I'm pretty astounded that despite all the information that Bruce Lee wrote in his notes and inside the books he owned in his vast library that First Generation students fail (or for some reason reluctant) to teach or hold back on some of the knowledge that was presented to them which is why I feel extremely lucky that Jerry Poteet gave me information he didn't give to anyone else (as far as I know.)

I trained with a few of them and will relay my stories on a later blog.

I know I'll hear the JKD simplicity argument with this post but even boxers go outside their realm of comfort to explore new tools instead of drilling the same attributes day in and day out.

Today's MMA competitors are prime examples of the need for new discoveries to unbalance an opponent.  It will always boil down to the unpredictability of a fight as well as the reactions of the human body so just enjoy your training and lay off the online arguments.

The following video is another portion of my 2002 video training diary.  Jerry taught me this as Bruce showed and explained.  Did I actively practice this kick? No but it's knowledge that was passed along and there is no need for it to be kept secret.

This information came out of another brainstorming session for his video series that never happened as planned.  This was to be the definitive collection of his knowledge and it's a shame it never happened.  I asked about advanced kicks that we could include in one of the videos and he told me about the Drop Sweep Kick which I documented on video.

It's a quick demo with my sound effects and all as usual.

Next up will be the JKD stick fighting information that Jerry showed me.

Enjoy the information and please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to my channel.   If you dislike the video at least give an explanation in the comments section because it’s the only way I can provide better content with the new videos I plan on doing.   I’m not going to get butt hurt. I’m putting this information out there to the general public so I expect criticism.

I've been throwing knives for a month due to the stay at home quarantine and have become quite obsessed with this developing skill.

This is my unboxing and brief review of a few knives I ordered from DXB SPORT knives in Russia.

Details are in the show notes.

When I was training with Jerry Poteet we had private sessions that were often up to three times or more per week.   It got to a point that he mentioned I learned and excelled in the core principles and attributes of Jeet Kune Do.  All except for sticky hands which comes with practice and something I really wasn't interested in learning so he asked me if I wanted to go beyond JKD and learn other aspects of what he knew.  I was honored that he would say that and I was exploring stick fighting on my own at the time.  This sparked a new passion in me to make training weapons.

I had a desktop editing studio which everyone has nowadays and just purchased a Digital Video camera with my site on making short films and instructional videos.  YouTube wasn't a thing yet.

It took a lot of time and effort to persuade Jerry it was time for a new video series but once the spark happened he became very interested.

During our brainstorming sessions I asked if we would include weapons training as it pertained to each subject of the video because this is something no one has honestly done as Bruce taught it. This illuminated in him when Bruce Lee taught staff fighting techniques during the Los Angeles private backyard era classes.  However he confided in me that he was very reluctant to teach this to every student.  

Why did he want to withhold this wealth of knowledge?  

All I can think of is that Jerry was a very private person and it took a lot of convincing at times to get him in the public eye more often.  This was mostly due to his health issues at the time, which he also told me.  I feel very fortunate for the advanced information he taught me and I will be writing more on this in future blogs.  Far as I know I have never seen this from any of his students.

Jerry and I discussed a five part video series that would cross reference each other.  It was all standard JKD core principles that he didn't present in his first series and how they interacted with each other.  For now I will just say things did not go as planned and only two videos were produced.  The third video on ADVANCED TRAPPING was filmed but never edited and completed.  That sucked for me because it's the one I am featured in.  More information for another blog entry.

The production of those two videos took it's toll on on me and one of the many reasons I quit private lessons with him but that's also another story.

While moving last August I found a Digital Video tape with the label "JKD DIARY 2002" that I had forgotten about.  My DV camera was no longer working so I took it to CVS to get it transferred to DVD.  The information on it brought back a lot of memories.  It's an hours worth of advanced Jeet Kune Do information that I have not seen available or talked about online.  I will be posting all segments on YouTube.

In this video you will hear me speaking out loud all that was taught to me in that lesson.  I repeat things often and make sound effects.  Nothing is edited out much to my embarrassment.  This was never meant to be seen by anyone but me because it was much easier than taking notes.  

My opinions on quarter staff fighting have changed over the years mostly due to training with Ray Floro Fighting Systems.

Looking back on this lesson I see that all of this was used in ENTER THE DRAGON and RETURN OF THE DRAGON and it must have been something to see something on screen that Bruce Lee developed with his students.  They were his action team at the time.  Today the amount of coordination and choreography is done with months of preparation, training, and filming with teams of people but Bruce did this by himself.  Another aspect for him to be revered over.

I’ve been grinding away at these tree trunks for a few weeks.  I only get to work on them for a few hours a day due to neighbors complaining about the noise and the clean up is horrendous.  Six garbage bags filled with shavings so far!  It’s an arduous task but fun and rewarding when the Mook Jong starts taking shape.​

As refining begins the natural grain begins to reveal itself and I’m very happy with what I am seeing.  It’s going to be difficult deciding which one to give up to sale.

I’ve been working on the camphor trunk the most because it was the thickest.  You can see from the cardboard template how much has been removed. 

This 9 inch diameter template is one of the most important tools in Wooden Dummy planning and construction.

First I used a draw blade to remove the bark and some wood then an angle grinder with wood working attachments.  It’s like using a mini chainsaw.

I also started shaping the acacia trunk this week.  Although there isn’t much to remove it has been more difficult because it is much more dense and heavier to move around.

Next up with be some sanding which might take a while since I do not have a hand held belt sander just yet and I’m going to need a booth to work in because the dust will be very fine.  This will give me time to decide how I am going to mount these and begin working on the frame or to purchase a floor spring stand.

I also made a new throwing knife target using pressure treated 4 X 4 since I destroyed my palm tree round within a month.  I practice one hour a day five days a week.  The new target holds up very well and will last a long time.  If it gets too destroyed I just need to move the end pieces around.​

The palm round is a great target because it is lightweight and knives sink in easy but the clean up is a pain and airborne fibers can’t be good.  I won’t be buying one of these again.