Bruce was the essence of it all. "Punch when you need to punch, kick when you need to kick." I remember reading someone asking him "Bruce I'm having trouble with my side kick, what can I do to improve it?" Bruce's reply..."Throw side kicks!"

As I recall Lee’s “ground game” was not to grapple per se, but instead to bite his way out of a hold, squeeze / strike groin, gouge eye, etc. in episode of Longstreet he gets Longstreet in choke on ground and tells him he must bite if he wishes to survive. In _Fist of Fury_ Bob Baker gets him in armbar, so Lee bites his leg to get him to release his hold. With that said though, he did study lots of grappling during his jun fan gung fu phase, but it’s evident that he realised that it’s more effective to bite, squeeze your way out of a grappling situation than to grapple back - esp when opponent’s pals could be kicking your head in from different angles.

Bruce was a pioneer. He was doing his own version of mixed martial arts before anyone else.

I really like this guys honest assessments and description

wow ! once again my deepest respect to you Tom. so well said everything and so on point. thank you for sharing all these personal stories.

Great video Tom. I've only just recently found out about your content. ( Today actually.) It's terrific to hear something new about Bruce Lee. A breath of fresh air if you like. It's great to listen to honesty about Bruce,and how good he was. Outside of the martial arts ,his work rate, fitness levels, and philosophy,are all outstanding.what Bruce done in such a, sadly short lifetime,is incredible. I mean, Bruce took the world by storm. Anyone would have to admire that. And I'm not just saying that as a fan. I'm being a realist. Anyway Tom,I will be endeavouring to catch with more of your podcasts. You have a new fan. All the best from Bonnie Scotland.

Thank you for this wonderful video

This is great this video, from Tom Bleecker a man who trained and was taught by Bruce . He Knew Bruce pretty well and so he's definitely a reference point. In my studies of Bruce Lee in the past 2 years the one thing that really stood out, in watching him move was what a magnificent athlete Bruce was, and Tom Bleecker here emphasizes the same that Bruce was a genius in movement., kinesthetics. This is real deserved validation here by a peer and someone who should know about Bruce Lee.

Thank Tom, and I agree about that reverence regarding the atmosphere of training.

Wow!! Thank you for sharing! This is so precious. Bruce's most important basics were Wing Chun, Fencing and Western Boxing. Wing Chun alone has alot of weaknesses, ie distant movements, footworks, distant boxing. Fencing and Boxing are the perfect things to fill those weaknesses. You put that with Athleticism, Kicks, Grappling and you have an incredible fighter.

Tom it is funny you mention your own martial art and what works for you. The very same thing happened to me hitting a softball. I could always hit hard I grew up chopping wood as my Grand Parents used wood to heat their home. I was always looking for advice from the best hitters I could find. I eventually ran into Billy Blake who was the premiere designated hitter in the country. He was kind enough to share his thoughts on hitting. He said "After I demonstrate what I do in the end it will always be your swing." That stuck with me. Tom thank you for your for sharing your thoughts.

Appreciate the videos, Tom. My late friend, David German, and I used to talk about the origin of the EPAK arts. He was insistant, despite all of the falderol sometimes tossed about, "Your art started in Pasadena."

Thank you Tom!

Thanks for sharing. 1st time to hear from you, a living witness of Bruce Lee's skills.

I know the feeling about today's Martial Arts. I have been studying for 47 yrs now, and "todays" tournaments/martial arts are a far cry from "back in the day".

You taught me the finger jab in Ventura late 90’s Tom if you remember.

Love your videos about Bruce he was a living legend: Be Like Water My Friend

Thank you for sharing this!

I really enjoy listening to you, Mr. Bleecker. Nice, interesting video. Thank you!

Thank you for these expressions of your insights

Thank you very much it was very interesting!

..thank you. ...very interesting and informative.

Love and Respect,! Very Insightful, Balanced, informative and Candid. Brilliant and Simply and Effedtively Expressed depth of thought ! ❤ *******

Thank you for sharing this.

Thx for sharing 😊

This was extremely informative...thanks for sharing Mr. Bleecker!

