CompleteMartialArts.com - Jeet Kune Do Ground Fighting - The Gate, Vol. 2

This is a detailed analyzation of striking from the bottom of the guard. Mr. Ground shares his vision on self defense, striking, counter punching, attacking, trapping, and kicking. Based upon your opponent's hand position this text will show you how to respond and flow naturally into many striking, trapping & locking techniques.

The pictures were outstanding. The clarity of the photo's were much better then his last book. The technical analysis is a good addition to each photo. I noticed the last review stated there were bad pictures. The person that wrote that review obviosly doesn't want you to read this book. The last review names a lot of big names however what he states is wrong with the book are out and out lies!

There is a good reason somebody doesn't want you to read this book. The fact is these are outstanding techniques. This is very effective and to the point "JKD". Alan Ground's analysis and ability to put things together with proper flowing is what JKD is all about.

I have had the pleasure of watching a couple of his video's regarding the energy drills for ground fighting. I'm still amazed about how it all comes together.

My suggestion is to do your own research. Don't listen to some bone-head that write's about a bad mount position when this book is about striking from the guard.

I must commend Mr. Ground for his innovative approach to groundfighting and striking from the guard. This was a worthwhile intellectual endeavor and helps to expand the knowledge of groundfighting. However, I feel that his approach is fundamentally flawed. He attempts to use the same Jeet Kune Do (JKD) concepts that he uses for stand up fighting and apply them to the ground. However, JKD fails in reality combat as it does in applying it to the guard.
I can think of two Kung Fu artists who fought in the UFC and they both were defeated easily, I don't think anyone else was foolish enough to try. The author fails to take into account the fundamentally superior striking position of the person who is in the guard. People like Mark Coleman, Vanderlai Silva, Tito Ortiz and Igor Vovchanchyn have made careers of pounding people into submission while in their guard. Mr. Ground's fundamental approach is to create space between you and the person in the guard so that the person on the bottom can strike. This approach defies reality...when in the guard you want to eliminate distance to protect yourself from punches and reverse your opponent. Try to punch Mark Coleman from the guard and let me know how it works for you.

I also felt that some of the techniques shown were not technically sound. I don't think pulling someone's hair, pushing your thumb into their neck, or pinching their biceps muscle is a good use of time and energy. Again, reality combat shows these techniques to be useless. Also, I question the elbow and knee strikes to your opponent's elbows that will "result in breaking the arm". In the history of reality combat (ie UFC 1-40, and Pride 1-20) this has never happened. Finally, as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu student, as Mr. Ground claims to be, I gasped at his examples of the mount where his hips are high and off the ground, a fundamental error of body positioning when your goal is lower your center of gravity and your base.

Finally I felt that the author was exhibiting some shameless self-promotion which was unnecessary. For example, the sign in the background that pronounces "Alan Ground, Jeet Kune Do Groundfighting" was over done. Also, the author's claim that it is proven that he can punch someone eleven times in less than a second offered me nothing except a good chuckle. If his eleven punches are as effective as his groundfighting, the average Jiu-Jitsu fighter will not be losing any sleep.

In conclusion, I feel that a fighter using these techniques on the street will do himself a disservice unless he is fighting Helen Keller. Don't creat distance in the guard, close this distance, wrap your opponent's arms up and reverse him. A good fighter can beat you into submission a la Ken or Frank Shamrock if you give him space in the guard. The guard is not a fundamental striking position, it is a position for submissions and reversals.
I suggest you look into Submission Fighting Techniques by Iverson, the Fighter's Notebook (a thorough work), or Renzo's forthcoming book if you want to learn how to fight from the guard. Also, watch the UFC and Pride and see what works in reality, not just theory. JKD doesn't work standing up in real contests and it doesn't work on the ground. Up to this point, no one has proven these observations wrong.