Tommy Carruthers Original Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do | The Best Compilation

All Tommy Carruthers Videos: goo.gl/t9nYMj
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Jeet Kune Do Demonstration in London (Applications of Bruce Lee's JKD): • Tommy Carruthers Jeet ...
Tommy Carruthers Interview & Demonstration: • Tommy Carruthers Inter...
Tommy Carruthers Martial Arts Video Game Motion Capture: • Martial Arts Video Gam...
Tommy Carruthers Press Conference in Moscow: • Tommy Carruthers Press...
Tommy Carruthers has over 30 years experience in the martial arts which includes training in military self-defence techniques (taught to him by his father), Judo, Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, Karate, boxing, Ving Tsun (four years with Nino Bernardo's clan), Non-Classical Gung Fu and finally Jeet Kune Do. Whilst training in western boxing, Tommy made something of a name for himself and became the subject of several tempting offers to turn professional. "But still to Tommy, even though he seemed to excel in boxing, it was not JKD." (taken from Fighters Magazine, July 1997).
Frustrated with an absence of Jeet Kune Do clubs in his area, Tommy began to train by himself, pushing himself to the limits and along the way reading and assimilating absolutely everything that was around on JKD. He attended various JKD seminars in Europe but remained unimpressed. "I felt that what they were teaching would not work on the street, and it is in that arena that the truth comes out". Eventually he came across an article on Gary Dill in an American Kung Fu magazine. Everything in the article he agreed with so he took the plunge and phoned him up. Gary Dill was a student of the late James Lee, one of Bruce's own students. Taking the plunge he phoned him up and the upshot was that he was invited to America by Dill to train as a JKD instructor on an intensive course."
Later he came to the attention of Jesse R. Glover, Bruce Lee's first student and assistant-instructor. Glover then recommended Tommy to one of Bruce Lee's best and most highly respected students of his Oakland era, Howard Williams, as well as Bruce's last private student and protegé Ted Wong. It was also Mr Wong who awarded Tommy with an instructor ranking and eventually, Tommy was formally recognised by the JKD Nucleus (Bruce Lee Educational Foundation) at a formal dinner party with over 200 guests from around the Jeet Kune Do scene. In more recent years, Tommy has continued to train and build ties with many respected JKD practitioners from around the world such as Tim Tackett and original Bruce Lee student, Bob Bremer.
Over the years, Tommy Carruthers has acquired a reputation as being a very practical martial artist whose grueling training schedules alone would put most other athletes (from any sporting background) to shame. Tommy's affinity to simplicity and realism are almost certainly the result of being brought up in the rough streets of Glasgow's East End, where employment levels are low and violent crime rates are high.
In 2002 Tommy was invited by the Chinese Boxing Association Switzerland to come to Geneva to give a public demo of his talent live on stage at the SWISS EXPO. He has also recently appeared on several biographic Bruce Lee DVDs within a special feature called "In the footsteps of the Dragon", narrated by Jesse Glover.
"When Tommy is on he reminds me of Bruce when I knew him. The first time that I saw him I told him that he punches like Bruce. Tommy is also a very powerful kicker. He has Bruce like speed and power and is more flexible than Bruce was.
If Tommy landed a full force strike in the center of a person's chest there is a chance that their heart would stop. He transfers an amazing amount of shock with his strikes. He has taken Bruce's ideas and turned them into a functional reality." - Jesse Glover (Bruce Lee's first student)
"....the fastest hands I have ever seen!" - David Peterson (direct student of Ving Tsun legend Wong Shun Leung)
"I've not met anybody on par with Bruce Lee except for Tommy Carruthers, who is better than Lee in some respects.
Let me say that Tommy is Bruce Lee #2, hands down. This is the baddest man around. I don't give out props lightly, so take note. There's a new martial star, and his name is Tommy Carruthers. If you are looking for a standard of excellence, look no further than this dude." - George Tan (Bruce Lee historian/film producer)

[@erichibler2112]

