JKD UNLIMITED
I formed the Jeet Kune Do Unlimited association to facilitate my goal of making proper instruction in JKD Concepts available to everyone. This is a long term goal that is attainable. In order to do this, we must develop high quality instructors all over the world. This will be accomplished through our various distance learning certification programs, seminars worldwide, private training, and through special instructor courses to be held at the headquarters and abroad.
“One important training philosophy that we have here is that the basis of training is sparring. When a new student comes to class, even with no experience at all, they start sparring the first class. With protective gear and a soft stick and/or knife, but sparring comes first. If not, the person can develop very bad habits for years before actually trying the art out.
Also, the art is experiential, meaning that each person must experience the fight for him or her self. It may be great that the techniques have been proven by others, but the technique by itself is useless without the sparring time to develop the proper attributes to be able to actually apply the techniques in a real situation. So, each individual must develop the ability to use the technique under real fighting pressure. That is the difference between knowledge and skill. ” Burton Richardson
FOUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF JKD UNLIMITED
1. WE TRAIN FIRST AND FOREMOST FOR STREET SELF-DEFENSE.
We train to be effective in the street environment, then make adjustments to the training for students who wish to enter sporting competitions. Not the other way around.
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2. WE TRAIN WITH PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE.
A real attacker is going to resist your effort 100%. If you want to learn how to fight, you have to practice fighting against someone who is fighting back. Progressive resistance allows everyone, regardless of experience, to do this in a safe, fun training environment.
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3. WE TRAIN AS COMPLETE SELF-DEFENSE ATHLETES:
We train to be prepared for almost any situation: all the ranges (standing, clinch, ground), multiple opponents, weaponry and a variety of environments. We want each student to actually train in as many self-defense scenarios as possible so that if a student gets into a bad situation they already have experience in that particular situation.
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4. HAVE FUN!
I am planning to train for the rest of my life, and I assume that my students will do the same. If we are going to spend this much time working on developing functional skills, we should be having fun doing it. If you are training for a competition, you have to grind and do a lot of very uncomfortable and painful training. If you are training for self-defense, you should work very hard at times, but it should not be a big grind. The training sessions should be so enjoyable that we look forward to each class. Our classes in Honolulu, Hawaii are held in a very relaxed but disciplined atmosphere. Lots of laughing and joking while training hard. As Bruce Lee said, “You should train seriously, but don’t seriously train.” Well said!
Burton Richardson
President Jeet Kune Do Unlimited