The Oakland school was run by James, it was a combination of new and old(a living ying/yang)he taught modern techniques and principles he learned from Bruce in Spartan(Gladiator)methods. The use of old training methods of using apparatus was stressed, but with an eye for practically and efficiency with new improvement. Since James was a welder by trade he was able to design, test, and construct most of the apparatuses. There was a traditional Wing Chun dummy, various striking targets for finger jabs, iron hand training. Leather strap device Canvas striking bags with wooden arms(Tiet Kune Bau), Metal rolling arms for chi sao development, dip bars for body conditioning. Head lock machine to develop ones arms to deliver a crushing head lock. Hand held snapping universal joint to make the wrist stronger and quicker for penetrating snapping punches. Single supported iron legs for developing quick accurate kicks to the knee and shin. Leather heavy bag roman chair, incline bench, weights, and dumbells.

 

The most appreciated piece of equipment by his students was Jame's "MAN FAT JONG" "Man" in Chinese means"ten thousand","Fat"is the equivalent of "magic or techiniques", "Jong"can be translated as "Apparatus"James called it "Multi Techniques Training Apparatus".  Others called it, "The Thousand Way Dummy".  It could be used to develop a powerful penetrating side kick(dummy weigh other 300Ibs.). Bruce was one of few who was able to make the JONG rock back and forth off its foundations a few inches when side kicked. It had a head of metal covered with hard rubber to develop hand toughness and target accuracy, there were removable arms for practicing hand immobilization and trapping, also a single iron leg with bent knee to practice low kicks, leg immobilization, and body positioning for leg sweeps and takedowns. The "Jong" was made mostly of crude iron with a few rubber and wooden parts. When struck the Jong would compress against the car shock absorber/spring mechanism, and instantly spring back to its original position. Training with this equipment would make you tough as nails, but user beware for many a student has had the "Jong" get the better part of him, giving them a personal autograph on their body. When in use the clanging noise could be heard from over 50 ft away. James always stressed, "make haste slowly". "You must learn to adapt to the circumstances, and adapt your training methods to those circumstances."

 

There was no protective equipment used when sparring except for occasional use of baseball shin guards. The students would hold one hand up with palm open as targets while the lower hand would guard the bottom gates. This made your hand (cover) strong and palm tough, if a student was off target you had better learn to move quickly in the proper direction so as to not get hit in the face by a punch or kicked in the groin by a kick.  No boxing gloves or hand wraps were used.  James wanted the students to used to the reality of combat. Because of this many prospective students chose not to stay around long. Those that stayed and could endure became proficirnt, tough, and mentally ready for any altercation outside class. The Oakland school was really not commercial, no sign, no advertisement.  Most new students came by a word of mouth and most had some martial arts background. Sometimes people came to see and challenge James, but once they saw the class train then was no longer a desire to challenge. There was always visitors, Bruce would visit almost bi-monthly. James top student and semi assistant was Bob Baker. Bob became good friends with Bruce and appeared in one of Bruce's movies.

James conducted 4 classes usually in the evenings after his work as a welder. Training lasted about 2 hours twice a week. There was a weekend day class also in which many student came from as far away as 80 miles. Some of the students in one class did not know or meet the students in the other classes. James was simple and direct with his student, no beating around the bush, or attempt to woe them or seek any visual or verbal gratitude from them. All he wanted them to do was train hard, train often, try the best they could without any explanation and treat each other with due respect and behave as gentlemen. He always told the student to pay attention, James disliked repeating himself when giving instructions, his students did not fool around during class. All students were on probation that meant they could be released if James felt they were a determent to him or the class. He was a very patient teacher as long as the student put out their best effort. He did not water down, dilute his teaching methods, James did not waste any time in class, class ran smooth, deliberate and constant in both physical and mental energy. Occasionally students would be allowed to rest, when they left, they knew they had been in a complete workout. The interior decoration motif of the training area was one of "holes", there were numerous holes in lower portion and eyesight levels of the walls, where many a stray punch or kick landed to the self-preservation of the student.

 

Former student of the Oakland Era - not a complete list.

(Bob Baker (Huckabaa), Gary Hum, Barry Hay, Curtis Yee, Edward Yee, Stan Piasik, Robert Garcia, Harry Chin, Bob Marshall, Moon Ling, Dr.Arnold Wong, Alvin Wong, Gordon Toy, Ed Kim Yee, Jerome Lai, Ernie Benevidez, Al Novak, Leo Fong, Rodney Gee, Fred Meredith, Dr.Lloyd Freitas, Felix Macias, Manuel Rodriquez, Tom and Jan De Laurel, Richard Carney, Allen Joe, George Lee, David Young, Jimmy Ong, Mike Fong, Allen and Mario Magdangal, Gary Cagaanan, Howard Williams, and Dave Cox, plus numerable others whose names we can't remember, we regretfully apologize for their exclusion but felt that better some is better than none.)

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