martial arts - bruce lee - jeet kune do
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Bruce Lees Jeet Kune Do
Bruce Lee developed his form of the martial arts to be as effective as possible. Its
goal was simplicity. As Bruce himself once said, The art of Jeet Kune Do is simply to
simplify. His purpose in creating it was to eliminate all the unecessary points, and focus
on the important facets which prove useful in real combat. Jeet Kune Do is the outcome of
his ideas, thought, and fighting experiences.
Bruce was trained in the classical Wing Chun style. This is how he gained
knowledge enough to concoct his own method. When he first began teaching he taught
mainly Wing Chun, or a loosely based form of Wing Chun. Later on, he changed it to Jun
Fan Jeet Kune Do. In English its Bruce Lees the way of the intercepting fist. As is said,
Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques or
means which serve its end [Lee 12]. It only has approximately 5 punches and 4 kicks. The
reason for this is because it takes much longer than a lifetime to perfect something, many
think it cant be done, so only few kicks and punches are used. While a person still may
not be capable of getting it just right in their time on earth, they can do a lot better than if
they had many a things to work on. This is more relevant when dealing with actual
fighting. If you focus on directness then the goal is easier to achieve.
Bruce Lee created Jeet Kune Do to be as effective as possible. He designed it with
real combat in mind. He didnt believe in practicing routines or stunts that lead nowhere
[Lee 15]. The hand techniques that are used are as follows: the leading finger jab, straight
leading punch and jab, leading hook rear cross, backfist, quarter swing, uppercut, reverse
spin blow, and hammer blow. There arent very many at all but you can go into great detail
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in all, and constantly try to improve upon them. The leg techniques include; the side kick,
leading straight kick, reverse straight kick, hook kick, spin back kick, and knee thrust. In
comparison to many other forms of kung fu and with most martial arts, theres not a whole
lot. But, once again theres a great deal of time which can be put into working on each and
every one of these. Not only does Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do focus on attacks and individual
movements of the hands and kicks; it places a great deal of importance on footwork. Bruce
was once quoted as saying, The essence of fighting is the art of moving. Of course
movement is centered around footwork. This is why close attention must be paid to
footwork and mobility. The components of footwork consist of about 5 points. The
foundation is sensitivity of aura, the second is aliveness and naturalness, the third is
instincitvene pacing (distance and timing), the fourth is correct placement of the body, and
the fifth is a balanced position at the end [Lee 144]. To correctly size things up, footwork
is truly everything in Jeet Kune Do. It provides the martial artist with a means of finding a
target and a means to avoid being a target [BIG JKD article]. Obviously footwork, paired
with the perfected forms of hand and leg tactics add to your chance in success. Bruce
realized this was more or less the basis of his style.
In conclusion, the simplicity and directness that JKD relies on is an effective and
intelligent method. Bruce Lee, being the best martial artist in recent history, founded it,
and so its no surprise that its a great a form as it is. Its also quite possible that Bruce
couldve improved upon Jeet Kune Do in his later years, if not for his tragic untimely
death. Lee was smart enough to realize there was always room for improvement and his
own style, as refined and effective as it proved to be, was far from perfect. Though in
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many ways Bruce Lees Jeet Kune Do was a monumental step toward excellence in martial
arts, and maybe as close to perfection as any other ever will be.