Just amazing control, precision, speed, and power. 👊💀

[@999fazer]

Just think how proud Bruce would be to see such a guy like Tommy progress in his art. If only they could have met one day I'm sure Bruce would be smiling because of his achievements Would love to see a spare between Bruce and Tommy 🐱

[@mrt445]

I doubt it

[@perrymorrisjr]

Tommy is the real deal JKD instructor. He trained under Ted Wong, who was one of the few qualified to teach JKD. Jessie Glover who was Bruce's first ever American student claims that Tommy is the closest to Bruce Lee's speed that he's ever seen anyone obtain. I've corresponded with Tommy over the years and he even has the same personality of Bruce without the sense of humor. He's very direct and no-nonsense.

[@mrt445]

JKD is a incomplete art that was changed over the years by the students of Bruce Lee who didn't have the same vision that Bruce had with regards to self defense. JKD would have morphed into present day MMA, but unfortunately Tommy doesn't like MMA because it's far more complete than a person who tries to make a living off trying to imitate Bruce Lee. He's also extremely rude rude in real life because he expects people to worship him for some odd reason despite not proving his martial arts credentials by fighting in Vale Tudo MMA tournament which offer huge amounts of money with fights under pretty much no rules. You can eye poke, bite and groin kick all day but a skillful MMA fighters would still destroy him in Vale Tudo. In fact Tommy admitted in one of his blogs over 13 years ago to losing a street fighter to a BJJ practitioner who challenged him but he claim to have won the rematch, lol. The Brazilian guy who beat him used to troll him on his website

[@reubenlim8492]

@@mrt445 First off, he isn't trying to imitate Bruce. He's trying to perfect Bruce's art. If simply by learning JKD he's trying to imitate Bruce, then are all Wing Chun practitioners trying to imitate Ip Man? Also, he's not rude. He's just very no nonsense and stern, so when he's teaching he tells you what to do and expects you to listen, which you would do anyway if you weren't so egoistic.

[@mrt445]

@@reubenlim8492 I found out after I wrote that comment that he learnt JKD from trying to imitate Bruce in his movies. Unfortunately Bruce died waytoo early to complete JKD so no one really knows how it would have turned out because I gurantee that Bruce would have evolved the art in many ways, and it would have looked more like modern day MMA and not a bunch of people who imitate his moves from his movies. Secondly, how can you perfect a self defense martial art without actually fighting?? We have more full contact sparring footage of Bruce Lee than we do of this guy. To answer your Wing Chun comment, we live in a time where Wing Chun has been exposed countless times for being ineffective. WC is a dying art and those Ip Man movies were clearly fictional but people like you take them seriously. To answer your other question about Carruthers being rude I'm sure you know the story about the time he disrespected Donnie Yen. Which is quite funny because Donnie is known to have a huge ego.

[@reubenlim8492]

@@mrt445 Ok, true, he was trying to imtate Bruce Lee, but not in the usual way you would imagine. When we say imitate, we usually imagine something inferior, something fake. On the contrary, he knew that Bruce was the real deal, and so he was trying to do what he could do, simply because he saw the value of it. The point of his imitation was not to become like Bruce, or to impress others by being a copy of him, but to learn his fighting skills from him, which he has clearly achieved. Next, we don't have much sparring footage because Tommy has said he doesn't approve of sparring, because even that doesn't stimulate a real fight. Instead, as a student myself, he does pressure drills instead, where instead of an unrealistic situation where two fighters go back and forth and only throw punches and kicks, he gets coaches to put on body gear that covers the vital areas, and then gets them to rush a student and punch him however they like, just like a street fight. The student is also taught to aim for the vital areas which are protected by the body gear, so that in a street fight they can take the opponent out asap. Also, it's not that he doesn't spar, there just isn't much point to 2 JKD fighters sparring because it always ends up with a back and forth pendulum kick or side kick battle. Lastly, correction. I do not take Wing Chun seriously. I personally feel that even the true masters of Wing Chun would not last 3 seconds in a street fight, simply because of how hard it is to apply Wing Chun, and I know that the movies are a bunch of bs. That's why I don't even waste time learning it.

