the roots of combat

8/6/2019 The Roots of Combat

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i A K T1

The Birthof Jeet Kune Do andHow It Grew Into the Ultimate Fighting System

by H arin der S in gh p ho to s by Pe te r Lueder s

For Bruce Lee, jeet kune do was not astyle; itwas a process of self-discoveryand constant growth. He refusedto refer to it as a style because he

believed doing so would be tantamount tolimiting it. He often said, "There is no suchthing as a style i f you totally understand theroots of combat."The genius of Lee is evident in the gen-

esiso f JKD and the way it's grown over thedecades. From its classical wing chun be-

ginnings, it morphed into an ultra-effectivefighting system that meets the needs of ci-vilians, military personnel and law-enforce-ment officers around the world.To truly understand JKD in its most mod-

ern incarnation, we need to map Lee'sprogression from when he was a teenagerstudying wing chun under Yip Man to whenhe was dubbed the grandfather of MMAby UFC President Dana White.


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O n e o f t h e je et k u ned o t ec h n iq u es t ha tc an h elp e ve n th e

o d ds w h en a s m alle rp e rs o n m u s t d e fe n d

h im s e l f a g a i n s tal ar g er a tt a ck e r i s t h ee y e s tr ik e , P a u l Vu n a k( l ef t) d emon s t ra t e s,

'WiD.g; Ch.'I1D.Even though Lee cut his teeth in wu-style tai chi under the tutelage of hisfather, he didn't begin serious train-ing unti l, at age 13, he enrolled in Yip'sschool. His sole purpose was to acquirethe skills needed to survive the street

fights that ruled Hong Kong's back al-leys and rooftops.Lee learned all three classical forms:

si fum tao's "l ittle idea form;' chumkif's "seeking the bridge" and bil jee's"shooting fingers" from Yipand his se-nior students. To that base he addedchi sao, or sticking hands, and 60 ofthe 108 movements designed for thewooden dummy.Wing chun was the only formal train-

ing Lee received. The ideas of economyof motion, simultaneous block and hit,centerline theory, interception, con-stant forward pressure and sensitivitymust have struck a chord with him be-cause they became the core ofJKD.Even as a youth, Leepossessed an in-

quisit ive mind. He'd seek out mastersof other styles and trade martial artssecrets with them. To further build hisfoundation, he learned the principlesof fencing from his brother and par-ticipated in-and won-a high-schoolboxing tournament.

62 tIL\UdH-:r:r I .lIn 2011

At 18, Lee left Hong Kong for Ameri-ca, where he began to adapt his systemto his new environment , which meantlarger opponents with different fight-

ing styles. Considering the traditionalform of combat he'd learned "too rigid,"he adjusted the angles, stances andfootwork. He believed it placed toomuch emphasis on close-range handtechniques at the expense oflong-rangekicks.

Ju.u. PaD. Gihu1g; :F'u.A major turning point in Lee's meta-morphosis was his clash with kung fumaster Wong [ak Man. Lee ended thefight within minutes and had to bepulled off the challenger. Afterward, heanalyzed his actions and was less thanimpressed with his performance-he believed he should have ended itwithin seconds. Adherence to his stylehad kept him from adjust ing to his op-ponent's law horn kuen techniques, andhe thought he was unusually winded atthe end of the encounter.The altercation intensified Lee's

search for the ultimate fighting method.

Through this lens, he saw the limits ofwing chun and realized the importanceof physical conditioning, functionalst rength and attribute development.He became devoted to overall athleticdevelopment-so much so that theprinciples and training strategies heemployed are stil l cut ting edge nearlyhalf a century later.fun Fan gung fu derives its name from

Lee's Chinese name. It's a hybrid systemin which wing chun forms the nucleusand 26 other styles revolve around it.Its kicks are based on northern Chinesestyles ofkung fu and French savate.[un Fan gung fu is what was taught at

Lee's schools in Seattle and Oakland inthe early '60s. During that period, Leeand Dan Inosanto trained using refer-ence points. Their workout partnersdidn't contest any of the techniquesthey tried. When they were grappl ingor practicing takedowns, matchesdidn't degenerate into force-on-forcewrestling.


