a scientific aproach, that is a start, one needs to know how to make the most out of aliegnment and what now. But, without the proper instruction of a master, without the internal, you have nothing really.

I wached that special on TLC the other day (someone posted about here). I watched Bruce doing side kicks with his arms streched out like wings, terribly off balance. I saw a lot of crap to impress the camera ( a lot of crane and mantis posses which anyone could lift from a book). What I did not see is one sign of a practitioner with anything other than the rudimentary skill of someone who has had only a few years of MA experince.

Yes, he got away from form, which is not a bad thing, but what about function? Where are his prinicples and techniques from? Fencing? Boxing? What? Who taught him these principles? Did he learn them from books? Could anyone truly learn these things from a book?

Most importantly, who was this man impressing then? He fought some American karate guys at a tournament and the footage I seen was not impressive at all. Yes, he was fast. So what.

I see not a trace of a person who not only has a high level of skill, but not even a bases in its principles.

Stillness in the heart of motion.

Fair enough. But why the hell was this post moved? Who the hell visits this forum? If you guys took the time to read the article there was a lot to do with structure, all gung fu stuff. Fools. All of you.

As my sifu said, "anybody can complain - but you know when you TOUCH HANDS".

Too bad none of us got the chance to touch hands with Bruce.

Or maybe that's a GOOD thing. In my opinion, Bruce Lee knew how to HURT PEOPLE.

nobody is denying Lee didn't have strength or speed.

he just didn't have gungfu, a high level of profiency gained through long training. he never got to any of the weapon forms of WC or Biu Jee.

I do believe though that he was the epitome of the human physique. What his body was capable of was incredible.

"he just didn't have gungfu, a high level of profiency gained through long training."

I disagree. Look at his Wing Chun structure - it's beautiful and effective.

I know many WC practitioners (sifus too), and not a single one has Lee's level of proficiency.

There's no way to gain that kind of proficiency without long training, though admittedly Lee would've gone even higher with more instruction.

Bad side kick? Just watch "Enter The Dragon" when he's practicing alone in his room on Han's Island and then extends his foot into the air, turning it toward the female secret agent that walks through the door.

I don't know many people who could do that, let alone flatten a bag the way he could with that kick at 5'7" 140 lbs.

"This cutting off was Bruce Lee's #1 specialty. Bruce could shut you down before you could go. You couldn't start because he already hit at the very instant you intended to start".

Correct. I just read an interview with Sammo Hung from IKF. He said he and bruce agreed to have a go. Sammo said " As I began to move, I had already been kicked in the face."

Speed kills.

Everyone keeps saying that because Bruce didn't finish his WC forms that he was only half-*ssed. Maybe true, but I think it would have been interesting to have some sparring matches between him and some of his classmates that DID finish the curriculum later on - like William Cheung and Hawkins Cheung, etc. And then see how they then compared, after the different routes they took...

While Bruce Lee may have had only two years of training in WC at Yip Man's school, many forget that he also continued his Wing Chun training later under one of his Sihings.

People also forget that one of the reasons Bruce was forced to leave Yip Man's school was because the seniors in his class wanted him out. In the short time Bruce was there, he was surpassing their ability and that made them feel less superior.

Bruce was a unique individual who had an extraordinary ability to close the gap and was committed to excellence more than the typical martial artist.

Continued blessings in your life and your training.

The key to understanding is to open your mind and your heart and then the eyes will follow.

i thought it was cos he is a quarter german and yip man didn't like teaching to the non chinese?

All i wanted was some RICE CAKES! Now? WE MUST BATTLE.

Bruce's senior were upset because Bruce would beat them in Chi Sao and drills, which made them look bad. They wanted him out of the class. When they found out that he was not 100% Chinese they used that to get Yip Man to stop teaching him since tradition permitted only pure Chinese to learn gung fu.

Continued blessings in your life and your training.

The key to understanding is to open your mind and your heart and then the eyes will follow.

Yeah, but even Bruce also admitted to shady tactics like standing in front of Yip Man's studio and falsely telling all the other students that class was cancelled so he could get 1-on-1 privates with Yip Man himself. So, I think there's more to the story as to why maybe some of the students didn't like him so much...

i have read somewhere that until he started with his jeet kune do in the mid-sixties he would practice the sil lim tao form and train with the wooden dummy for many hours every day. he did that 5-7 years after he went to america. so i think he got VERY good at the basics of wing chun.

To add to the sammo story, Bruce beat Chuck Norris and Wong Ga Dat among other very proficient martial artists. During his era, Chuck was one of the best there was...he was a hardcore military man who trained like the likes of Joe Lewis and was balanced both in hand techniques and foot techiniques. Wong was a HK actor and famous martial artist known for his many challenge fights. Both were defeated effortlessly by Bruce although Chuck never openly admits it (or admitted that he learned from Bruce after).

As for Bruce's kicking ability, he could kick through 5 one inch hanging boards taped together hanging from the ceiling. His kicks could launch people a half dozen feet away while holding pads.

As for the Wing Chun argument, it didn't matter that he never finished learning the FORMS because he had all the basics. And he could apply them just as well as any Wing Chun practioner, adn some would argue even better ;)