Great and very objective dissertation on Bruce and JKD. Informative to hear your perspective on Martial Arts in general and that it is a personal journey. VEry good perspective.

Thank you for the direct talk

You said it, sir. Interpretation and expression of the art for practical (street survival) application.

Great talk by someone who knows what he's talkin about...!!! Unlike, sorry to say, the vast majority on social media now...!!!!

I realy like your first hand info on Bruce you have l lots of knowledge on The subject

Tom i love your story you keep it real! And im glad you doing okay! Keep it going we love the real stories!

Brilliant! Thank you!

Great interview! You can tell when someone is verse with a certain topic and has plenty of experience. This guy has that and it makes for quality content!

Excellent analysis how you broke down the martial and the art. Everyone gotta understand the difference because in the street, there's no time for the art.

Great Video, I loved the stories about Bruce, and your opinion about how Bruce would do in Tournaments and in street fights. A lot of people speculate about how he would do against a grappler, on a video that I just happened to see that popped up when I was watching your video was one with Judo Gene Lebell, and he said he privately trained and taught Bruce Lee for an entire year Judo, Wrestling and some finishing moves.

That's why BJJ, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is so good, 'anyone' can learn the whole system, small, large, weak, and strong.

Bruce Lee certainly was a "genius." And he was a genius in more ways than one!

i like how he admidts if you been hit by a shotokan practitioner you know you have been hit

Over the past year I’ve studied, practiced, and meditated Bruce’s art to a point where it’s became my life almost it has changed my life for the better in ways I couldn’t ever describe and over the vast amount of videos I’ve watched regarding people talking about their perception of jkd I quickly understood that his art was built just for him not everyone can do what he did I’ve studied boxing, Muay Thai, and various grappling arts like bjj etc long before I came about his art and when I really put aside what I’ve learned and took the dive to start where he did like you mentioned in your video I realized that it was one of the most natural things I’ve ever done and of course with everything you learn you need practice but it really put a different level of perception on what I knew, I knew I had speed and power or what I thought was speed and power and over the past year after endlessly practicing his art I’ve found that I could do a lot of what he did and it was nothing like I was doing before along with his workouts it almost feels like his spirit is embodied within me and I know it sounds crazy but I believe I’ve developed his mindset I’m constantly thinking about martial arts now and how to better myself within my practice and the practice itself I overall think different and it wasn’t only until a little while ago when I really started noticing it I see things before it happens and I’m able to just flow and completely be in the moment I was sparring with a buddy of mine and I was showing him a little of what I’ve been learning and even when teaching him in real time not just standing there and telling him I realized that I was a different level than what he already knew by the time he thought to engage in anything it was as if I was 5 steps ahead without thinking about it, I’ve realized that I have some gift that I fully haven’t figured out yet and it’s humbled me not to take what I have for granted I wish I could find more of what he taught so I can further my practice and I love watching videos like this so I can really get a feel on how he really was he truly was ahead of his time.

Amazing

Thank you for sharing your story. Always the criticism or questions about how good or bad Bruce Lee would do in mma and if faced with ground game. I have taken lessons from the late Professor Wally Jay. Mr. Jay often shared his fond memories of his friend Bruce Lee. When Bruce lived in Oakland, he and Jame Yimm Lee often met up with Mr. Jay at his dojo in Alemeda California. Professor Jay taught them Jujitsu and Judo. Mr. Jay's comments mirrors much of what other martial arts masters say in that Bruce will learn something new and perfect it and execute it as if he's been doing it for years. It is obvious that Bruce was way ahead of his time. So for all that say Bruce will easily get wiped out from someone with strong ground game I will argue that Bruce would have evolved further and learned and studied deeper into this. I believe he would have excelled greatly.

Straight forward talk. Great guy.

Why doesn’t Chuck Norris, Bob Wall and Joe Lewis admit that they lost to Bruce during sparring and studied under him?

thanks tom

Interesting perspective, thank you.

