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 view training methods like trapping, try the techniques a few times, and then decide whether Bruce Lee would have made major modifications or tossed out the entire thing altogether. In the end, neither of the above responses shows an understanding of how Jeet Kune Do really works, or more importantly, what it takes to make it work for you.
Jeet Kune Do was the result of an evolution of Bruce Lee’s personal experience in the martial arts. Although most are familiar with the phrase, “Using no way as way,” there remain definite, scientific guidelines to how JKD works. Understanding this, we can do away with the first of the above responses, because we realize that Bruce Lee himself eliminated a large portion of the methods he had previously practiced.
As far as the second response, it is necessary to understand the process we go through before we just chuck a technique or method as “useless.” First, we ask ourselves, “Is there another, more scientific way to get the same results that we were aiming for with the technique?” Note I said, “more scientific way,” not “another way.” Secondly, we ask ourselves, “Have I truly drilled this enough to make it my own, or have I just tried it and found that it was just hard to do?”
If the toughness of the drill decides what technique you keep, then you have no business in the martial arts. Thirdly, we ask, “Do I really understand the purpose that Bruce Lee had when originally teaching this?” We must either answer those questions satisfactorily or we continue trying to perfect the drill in question. The fact is, when we look at the Chinatown Jeet Kune Do (that is, Jeet Kune Do from Bruce Lee’s last school) we have a hard time finding things more scientific than what is already in place. True, we have placed more emphasis on some things than we used to (like grappling), but for the most part, Jeet Kune Do as a whole still works better than anything I have ever seen.
Here is another way to look at JKD trapping: In my experience, people have a large misunderstanding of how trapping is to be applied in a fighting situation. Something Bruce Lee told Bob Bremer gives insight into how we should be using trapping. Bob was asking Bruce for further explanation on trapping. Bruce Lee turned to him and said, “Just claw your opponent’s hands down and beat the (bleep) out of him.”
Now we know that Bruce wanted them to work technique, but somewhere along the line it seemed that all the pretty drills designed for teaching flow were mistaken for the fighting technique itself. The traps demonstrated on my Trapping Skills and Drills DVD are shown one at a time to give you a way, or scientific method, to “claw the opponent’s hands down.” In these drills, you’ll learn to generate snap in your traps as well as defending in close range. When the opportunity arrives, you’ll have a great way to remove a barrier to your end goal, which is a quick win.
The number one problem people run into when attempting trapping in sparring, or even more difficult, in a street fight, is that they go in with a plan of what they will do. The have trained with a certain type of energy in the drills, and when they try to duplicate the results with a spastic opponent, it all falls apart. If they had truly studied what Bruce Lee taught, then they would never go into a fight with a plan to do this or that. You simply take what’s available and fit in with your opponent.
Trapping is a means to an end, with the end being to land a punch. People approach it as if the end is to do another trap, which is why it doesn’t work for them. When you have the understanding that trapping training is designed to be just one way of entering into the attack, rather than a JKD signature move, it starts to become much more realistic to apply.
I personally have pulled off trapping with empty hands and wearing boxing gloves. The trick is to not go looking for it. So, when people ask what I think about JKD trapping, I tell them, “It works, when it works.” To say trapping doesn’t work is like a person not landing their rear cross in a fight and deciding that the cross doesn’t work. On the other hand, many people come in with the attitude that trapping solves all problems in a fight. This is like a person who saw someone win a fight with a rear cross and decided that this would be their first move. It may seem elementary, but I really do run into these extremes all the time.
To properly understand and perform Jeet Kune Do, one must understand that Bruce Lee looked at the big picture. He didn’t keep techniques because they looked pretty, and he did not place more emphasis on one technique than another. He emphasized “fitting in with your opponent,” which means training each part of your body at different angles and rhythms so that you feel comfortable striking from wherever you end up. Trapping falls in the middle of that. When you rely on trapping as your bread and butter, you become one-dimensional and easily beatable. But when done right, trapping can be a devastating shock to your opponent.
