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Martial Arts

Jet Li, From Humble Beginnings To Action/Martial Arts Movie Superstar

Are your ready for some action?

Among all the remarkable action/martial arts movie stars over the last 20 years or so, several of them truly stand out such as Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, probably Jean-Claude Van Damme.
(Maybe you have your own favorites that haven't been mentioned here. Let me know by sending in your comments.)

There are movie performers most people remember and who are quite frankly household names.

One such martial artist and movie performer I am always impressed with is Li Lianjie.

"Who the heck is that?", you ask.

I admit I also only knew him by his stage name, Jet Li.

For many years, Jet Li has worked extremely hard to get where he is now in his career.

And obviously his hard work and determination have paid off for him and his family.

Especially if you consider that his mother had to somehow pull him, his bother and two sisters through as a widow in Beijing during the Sixties.

As a teenager, Jet Li rigorously trained in Wushu for several years, winning countless titles and national gold medals.

Jet Li became a member of the high-acclaimed national Wushu team that even performed for then-U.S. President Nixon in the United States.

In those days it was an extraordinary honor and opportunity for Chinese to be able to travel overseas and even more so to perform in front of "the leader of the free world". Jet Li was still just a teenager at the time!

His abilities and achievements as a Wushu forms practitioner paved the way for Jet Li's acting in martial arts movies that started in China, then Hong Kong and ultimately the United States. He has become a global superstar throughout the years.

You might have seen him in some of his movies such as:

Shaolin Temple
Once Upon A Time In China

Lethal Weapon 4(This was the first time I had ever seen Jet Li and I was impressed!)

Romeo Must Die
Hero
Cradle 2 The Grave
Fearless
War (with Jason Statham)
The Forbidden Kingdom (with fellow superstar Jackie Chan)

I have learned that Jet Li is a cast member along with Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Staham, Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in  "The Expendables" which is scheduled to be released in 2010. More on that at a later date.

But there is also another side to Jet Li such as his charitable activities, notably after his near-death experience in 2004 in the Maldives during a tsunami.

Reportedly, Jet Li's "The One Foundation" supports international disaster relief efforts with the Red Cross and other efforts, such as recovery in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Jet Li continues to impress on and off the big screen.

If you enjoy watching Jet Li either at age 14 performing Wushu form for his first championship or as the bad guy in Lethal Weapon 4, stop by TheMartialArtsReporter.com

 

About the Author

What martial arts do you think would help you most with dealing with an attack legally?

In the laws and self-defense, a defender cannot overdo his defense against his attacker. He cannot, for example, kick an attacker when he is down on the ground. He cannot do anything but stop the attacker, in an appropriate amount of force, and quit once the attacker quits.

What martial arts do you think would best help you accomplish this? What martial arts would keep you in those legal boundaries the best?

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu has a lot of control holds that I use in my day job. Most of the holds are within policy so I use that to my advantage. Below is a paste from the Gracie Academy in Torrance Ca.

Why LEOs Need GCMLE
According to the F.B.I., in 2007 there were 59,201 sworn law enforcement officers assaulted in the line of duty. Over 80% of these assaults (47,495) were committed by unarmed perpetrators who only used their hands and/or feet to attack the officer. It is most important to consider the two biggest reasons why law enforcement officers did not shoot these perpetrators before their unarmed assaults were carried out:

Unjustified – Unless someone’s life is at risk, the officer is not justified in using deadly force.
Unable – Most physical assaults on officers take place so abruptly that the officer does not have the time or distance necessary to draw his or her firearm or less-lethal weapons, safely.
Since it is so common that officers are assaulted in situations where they are unjustified or unable to use their weapons in their defense, it is imperative that they be empowered with a very effective, court-defensible system of self-defense that will ensure their safety in the worst case scenarios that they are so likely to encounter. GCMLE is the solution.

Reduced Liability
It is a fact that any law enforcement officer who is not confident in their ability to control a suspect with their hands is more prone to resort to their weapons, prematurely, and all it takes is one excessive force incident to dramatically alter the stability of a police department and its relationship with the community they serve. Since the GCMLE course is based on controlled pain compliance techniques rather than uncontrollable strikes, the physical damage to the suspect is kept to an absolute minimum. Lawsuits and charges of police brutality decrease significantly when GCMLE is used.

Note: If an instructor of the agency or organization holds a valid certification in the GCMLE and a police brutality case arises involving the usage of the techniques, Rorion Gracie will be willing to testify on behalf of the department.

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