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Jee~ KuDe Do

On the last page of Tao ofJeet Kune Do,Lee wrote that JKDwas just a name andthat we shouldn't fuss over it. Asa mat-ter of fact, the term dates from 1968,when Lee and Inosanto were drivinghome from an intense sparring session.Inosanto said, "Youhave gotten so goodthat you hit us before we can do any-thing." Lee responded that what he wasdoing was intercepting, or stop-hitting,his opponent before the opponentcould launch his attack. Inosanto asked,"What do you call this method in Chi-nese?" Lee replied, "[eet kune do," theway ofthe intercepting fist.[un Fan gung fu naturally evolved into

JKD.The latter's purpose was to intro-duce practit ioners to the basic princi-ples and provide them with the essen-tia l t ruths about the reali ty of combat .From there, it was up to the individualto expand on that knowledge and findhis own personal expression.

JKDis not a product; it's a process ofdiscovering the cause ofyour ignorance.Only by knowing your own strengthsand weaknesses can you exploit youropponent 's weaknesses and avoid hisstrengths.Lee's system is much more than a

collection of techniques and strategiesfrom different arts. It unites diversestyles by identifying central themeslike using broken rhythm, preservingthe centerline, maintaining rhythmicflow and "fitting in" to the opponent'stechniques. It was Lee's way to chal-lenge martial art ists to continuously

grow, to evolve as the times or situationdemanded.One of the crucial lessons Lee con-

veyed was that students needed to findthe best art for a given situation andthen figure out a way to cheat withinthat art. After all, when you're fightingfor your life, it's not unsportsmanlike togouge eyes, kick groins or bite faces.Before he left for Hong Kong to do

films, Lee tasked Inosanto with teach-ing JKD.After Lee passed away in 1973,Inosanto "inherited" the art. He contin-ued to propagate and develop it at theKali Academy. Inosanto traveled theworld for 35years, perpetuating the artand philosophy ofhis master.The beauty of JKDl ies in its adapt-

ability. Over the years, Inosanto andPaul Vunak added Brazi lian jiu-jitsuand kina mutai (the Philippine art ofbiting and gouging) to address the dan-gers of ground fighting. They realizedthat when a person is facing an attackerwho outweighs him by 50 or 60 pounds

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H a r in d er S in g h w o rk s o u t w i tha k e t t le b e l l.M ar t ia l a r t i st sa r o undt he w o r ldh a v eb e g u nu sin g th e d e vi ce to b o os t t he irs tr e ng th a n d e n d u ra n c e.Af t e rB r uc e L e e 'sf ig h t w i th Wo n gJ ak M a n , L e e c l ea rl y s aw t her o le t ha t c o n d it io n in g p la y s i nc o m ba t, w h ic h is w h y f itn e ssis e m p h a siz e d i n je e r k u ne d ot ra in ing .

or, even worse, multiple attackers, theability to fight on the ground and popback up is essential for success.JKDcontinued to evolve side by side

with the changing real ities of self-de-fense. The training methods used whileteaching the art also evolved. Nolongerdid instructors execute techniques fromstatic reference points; they did themwhile sparring. The reason was simple:Practicing a technique while facing thethreat of a jab to the face or kick to thethigh kept a martial artist honest be-cause it more closely represented realcombat.Those who were lucky enough to

have participated in the JKD classesheld at the Kali Academy in the late

'70s and '80s were groomed to be com-plete fighters. They learned to fight inall ranges of combat, to flow from Thaiboxing and savate for stand-up to jiu-jitsu for the ground and then back upto wing chun for trapping and perhapsto kali/escrima for weapons.The idea of being like water, of being

able to conform to an empty cup, wasinvoked to remind them of the onlyway they could survive if they weredropped off in the meanest, nastiestdark alley in the world. Onlyby readilyadapting to the situation would they beable to prevail in any fight-whethera stand-up battle, a ground brawl, anarmed assault or a mult iple-attackerscenario.