As a Kenpo black belt myself a wonderful video

20:06 That is very correct. Japanese martial arts came from Chinese martial arts. They are interlinked with religion: Buddhism. The Shaolin Temple. Buddhism is also in Japanese culture. The word "dojo" 道場 itself comes from Buddhism religion, the meditation chamber, straight out of Kung Fu Tv series, Grasshopper.

Mr. Bleecker’ LEE JUN FON “BRUCE LEE” wasn’t a ROBOT’ of course anyone could be knocked out if you hit him just right , the problem was that you had to be able to do it, BRUCE LEE was human and one of the best human FIGHTERS OF ALL TIME IF NOT’ “THE BEST” because within him he possessed…… “THE ART OF FIGHTING WITHOUT FIGHTING “. 🇺🇸🙏❤️💐 RIP’ LEE JUN FON “BRUCE LEE”💐❤️🙏🇺🇸

Tom Bleecker - Thank you for helping provide a more balanced view of The Late Great Bruce Lee...Although many have a problem with some of your writings...Bottom line...You have helped people remember Bruce Lee as he wanted to be remembered...as a... " Human Being, " not as some messianic religious figure...and / or..." A Saint Bruce Type Figure. "...Thanks again... And may GOD rest BRUCE LEE, the great martial artist and human being in peace...

Thanks

It’s funny how when we put on a nice martial arts outfit that we all of a sudden feel like a better fighter and a more disciplined individual. Just like when someone put on the white outfit in Saturday Night Fever they immediately felt like a better dancer.

He was correct about forms/katas. I've done many that were required for each belt test, but don't mean squat in a real time street fight.

Thank you for this inside look at the GOLDEN ERA of martial arts in America. Bruce seemed to be a mix of very human and very talented at the same. No saint and no monk, but it's still impressive to this day to see what he accomplished. I was curious about his power! You mention you tasted his sidekick. Did you ever get hit with a full force hop sidekick? Or was it more like a quick one from standing? I think in the Long Beach video he lands quite a few on Dan Inosanto, looks like a savage/Muay Thai sidekick teep to keep away, rather than a full power hop sidekick. Something interesting is that in 2020, in an interview with karate / MMA champ Stephen Thompson on ESPN candidly mentioned that the late Joe Lewis admitted Bruce hit him the hardest. I had always thought they had a bit of a rivalry, and I know Joe Lewis would mention Bruce could hit like a "heavy weight." But I didn't know that Bruce could hit in the same power range as the Heavyweights Joe Lewis faced. That seems like something more he would have admitted later on in life. I was also curious about any strength & conditioning that Bruce had any of his students do?

Ive enjoyed these videos on Bruce more than any Ive seen in a while , so thank you . One question that has really puzzled me and perhaps you can shed some light on this...Jim Kelly has talked about bruce but never wrote a book . I find it incredible that almost a casual knowledge of Bruce can literally make you a ton of money ... nothing wrong with that , people want to know about Bruce Lee s why not ? However , Jim Kelly never wrote about his experiences ? Do you think that was just chance ? Wondered what you think of that Mr Bleeker ? BTW just ordered your book today

Maybe you didn't have Bruce's athleticism or his speed and power, but Bruce did teach you well. He laid your foundation, he taught you to mold and create your OWN style, that woul be effective for yourself. just like he did.

Ip Man had very casual classes. Not formal

I like the wallet story...In a nut shell that says it all Bruce was right!

Hi Tom, great channel. Did you ever train with Dan Lee or Taky Kimura back in the 60s? ✌🏼✌🏼✌🏼

You nailed it on the head when most have no clue. JKD is NOT a fighting style or art, etc It is, in its simplest form, a philosophy. That philosophy can be applied to any system or style a person wishes. It is akin to Buddhism, which is NOT a religion but a philosophy, and that philosophy can be applied to ANY religion in the world.

The meditation in Tai Chi forms or Wing Chun's Siu Nim Tao with no music can be nice. Or doing any forms slowly with feeling and I guess analysis of your movements? Any forms done quietly and slowly really?

