The Essence of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune

I wrote

a couple of newsletters ago

about the essence of Bruce Lee’s Art,

Jeet Kune Do.

Let me expand just a bit on that.

Bruce was concerned with the initial point of contact,

the entry into the fight.

So he figured out that there were five places

where you could ‘attack an attack.’

And that one concept

really sums up

The Way of the Intercepting Fist,

right?

You can interrupt an attack before it starts,

you can stop an attack on the way in.

You can attack and attack at the point of contact.

You can attack when the attacker is on the way out.

You can beat an attacker after the attack.

Obviously, each one of these points

has certain considerations.

Number five, for instance,

attack after it is over.

That’s like saying start anew,

but i fully understand Bruce putting it

with the five points of attack.

Now,

his attack could be summed up

with three steps,

kicking, punching and kneeing/elbowing.

So his basic drill was

kicking,

punching the pads on the way in

and closing for the knee elbow.

Now this is simplicity,

and it is genius for its simplicity.

So where do I differ from him?

I analyzed lots of arts like he did,

but I decided the essence of the martial arts

was not to obsess on attacking.

Yes,

you have to throw the punch

or do the throw,

but you should see it coming

before it happens.

This idea,

seeing something before it happens,

was a product of the karate style I studied.

It’s very zen.

I often wonder

if Bruce had studied Karate,

I mean in a ritualistic setting,

he would have come up with similar idea.

Maybe.

But the point is this,

I decided that the time to handle the attack

is when it reaches a certain physical point,

and that point would be when it enters ‘slapping’ range.

I structured Monkey Boxing around this idea.

Don’t charge in a fight,

rely on the sla[ping distance.

Part of it was that I’m 6 foot and 200 pounds,

so I encountered smaller guys

who were faster.

When I stopped trying to get them,

and relaxed and waited for them,

then I started winning.

I was no longer the big ‘sitting duck,’

but a guy who’s punches they ran into.

Now,

obviously,

there are many different ways

of looking at this matter of fighting.

Bruce isn’t right or wrong,

neither am I.

We’re just people with strategies,

tactics,

and preferred methods.

And the real point is that you

have to look into each art

and play with the techniques

until you understand the concepts,

then put what works for you together.

The martial arts are not a set in stone methodology.

They are a changing, adapting tactic.

Now,

obligatory ad…

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/3a-blinding-steel-matrixing-weapons/

My method.

amongst all my other studies and methods.

It sets you up for weapons, hands and feet and takedowns.

Check it out.

Okay,

one last thing…

I get wins from people all the time,

and ometimes I like to share them,

hope somebody else’s wins

can inspire oyu.

So here is Justin Harris…

I just had a hell of a workout with my Matrix Karate forms plus House 1, House 2, and Moon form. The interesting thing about a matrixed form is how well it stays in memory. I hadn’t practiced these in a while but I busted em out today and let me tell you they are so natural and intuitive, they just flowed right out of me. I can’t remember many classical forms I learned years ago. But the interesting thing is that the logic of a matrixed and organized form sticks in the mind and body better than random stuff. Not saying classical forms are bad, I do quite a few of them sometimes but logic and a clear sense of how to make the art True makes things so much easier.

Many thanks!

Sifu Justin Harris

Dragon Palm Tai Chi and Kung Fu

Thanks, Justin,

I appreciate the kind words,

and I love it when Matrixing works for people.

Now…everybody…

have a great work out!

And don’t forget to check out the interview