Why Tradition Doesn’t Work

You have to keep upgrading your weapons to stay ahead of the enemy.

By Joe Lewis

I can look at any style of martial arts out there and what they’re teaching and I’m going to throw 90 percent of it in the toilet because it’s garbage. It doesn’t work. And that’s kind of a harsh statement, but that’s just the way it is. The proof in the pudding is that if you take those instructors that do know how to fight and you put them in the ring and you watch them fight, they’re only going to use about 10 percent of what they’re showing their students. I only use the 10 percent that works. I only execute the practical stuff.

I believe in upgrading your weapons. The weapons we used in the World War II didn’t work for us in Vietnam. The weapons we used in Vietnam didn’t work for us in Iraq. You have to keep upgrading your weapons to stay ahead of the enemy, to stay ahead of the times, to stay ahead of those that are trying to threaten your well-being, and the problem with martial arts is that a number of people subscribe to “the old way.” They don’t believe in upgrading those weapons. The way a kick was taught, the way a punch was taught, the way a technique execution was demonstrated—the dynamics of those tools have not changed for centuries! And the people that teach the old way try to chastise the people who are trying to bring about a change. I’m all for change, see?

Wing Chun Deficiencies

For example, I was once a very strong advocate of the vertical punch, which the Wing Chun stylists all do, but I don’t push that anymore. When they spar and when they do their drills, their stance is too wide and they drag their rear leg. When they execute their forehand strike, they’ve got too much weight on the front hand. Their hands are too low, their elbows are out, they’re all head hunters, they never throw body punches and I can’t fight that way, because to me it’s kind of backward.

Exercising change is a demonstration of self-confidence, and those that don’t have the guts and the courage to change, in my opinion, lack self-esteem. And to the degree that you subscribe to the old ways, refuse to change and to question what you have learned, what you accept as the truth, what you accept as effective, to that same degree, your self-esteem is going to suffer and it’s going to backfire on you in other aspects of your life.

Bruce Lee’s Star Student

Bruce Lee was a phenomenal teacher, way ahead of his time. I was a world champion before I met Bruce Lee. After I met him I became a Full-Contact Karate World Champion and then a Kickboxing champion. Bruce Lee trained me to be a fighter. I was only interested in fighting. If the stuff didn’t work, I didn’t mess with it. I’m the only JKD man who ever became a world-class fighter. You can’t overlook that fact that I am Bruce Lee’s star student. And a lot of that has to do with the philosophy of Jeet Kune Do, which teaches you how to tap into your own power center, use yourself to your fullest and to continue to grow, to continue to integrate and to continue to bring about change in your life.

The way martial arts were taught in the Far East kind of matched the psychological nature of the political structures that were over there. It’s easy to push martial arts in a totalitarian society, or a kind of government where you have a very strong class structure. Well, that doesn’t go here in this country. People exercise more free will, more freedom of choice. The political structure we have in the free world and the whole sense of individualism is kind of counterproductive to the way the old schools of thought in the martial arts were disciplined and are instituted. And I don’t agree with the old way. It kills your self-esteem. It kills your sense of self. It kills your creativity, especially in children, and this is a major detriment to the person growing up and actualizing their total potential on all levels.

Trust Your Own Mind

A child needs to be taught how to trust its own mind. Once that child learns and understands how to trust himself, then he can start using that trust and power to trust in his immediate surroundings, such as his instructor or his parents. And only then will he have self-confidence and grow up and understand and learn how to trust other people and be able to make judgments: when to believe someone and when not to believe someone; when to trust someone and when not to trust someone. It starts with that “self-trust,” and if you have a totalitarian, dictator-type philosophy in your martial arts upbringing, then you’re going to kill that freedom of choice every child should have. He’s always going to be dependent on you fulfilling his needs, you telling him what to do, and that’s going to backfire.

So I’m very strongly opposed to the old way. If you want to call that the “traditional way,” fine. Then, in my view, tradition doesn't work.