Tom thank you for this! You must have tons of great stories with the man. About his ground game, did he ever mention any ground holds, takedowns, chokes, or locks? In this interview with Gene Lebell, kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ZsBhrctzp5-Un6c.html Lebell mentions Bruce got pretty good at grappling by the time LeBell was done training his ground game. There's a few photos of Bruce later on in life (Enter The Dragon BTS) where he's doing a BJJ style arm bar. Im curious if you ever saw Bruce train ground game in the time you had with him?

Hello Mr. Bleecker! May I ask you a question? What do you think about the IFO Jeet Kune Do Instructor Tommy Carruthers?

@Tom Bleeker Whats up Tom, I’m loving your content! I wanted to know your opinion on Bruce’s war cries and screams. I’ve seen photos of his real confrontations and surprisingly he used the same face expressions and stances. What was his reason for the screams? And do you think he used them when training alone and in real fights? I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this. God bless you brother, let me know your thoughts.

You speak of reverence.I remember Lee was a guest at a tournament in Chicago in July of 63 hosted by John " Count Dante" Keehan, a rouge student of Bob Trias. Ed, Jhoon, Trias, all the notables were there . Taky was with Lee seated at a table. I don't know if it was dinner or a meeting or what but Trias was seated next to Lee and ignored him the whole time. Ed and Jhoon were of course staunch benefactors of Lee but Trias was of the persuasion he was seated next to someone who looked more like a teen aged finger painter. His opinion of Kung fu being soft, too soft, colored his perception of this chinese gentleman and unfortunately shaped attitudes of his shuri-te black belt stable ( including Vic Moore) that Lee was soft, not a fighter from an art more show and blow than actual. These were harbingers of what Lee would put up with. I don't recall Lee doing or being invited to midwest USKA tournaments. That was Trias. It was said if Black Belt Magazine didn't cover the tournament, forget about west coast notables showing up. Where was the reverence? Some hollered racism. Maybe it was. Many thought Keehan was that way but he was the only instructor in Chicago who had the audacity to teach blacks and shared a non-starstruck opinion of Lee saying " that kid's got a freakish nervous system. He's gonna blow up. You watch." Thats what they called him. The kid. Trias didn't initially want blacks in the USKA but could not ignore their emerging talent as fighters. But I will tell you. Lee heard all that and still visited black dojos, ymca's, storefronts, etc. Especially in New York, Detroit, and Chicago. They all said the same thing. Lee could dance like a brother. Swagger. Lee had soul in his sharing. Low income people in rough areas who could not afford lessons but came to the Ymca's. Lee would get on the floor in those pants too tight to hold one business card and a strip shirt and do full work outs with them. He loved the sharing. He saw the look in their eyes, that need to survive in life look. He reached them, reverenced them with authenticity and spoke to the emptiness of being treated less than. Its like charisma. Either the camera likes you or it doesn't. Something you can't fake.

Always found it interesting bruce when doing his warm up in enter the dragon throws the horizontal fist cross, but you see bts photos of him throwing it vertically. Wonder why he went with horizontal over vertical for that particular scene. Great video!

What I think people don't realize is, wasn't Bruce Lee a fighter first, Martial artist second, I mean from everyone that knew him, and sparred him, they all say he was only concerned with what would actually work in a real fight, all the hours of studying and testing it out, wasn't it for that reason, what would enable him to win the fight?

Did you ever hold the focus mitts for Bruce and did you see him working the heavy bàg

Not what works in tournaments and not what works in class but what works in a fight and that is what Bruce was all about but we know that.

🥋🤙🏽

Also, according to Jim Kelly, Bruce sparred many champion, including Chuck Norris and beat him. Behind closed doors. From my understanding Bruce was levels above most “competition” fighters. William Cheung also says Bruce told him he beat Norris and has a letter from him confirming this. Something like that anyway. Thoughts on this? And how was Chuck Norris relationship really like with Bruce? Bob wall and Joe Lewis have said a lot of derogatory and negative things about Bruce over the years, but Joe has said in a video interview how hard Bruce hit and how fast he was also. Chuck always seems to downplay his abilities by saying “I was the world champion” but we all know Chuck Norris didn’t fight full contact and Bruce was all about pure self defence street fighting

Totally respect Tom Bleecker and respect him for this series! But, Bruce Lee was stuff that works, nowadays that would be MMA.

