In the process of cleaning up some old stuff I had in storage, I ran across a few things that really took me on a trip down memory lane.
Myself and Sifu Dr. Zee Lo right outside the clinic. Yes, I had short hair once.
I began my Jeet Kune Do training in 2001 with Sifu Zee Lo during my last year as an undergraduate at UCLA. Training was roughly three times weekly in the parking lot (we had a single fluorescent light that turned everything a dreary greenish yellow for visibility) behind Sifu Zee Lo’s small private Acupuncture clinic. I started out as a dummy for Sifu Lo’s private students. Although I came armed with a hefty 15+ years of previous martial arts experience, I noticed an obvious deficiency in the practicality of my approach. Soon after graduating college, I enrolled in Sifu Zee Lo’s medical/martial arts apprenticeship program. Thus beginning my “hardcore” Jeet Kune Do training.
My day would generally look something like:
7am -9:30am : study and personal life
10am - 1pm : TCM (tradition Chinese Medicine) lecture and clinic hours
1pm - 2pm : private JKD training
3pm - 7pm: lecture and clinic hours
7pm - 8:30pm: JKD semi-private training
8:30pm - 9pm: cleanup and closeup
9pm - 11pm: study and personal life
I would squeeze in meals and short breaks whenever possible. On days that we did not have class, I would either have some extra time for study or meeting with training partners.
This is the back of the training room and the few students who stayed with us during the last year of operation.
About two years into my training we moved out of the parking lot and into a small storage room. Although the space was considerably smaller, we were at least out of the elements. This room was about 9 feet wide, 14 feet long, and had bare concrete floors, brick walls, and long flickering fluorescent ceiling lights. Training was old school and hardcore. Although injuries were common, we were able to treat them in-house to speed up recovery. Suffice it to say, we didn’t have many students
This is the front of the training room. The mirror in the background is the only one in the room which I broke with the back of my head the first night we put it in. Notice the clear packing tape holding it together.
Sparring with minimal gear. BTW those are 12oz gloves . . . and they hurt.
We laid out some folding martial arts mats about a year after moving in and also installed a wooden rail for stretching.
I was living in the clinic for about one year before moving next door to the training space for another year. I was literally living and breathing medicine and Jeet Kune Do for roughly two years.
During the last 18 months of my training Sifu Lo was in the process of relocating to San Francisco in pursuit of his movie making dreams. I kept up the West Los Angeles JKD classes in his absence while traveling up to San Francisco once monthly to supplement my training.
This is me sparring with Zee Lo’s students in San Francisco.
After Zee Lo completed his relocation, I attempted to keep the Jeet Kune Do school open, however a lack of marketing and business skills combined with our archaic training methods and environment discouraged most would-be students early on.
In the three years following the closure of the West Los Angeles Jeet Kune Do school, I began building a personal training business and establishing my own acupuncture practice while maintaining some form of combative arts training usually consisting of backyard style boxing, kickboxing, submission wrestling, self defense, etc.
About one year after marrying the woman of my dreams, San Gabriel Valley Jeet Kune Do was born.
Victoria (the love of my life) and I
My previous “hardcore” Jeet Kune Do training has proven invaluable, however I
have found that focusing on people and individuals yields more powerful results than focusing on the hardcore experience.
Now I am in the process of melding fitness, medicine, health, martial arts and business into the ultimate people/results oriented consumer empowerment resource, all while nurturing an amazing family life.
As for my current Jeet Kune Do training, I still continue my own development with Tim Tackett, Jeremy Lynch, and the Wednesday Night Group twice weekly.
See you in class!
–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com
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