Bruce Lee never wanted JKD to be a style – but 50 years ago the term “style” was something very closed and had a negative connotation. Today, the styles are much more open than before and usually adapt a lot of things from other arts. Bruce Lee never wanted JKD to be a closed system,...
An attack is an offensive action made with the objective of scoring a hit on an opponent. This action may be a single motion (simple attack) or comprised of several motions (compound/combination attack). It may be a direct attack in that it travels straight to the target via the most direct route. Or it may...Continue reading
In boxing this drill is also referred to as a corner drill, used as an essential element of a fighter’s ability to take and defend against a punch, and to see where the attack is coming from. It dates back to the Filipino boxing era and was employed by many knife fighters to teach them...Continue reading
Jeet Kune Do was one of the first martial arts built upon the idea that the system should adapt to the individual rather than the individual to the system. Bruce Lee’s personal journey in the martial arts began with Tai Chi as a child and Chinese Boxing as a teenager, and ultimately led him to...Continue reading
In all areas of study and practice there is an inevitable desire to crystallize, standardize, and otherwise encapsulate that which was once free, fluid, and in a constant state of evolution, into a definable and easily digestible product by imposing boundaries and limits. Gradually over time, The Way is mistaken for The Truth and becomes...Continue reading
1. Build a JKD filter There are many techniques in the martial art world that are taught. Some are very efficient and some are not. Some only work on certain types of opponents. Once you have learned the essential elements and have worked on trying to understand the strengths and weaknesses of any particular technique...Continue reading
A good friend of the Wednesday Night Group is Hock Hochheim. Hock has talked to us about what he calls “the myth of the duel”. What he means is that most people in martial arts train as if were still living in the age of dueling. The age of dueling was a time when two...Continue reading
Because of the books and articles I’ve written about Jeet Kune Do, I receive a lot of e-mails, most of which are questions. The most common is: How long will it take me to become a JKD expert and be certified to teach? I usually reply with a question of my own: How long would...Continue reading
When Jeet Kune Do trapping is mentioned today, it is met with a number of positive as well as negative responses. On one hand, there are those who think anything Bruce Lee wrote, talked about, illustrated or performed is definitely Jeet Kune Do. No doubt about it. On the other hand, you have people who...Continue reading
JL: What is your background in the martial arts? Give us the full history. DB: I initially got into martial arts because my father was a boxer and he was also at that time involved with, I guess you would call it gangs. And there was a lot of rivalry then, so he wanted to...Continue reading