Ali was an actual Champion at fighting. People can emulate all they want until the punches start flying.

I always wondered what might have happened had Bruce ever made his way down to Brazil back in the days that Gracies and Machados were first forming their BJJ. Who would have not only done better in an actual no holds barred match, but if they both would have rubbed off onto each other a bit. It seems like Bruce was trying to expand JKD with some form of ground game toward the ends of his life (the opening sequence with that arm bar he used in ETD for instance). I have heard that Gene LeBell did have some influence on Bruce to incorporate more of this, but I have not seen anything to confirm it.

Tournaments are toe-to-toe type matches under rules. Fighting is a situation that has absolutely no rules. Bruce attacked and defended more akin to boxing/kickboxing which may not work as it did back in his day. Who knnows where he would have been if he had lived. Note, Bruce never want to name his method but was, alledgedly, only did so by contant prompting from Inosanto. Too bad he never copyrighted or trademarked the name of Jeet Kune Do.

Never considered that Bruce Lee was so good at figuring out opponent's weakness. Very interesting

Almost 50 years ago and were still using his system, can you imagine if Bruce had lived where JKD would have developed today.

Can you talk about jeet kune do how Bruce lee achieve his philosophy and project and create his own method fighting for history with chronological order to get

Thank you Tom for such an informative and objective insight into Bruce Lee. If i were to purchase a book to study JKD, which book would you recommend please Sir?

Bruce stripped fighting down to essentials. Throw away all the nonsense. Eventually trapping was one of those things, as well...

So many words but not a single fight can one see of bruce lee. Great Actor but never a fighter

Hate so many of the comments, from mainly this young generation who say Bruce was only an actor not a fighter etc.

Did you work out with SGM Mike Pike?

Vertical punch yea

I've heard You say in several video's I've watched up till now that You started Kenpo Karate because of a bully who gave you a hard time. But I haven't heard how you have dealt with that situation then. Did It come to blows???? And have you ever had to use your Kenpo in other threatening situations??? And the name Bleeker, do you have ancestors from Belgium or maybe Holland???

Sir, in your list of good JKD instructors, you mentioned William Chung who was Bruce Lee's senior. But William Chung is a Wing Chun Sifu, NOT a Jeet Kune Do instructor.

Goes to show all the good KZfaqrs are hidden

Funny. His Kenpo is very different than what mine is

Tom, regarding the rumour of Bruce being “beaten” or having bruises on his body when he was taken to hospital. Knowing Bruce personally, his power, fighting ability, speed and skillset, this doesn’t seem plausible to me. If he was unable to fight due to being unwell sure but what do you think are the chances that happens? Nobody has ever explained the bruising to my knowledge

Tom, Jim Kelly had often said that he knew many martial artist that sparred with Bruce. Yet he never lets you know who. Why do you think it was such a secret? He said Bruce was "untouchable." Any thoughts?

bruce lee vs ed parker who would win in a streetfight ?

Like Tyson said "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth"

I always thought bruce Lee fighting in the ring today ,would be like going to a Mike Tyson fight.If you went to the bathroom or blinked an eye.The fight would be over before it started .And one would miss all that heavenly glory.As he would say.

Getting hit and being able to stand on your feet and have the heart to continue fighting is the biggest part of fighting imo. That really begs the question, how was Bruce Lee’s chin? We’ll never know.

If Bruce lived to grow old…. Imagine

Its like mike Tyson ,no matter who does the peekaboo style they will never be as good at it like mike Tyson

Jeet June do is self expression.

The old classical karate style is very rigid - someone with good footwork has the advantage when facing them. A boxer would hurt them very badly in a street fight - arms punches lack explosive power. Bruce got away from Wing Chun; his friend Leo Fong discussed it with him many times.

When Joe Lewis said Bruce wasn't a fighter hahaha bullshit !!!!

India... The original art