[@mrt445]

@@reubenlim8492 You seem to be talking as if Tommy is an amazing fighter despite never seeing him fight, please... Tommy hasn't achieved or proved anything. Also in his movies Bruce only showed us 50% or less of what he actually knew, mainly because choreographed fighting isn't real fighting. I don't understand how Tommy has got you so mesmerized. Is there a secret fight clip that you've seen that we haven't?..... So an actual sparring match or full contact fight to Tommy doesn't simulate real fighting but talking about it and doing demonstrations on people who just stand there somehow does???? So this guy won't simulate anything close to an actual fight but he thinks he can defeat MMA fighters who train rigorously to fight in full contact in tournaments that do. I'm sure you know about VALE TUDO tournaments in Brazil (this is how BJJ evolved) These tournaments have zero rules. You can eye-poke, groin strike, bite and hair pull. So the excuse about not being able to simulate a real fight no longer works. If Tommy seriously doesn't agree with sparring then he's a clown. Bruce Lee was all about full contact sparring and actual fighting, you can't be a great fighter without fighting. That era is long gone. Imagine someone like me saying to Bruce, "can you prove your art works because people think it's nonsense. I suggest you enter a competition called Vale Tudo in Brazil which literally has no rules, you can eye-pokes, groin kick and hair pull... etc". I believe Bruce would have very likely said, "yes I'll enter".... if he entered the competition and completely wiped out everyone what could I say to him after that? That's how you shut up the doubters. For some reason you're trying to compare someone who doesn't believe in actual fighting or simulating an actual fight but you'll hold him in such high regard you'd equate him to Bruce Lee, lol. The only reason we don't see many of Bruces actual fights is because cameras were extremely expensive and large in those days. It just upsets me when you have people like Tommy who come up with excuses not to spar because he'll be exposed. This is also the reason why Wing Chun guys are being exposed on video in actual fights. People like Tommy are ruining Bruce's legacy.

[@streetlethal3727]

Tommy that hand swipe you do is the most powerful technique I've ever witnessed 👀👏

[@Yup712]

Everything in this video is DEMO. Okay, he’a fast and accurate against a non-resisting, “dead” opponent. But let me see him or his students SPAR! This is exactly the type of thing Bruce Lee was against! Do you guys think that their weren’t Karate and Tae Kwon Do demonstrations like this back in his time? Yes! If what you are learning with your Jeet Kune Do instructor won’t prepare you to lightly spar against a Muay Thai or even MMA kickboxer, then you aren’t making SiJo Bruce Lee proud. And it has nothing to do with whether you consider the Chinatown era JKD to be real or authentic JKD or the whole Jun Fan Gung Fu that Lee had developed w/ JKD as the liberation, but if you can’t make your boxing and trapping work in sparring against a resisting opponent, then what’s the point? Remember, JKD is TRUTH in combat and finding the cause of your own ignorance. I can make pretty much ANYONE look like Mr. Carruthers in that video in a few months. Maybe not quite as fast, but that’s not the point. 💜 X G G α (1.0)

[@axelstone3131]

@@sophiawoods6748 you sound like an aggressive woman 🤣

[@axelstone3131]

It’s about body mechanics and principles, simplicity, directness. It’s not about mixing this and that and hoping it “works” or just saying JKD is “just a name” it’s about what’s efficient l. People need to stop quoting Bruce out of context or trying to quote him to push some bs narrative about “making it your own” because that’s bs.!

[@nitai154]

Bruh… Carruthers was a bouncer in the pubs. He would kick your arse son😂😂😂😂

[@s1r155]

This has been sped up and Tommy definitely doesn't need it.

