Of all the martial art styles out there in the world today, and for sure a lot of new invented style names are popping up all the time, Jeet Kune Do still remains one of the most recognised martial art style names in the world. This of course is no surprise when you take into account that Bruce Lee came up with the name.
Being more than a bit famous in the martial arts, way back in the late 1960’s and in the early 1970’s before his untimely death in 1973, he for sure had a practical combat style that not only made sense but also a direct approach to fighting without all that silly fancy stuff that you often see in the Chinese martial arts. Jeet Kune Do in translation means ‘Way Of The Intercepting Fist’ and when it came to how it all worked then that was a very good descriptive title, but although many thought of it as a new style of combat and even a philosophical fighting art, there was nothing new about it at all. The first thing to note about this Chinese, (Kung Fu), based combat system is that it is in fact a mixed martial art. Western style boxing methods, Wing Chun Kung Fu close infighting trap and punch methods and even fighting methods that are based on sword fencing were all added to the mix. When your opponent expands, meaning reaching and attacking, 'you' contract, and so on, is very much what you would do in sword fencing or just using your fists. In the case of the name itself however then that is totally based on intercepting the attackers punch or kick with a block and then a counter strike. Very much related to the A, B, C, method as I call it. Avoid, Block, Counter-punch. At the more advanced stage this method of intercepting a punch, or a kick, really does come into its own if you are able to intercept your opponent's intention. That simply means predicting your attacker's punch, or form of attack, and punch or kicking him as he comes into range before the punch or any other form of attack fully develops against you. Bruce Lee being famous in the martial art movies more than helped him to promote his style of fighting and of course unlike some so-called martial art teachers he had the strength, speed, agility and the fluid adaptability to demonstrate all of these things. One of the other things he highlighted also was to be formless. This of course means to be without the classical form and restrictions that some martial arts tend to be, regarding how their style looks and in some cases very robot-like in nature and training methods, that can restrict to a degree how effective a person's combat skills develop. In other words to fight effectively without style or restrictions. Sadly however he needed to call what he was teaching a name, so hence the name Jeet Kune Do came along, and the moment he did that it became a martial art style brand name just like all those other martial art styles around the world. It also opened the floodgates to many bogus teachers who would teach any old combat style but under the name of Jeet Kune Do and make a lot of money from such a famous name. One another addition to what he taught was the philosophical side of it all. Be Water My Friend, is just one saying that springs to mind. However, even that was not new as many words of wisdom, as I tend to call them, have been written by many people going back hundreds if not thousands of years in one form or another. There is just one more item to mention about Jeet Kune Do and that is the subject of belt grade awards. True original Jeet Kune Do never had a belt grading system. Students were allowed to wear a cotton made badge on their uniforms to denote at what stage they had reached but never a belt or sash, so if someone says that they are a black belt in Jeet Kune Do then it would be a good idea to explain that to them. Related articles >Intercept - The art of A, B, C,< >Enter Bruce Lee< Comments are closed.
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