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To m C r us e ( r ig h t) fa c e s H a r in d er S in g h(1). S in gh p un c he s , a n d C ru s e e xe c ute s a d es tr uc tio n th at e nta ils p la c in g h is e lb ow in th e p ath o f t he fis t (2 ). (r us e im m ew it h a r ig h t- le ft c o m b in a ti on d e li ve re d w h ile a d va n c in g ( 3- 4) . H e th e n c li nc h e s ( 5) , a n d S in g h r ec ip ro c a te s ( 6) . ( r us e p u s he s h im a w a y(7 ) 10 h e c an e xe cu te a h ea d b utt (8 ), w h ic h h efo llow s u p w ith a kn e e th ru s t to th e s o la r ple x u s (9 ) an d an e lb ow s tr ik e t o t h e f a c e (1 0 ) . -

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3 4

5 7

64 nr . \Ch. IWCf I JI L\ 2011


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B r uc e L e e c o n du c te d e x te n si ve r es ea rc h o n s tr en g thd e ve lo p m e nt f or m a rt ia l a rts p e rf or m a nc e . H e c o n-c lu d ed t ha t th e re a re f ou r m a in c o m po n en ts o fH a c ti ons tr en g th ;' o n e o f w h ic h i nv o lv e s t h e m a n ip u la ti on o fe x te rn a l w e ig h t. M o d e rn J K D p r ac ti ti on e rs o fte n u se t he

g a da ( In d ia n m a c e) to h e lp b u il d t he ir a ct io n s tr en g th .

If.U.:s:edMartial A.r'ts

In 1993 the Ultimate Fighting Champi-onship debuted. In the beginning, therewere no weight classes or time limits.Practitioners of one style faced prac-titioners of another: boxing vs. wres-tling, jiu-jitsu vs. kickboxing, karate vs.judo and so on. In almost every case,the conflict boiled down to striking vs.grappling.By 2010, the UFChad become a global

phenomenon, and MMAwas the fastest-growing sport on earth. Weight classesand timed rounds were the norm, andto succeed, martial artists had to havea great striking game and a great grap-plinggame.When fans first watched shotokan ka-

rate stylist Lyoto Machida ply his tradein the octagon, they got a chance to seemartial arts principles exhibited at theirhighest level. His mind, body and spiritflowed together to create a martial sym-phony. He used his attributes of foot-work, distancing, line familiarizationand spatial relationship to set up and

then attack his opponents. He didn'tstand in the pocket and attempt to tradeblows or block punches. He showed hisunderstanding of the most commonMMA fighting structure-essentially,Thai boxing for stand-up and Brazilianjiu-ji tsu for the ground. He demonstrat-ed that he knew his opponents weren'tgoing to crouch in a low stance and ap-proach him with a cocked reverse punchthe way a fellow karateka might.Instead, his opponents were on their

toes using boxing footwork and launch-ing jabs and crosses. They weren'tthrowing side kicks to the head; theywere launching Thai kicks. At any time,they could dive at his feet for a take-down-which is why he supplementedhis shotokan arsenal with a black belt inBrazilian jiu-jitsu.That understanding of the MMAfight-

ing structure enabled Machida to applythe attributes he'd developed from histraditional karate training. Wheneverhe fought, he intercepted his opponents

in a Bruce Lee-esqe fashion, which oftenyielded spectacular knockouts withoutrequiring him to absorb any hits. In avery JK Dmanner, he adapted his karateto MMA.It's now 2011, and traditional martial

artists still look to Machida as a stellarexample of how a striking base can besupplemented with grappling to makesomething that's greater than the sumof its parts. Now the challenge for mar-tial artists is to develop a better groundgame. One option is to spend 10 yearslearning Brazilian jiu-jitsu-which isfine if you have the time. If you don't,you need a shortcut-in Lee's words,you need a way to cheat. )e(

(To be concluded in the August 2011 i ssue]

About the author:

H' ,"' 2011 I flL\CK IIEI]' 65

the roots of combat

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