[@rahulvarghese8307]

With moves like that, I can only imagine what an MMA fight will look like if a fighter had these techniques

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

Every good fighters know these moves. What Tommy demonstrated are the dirty version of the basc techniques like jab = eye jab, inside leg snap kick = snap kick to the groin from all angles. In fact, the sidekick to the the knee of JKD is very popular in MMA One of many JKD's core foundations is boxing. Hooks, uppercuts, head movements are all present and used in MMA

[@WingChunGungFu]

@@jaketheasianguy3307 I believe Rahul Varghese is talking about the stuff you don't see in MMA - mainly the Gung Fu shown here - the hand trapping and hand work. You don't see this in the UFC or any other organization for that matter - you see a couple techniques from Tony Ferguson but it's still nothing like this.

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

@@WingChunGungFu I see. But the thing is, this video is quite old and Tommy himself now has moved away from hand trapping and chosen the boxing approach, where you constantly looking for different targets if you met obstacle like a block for example, instead of doing complicated hand trapping techniques. Opponent block the punch, no hand trap, just kick to the groin or the knee cap and switch back to punching with hooks and uppercuts while cutting angle away from his centerline

[@WingChunGungFu]

@@jaketheasianguy3307 Im very aware of that. I train with guys who were students of Jesse know Tommy well. It that’s not the original posters point. His point was he doesn’t see Gung Fu in MMA - Which you’ve just acknowledged. And I understand Tommy’s reasoning. Bruce never learned to use Wing Chun in a long range way against boxers - so he modified it to try and do so - and figured some things out successfully. Bruce threw it out not because it didn’t work, he was very good at making this Gung fu stuff work - go look at interviews with James DeMile, Jesse Glover, Ed Hart, etc. Bruce threw them around like rag dolls and they were twice his weight and they were accomplished martial artists: Karate, Judo, Boxing, etc. Bruce threw it out because he was better at boxing and footwork and using angles as you say then trapping. It was easier for him because he’s so fast. Slower guys actually love this trapping stuff because they don’t have Bruce’s speed. Tommy’s problem - that no one likes to talk about or admit - is that he’s not the best teacher. He was able to learn how to use Gung Fu trapping like this against boxers and actually make a modified version of it work, but he was never able to teach anyone to get anywhere close to the level he was - so he tossed it from his teaching. he can’t duplicate his results as a teacher for anyone to get anywhere close to matching his level. So his main curriculum is void of it. Why do you think he practiced it for so long if it didn’t work? It doesn’t work for most people because they don’t know how to do it right and are not taught correctly. 99% of Wing Chun and JKD are a complete sh1t show when it comes to trapping and hand work. And this demo at the beginning in this video is great showmanship and looks cool, but isn’t realistic on how to truly apply Wing Chun Trapping and hand work like this. It’s developing neurological responses - check out Icy Mike on KZbin learning to use some Wing Chun as an MMA fighter - still somewhat incorrectly but at least learning and understanding the basic concepts. Check out Martial Arts Journey about him being wrong about Wing Chun. It’s all out there.

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

@@WingChunGungFu i see, thanks for your insight to this subject. I personally have never buy the ideal that WC is bad like most people out there, and still think it has value in combat sport. All (non bullshido) martial arts are effective with good trainining method. Picked up Lop Sao and has been using it successfully in MMA training til today without ever learned any formal WC. Yet, i still agreed with the way Tommy's curriculum headed because it works in it's designed purpose, self defense. Removed hand trapping and just focused on a few techniques does created a system that's easy to learn and use for everyone, like boxing. Still get a bit annoyed everytime his student Thomas talked about his method compare to other system's techniques like it's superior or something. Not so sure about his knowledge and statement bout WC since i don't know WC

[@JKDVIPER]

Sick striking

[@kevm4035]

Tommy Legend

[@user-ur4hb1rm5q]

0:23 1:33 1:39 1:43 1:48 1:59 2:12 3:41 3:55

[@barracuda7018]

Amazing speed !!!

[@waddledee4993]

Just my two cents, judging from this video, he has very fast hands in close range combat. However, when bridging the gap at 1:01 with straight lead punches, his approach is slightly telegraphed because his hand moves after his footwork. Nice video though. Cheers.

