Wing Chun or Jeet Kune Do?

I wanna get into martial arts but am torn between the two forms. I just wanna know if i can start out by learning JKD or it is better to start on something else first because JKD is more of a philosophy than a style.

Wing Chun or Jeet Kune Do?
I personally recommend studying Wing Chun first especially if you are new to martial arts. Both Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do are great martial arts, but Jeet Kune Do is more philosophy based and does not have a refined set of training methods like Wing Chun.





The basic skills of martial arts is the most critical part of any martial arts and Bruce Lee was an excellent marital artist because he got his good foundation from Wing Chun. You can see Bruse Lee still used his Wing Chun techique in movies later in life even after he created the Jeet Kune Do. It shows that every great martial artist has his/her based art and they develop further skill from there.





However, you don't have to choose Wing Chun as your base art; it really depends on your personal style/personality. You can try different arts if you don't like Wing Chun. Make sure you find an art you enjoy and stick to it. Eventally you can be a great martial artist if you work hard on it.





Good luck =)
Reply:Jeek kune do because didn't Chuck Norris learn it?
Reply:Jeet Kune Do in the daytime but.





Everybody Wing Chun tonight!
Reply:I'd say start with Jeet Kune Do, but be careful. I've seen plenty of people who think they're "using whatever works" and they're just "using whatever they feel like". The big difference here is of course the "works" part. If you're not comfortable identifying valid martial technique in your instructors, I'd say start taking lessons from several different traditional instructors. That way, you'll be doing your own Jeet Kune Do.
Reply:JKD as near as I can tell is really more of a philosophy than a style. I personally would study the Wing Chun for a while. I have always been fascinated by the close quarters applications of the style. Although, if you can get the training, Chen Style Tai Chi is a great style.
Reply:Well traditional Wing Chun is not flashy... it's very practical.. no fancy jumps or rolls. It has a low side kick... and the front kick rarely goes higher than waist level (though many Wing Chun guys will use a front kick against the chest or even a head shot. --Though Wing Chun is considered grouped with the older Kung-fu styles it is rather different than more flowery styles... Hung gar, Choy le Fut...





JKD...does have high side kicks, round house kicks, pretty flashy in comparison to Wing Chun. Though Bruce Lee's base style was Wing Chun, but his philosophy was to get rid of the waste. He doesn't go for tradition of learning sets... just goes directly for fighting technique. He's expanded the range of techniques to encompass much more than traditional Wing Chun uses some boxing and fencing stances, use what works and get rid of the rest. (Not limiting your self to a specific style.)





Both good styles... it's really comes down to personal taste.
Reply:As Jeet Kune Do was invented by Bruce Lee who had learned Wing Chun first, I would go with that route. Jeet Kune Do is a combination of martial art forms that Bruce Lee put together later in life after studying the difference in style of these art forms so in order to have a full grasp on the tradition and philosophy of martial arts, I personally think you should start with something original.
Reply:I'd say start off in wing chun as we all need a base style to fall back on,as Bruce says " use what works and be like water ".





JKD is different depending on the instructor ie: their base or fave styles ,so chose your own way by trying various styles and as Bruce said....take what is useful for you.








Former jiujitsu coach,Boxer,Bouncer and life long Bruce Lee fan :)
Reply:Jeet Kune Do it has evolved to meet the needs of the time, it good you have a choice there must be lots of class where you are
Reply:1- if you are looking to "get into" martial arts, then you don't know your *** from your elbow enough to judge which "style" you would prefer (you spoke correctly, JKD is a philosophy not a style- although people market it as such to make money off of bruce lee's popularity).





With all due respect, I'm not trying to insult you.





you should be looking for a good teacher and/or school as opposed to focusing on a style because unless you know what good training is, someone could just be making it up in their back yard and passing it off as martial arts with some asian philosophy thrown in to make it look authentic. These are the same teachers that tell you to "never spar because it is too dangerous"- fact is, they are afraid of you figuring out that "ostrich stance" is not a real technique.





You mentioned "wing chun", the largest number of these made up teachers comes out of chinese martial arts of which wing chun forms a part.





Personally, I think you should train in a more aggressive sportative art like boxing, muai thai or san da/san shou (if you want to remain within the CMA styles) first because of 2 reasons:





1- it will help you get a grasp of what is realistic training and what will work in a fight and what won't work with some guy charging at you to knock your head off. boxing, kickboxing styles (MT sanda) have most of thier sucess in thier training methodology- because that methodology is realistic. your goal should be to experience it, then find a wing chun or other type of school that trains with a similar philosopy for most of the style's techniques. meaning working up to fully resisting opponents.





2- it will get you used to dealing with (or bieng) an aggressive fighter and teach you proper power generation for the strikes that are permitted in those arts. Then you will realize that if you are learning properly you will expand your repotiare to include strikes that are not underthose rulesets.





however, what is allowed under those basic rulesets will take you a LONG way to becoming a good fighter- most importantly power generation.





I'm speaking from experience as I currently take a CMA and have my striking roots in boxing.





I feel my past training gives me the benefit of bieng able to separate what works from what doesn't and what is poor form and power generation over what is good and what will or could work for someone.





EDIT: the philosophy of jeet kun do was NOT invented by bruce lee, he might have slapped the name jeet kune do on it but when the romans were mixing tactics that worked as were other cultures in the ancient world how the hell can you say that this philosophy dates back a mere 30 years?





It would be like saying that the gun was invented in 2007 despite the fact that there are numerous videos, pictures, descriptions and first person experience to the contrary.
Reply:Wing Chun to fill your cup and JKD to empty it.
Reply:Clearly, Jeet kune do, because aspects of Wing Chun were, are and can still can be incorporated into Jeet kune do easily. Because bruce lee described JKD as more of a concept than an art with restrictive stances and limitations.





I too am in your position, i have done 5 years of karate, 2 years of kick boxing and 3 years of western boxing. I eventually plan on moving on to Jeet kune do, but after i have done a bit more venturing around. I advise you do something similar, because you learn (as lee did) how people that do only their specific style look at things.





i hope ive helped and wish you luck for the future.





PSG1


=)