[@user-dw6nd8rp3m]

0:48 good

[@WingChunGungFu]

This is such a great video of Tommy. Ironically, the first part of this video - is what made him famous. He's mostly doing Jeese Glover's stuff here - maybe a bit of Ted Wong's stuff, but it's definitely mostly derived from Jesse's stuff. Today he'll tell you all his hand work in this video is useless - which is not true by the way. 15 years ago he talked about how much its helped him. The irony.

[@johnsheehan9518]

He's not even a certified teacher , not by Jessie not by Ted wong not by anyone

[@WingChunGungFu]

@@johnsheehan9518 I can’t verify Ted Wong, but Jesse technically didn’t give literal “certifications” to anyone. But he did give Tommy permission to teach NCGF. The whole NCGF community verifies this and their website verifies Tommy as someone who is allowed to teach.

[@axelstone3131]

@@johnsheehan9518 misinformation. He was certified by Ted Wong. It doesn’t matter anyway, what he’s doing is the closest to what Bruce was doing and not all the fake shit people keep passing off as JKD

[@axelstone3131]

Really? Thanks for the infor, maybe I will do the non classic Gung Fu Course in his website before I check out JKD. Looks good to me, I don’t know why he would say this is useless now.

[@WingChunGungFu]

@@axelstone3131 He found easier combat material. Gung fu is a skill set that takes years to learn. It’s worth the wait in the long run though. Tommy is trying to make sure people can protect themselves tomorrow instead of waiting years.

[@stefanhansen5882]

He is so freaking fast.

[@willienelson8377]

Pretty sure he breaks the sound barrier at one point

[@jasonjones9018]

It's His Speed That Does It For Me 👍☯️👊

[@guitarttimman]

I am wondering if he has the power Bruce had. Bruce even said that speed without power behind it is useless!

[@deafsmith1006]

With the proper technique speed brings power.

[@pancho43]

Yes he has, his punches and kicks are extremely powerful

[@bigbaba1491]

How do you know if bruce had power or not

[@guitarttimman]

@@bigbaba1491 I met him. I seen him. I tested a board before he broke 4 of them together.

[@bigbaba1491]

@@guitarttimman who? Tommy carruthers?

[@Awakenedmind333]

How’d he get so fast?

[@jamessyria]

Don't forget JKD is the father of MMA

[@axelstone3131]

No it’s not. It’s a completely separate thing.

[@FURDOG1961]

0:00

[@hongthong0272]

Kai said Hi.

[@thomasotto8693]

WOOOW,Tommy is THE MAN of JKD ,I ´ve seen most of Bruces students,he is most direkt and powerfull and the fastest by far !I mean there is only 1 "genius" ,one"Mozart"of martial arts :BRUCE LEE,but in combat i guess we have a "new Bruce Lee"!!!

[@flyinglawnmower7457]

"new Bruce Lee" really shows how great your understanding of his ideas and philosophies were

[@valiantia]

trapingに相手が応じることに伴って自身の手数が増えるのであるならば理解できますが、なぜ動かない相手に過剰な手数が必要ですか？

[@jameswebb8353]

All these guys go through the motions .but can they really fight.moving like Bruce Lee don,t say you can fight

[@izellkinney2720]

It's not necessary to speed things up in videos loke this

[@christophervargas7422]

All show no go unless he's beating up someone who is not a fighter. Hey truth hurts 🤷

[@valiantia]

私には彼は「黐手を知らない振藩功夫使い」に見えます。 何故なら彼が相手の挙動に応じた動きをせず一方的な動きしかしないからです。 また、fencingのスタンスではないため振藩功夫だと判断できます。

[@KicksClique]

This is not JKD, this is wing chung. His style relies on the attacker being dormant during his punch. He doesnt move back. Flick the legs during punches and advance the attack. In a real actual fight people move around, they don't stay in the exact same spot. This is some wing chung wannabe JKD bullshit.

[@mortenovergaard7397]

Insane speed. But he is punching his opponent's shoulder. Not sure that would work well in combat :).

[@shawnsutton4293]

If this guy ever got in a mma cage, he would most likely get picked up and slammed.on his head, he would.then surrender to either strikes and a well done submission. Nuff said

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

Go watch Jon Jones then if you think Tommy's techniques don't work, from the eye pokes to the oblique kicks

[@flyinglawnmower7457]

How come when I read such comments I can't help but imagine fat little Cartmans who never had a fight after elementary school?

[@brusli1732]

Why isn't the mma guy challenging him on the street instead of Tommy going with him in the cage?

[@johnpauldaily]

Funny how everything must be tested in mma. This is for folks who want to get home safely. Not win a belt.

[@kingdaleclarke]

Correct. That is why this guy never competed. That flashy shite doesn't work in a real fight.

[@lowereastsideastrologist7769]

Bryce Lee ?

[@jakepapadopoulos8654]

I want o see if this guy could handle himself in the cage.

[@taLLdavidproduction]

Hes to old for competition nowadays unfortunately

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

Go watch Jon Jones then if you think Tommy's techniques don't work, from the eye pokes to the oblique kicks

[@mattchelseadavis]

​@@jaketheasianguy3307Jones uses JKD while everyone else uses MMA lol

[@KicksClique]

This guy knows nothing about JKD

[@flippoy]

So fluif

[@johnsheehan9518]

Some spoofer this guy , not even certified to teach jkd

[@flyinglawnmower7457]

I still wouldn't want to fight against him

[@johnpauldaily]

Pretty sure he had Jesses and Ted Wongs blessing. Besides that… who certified Bruce. Go troll somewhere else

[@5GCHEMTRAILVACCINESFORBATS]

Pretty sure Bruce Lees family have him at every Bruce Lee memorial every single year and gave him the go ahead to be the stand in for Bruce Lee characters in Mortal Kombat etc . That's Tommy in those games. There's footage of him doing the moves while being recorded for the games... all approved by the Lee family.

[@PaybackisaMan]

He is very Good. The Best Jkd Guy Right know but not even little Close to Bruce Lee ...I m Practiced Wing Tsun-Kernspecht System i by myself was maybe the Biggest Upcoming Super Star in this Martials Arts maybe better then Emin Boztepe ...it never Happend ..whatsoever i have that Eye to Clarify the Hole Thing..He is nothing Compared to Bruce Lee...Bruce was 4 Times Higher ..when Bruce went on Realy 100% U Didnt See Nothing even the Camera Shot didnt Catch No Movement. Jessy Glover was a Bullshit Student with No Good Qualitys He never was Deep with that Art of Combat but Sifu Tommy Carruthers Understand and Adapted that System very Well but He had to much Weak Points Foot Control No The Wooden Dummy Technics are Fataly Wrong ..Bruce Lee had the Hole Basics in his Background Kung Fu Student White Crane, Wing Chun-Ip Man (Reached the 3rd degreeth with some Introducing Higher Levels to 4th and some of the 5th Level), Judo-Juijitsu, Wrestling, Boxing, Powerbuilding Like No One other 1% Bodyfat 13 Hours Training ...Philosophy...Bruce Lee's Student are All World Champions Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis , Boxing Champions, Karate Legends from Japan...He was Standing Realy Above All !!! 13 Punches Per Second every Single Each Punch was Estimated 320kg a One Heavy Fully Unloaded Inch Punch Generated Over 1.4 Tons. A Full Stretched Kick Generated 2-3 Tons in Splitt of a Second He Kicked that in the Most Perfect Timing and Momentum into Your Neck Heart,Stomach, Thoroat, Legs ..I mean He Could Play with You Even a Mike Tyson get Hospilitized in Splitt of Seconds. A Realy Fucking Super Furious Cold Blooded SUPER ATHLET

[@jayh4911]

This guy punches as fast as Twista raps!!!!! THAT'S VERY FAST!!!