Jeet Kune Do

Jeet Kune Do (JKD) is a style of martial art created by the late Bruce Lee. It is literally translated to mean ‘The Way of the Intercepting Fist’.

There is much debate over how to define JKD today as Bruce Lee was constantly refining and adding to his art, even up to the day of his death in 1973.

Today, some define JKD as the way Bruce Lee practiced and taught it before his death. This form of JKD has been named Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do.

Others see JKD as a series of martial arts concepts and principles, as Bruce Lee defined them, aimed at maximising the effectiveness of real life combat.

I will explore JKD as a series of concepts on this page.

Real Life Combat

As a martial artist Bruce Lee was always researching and practicing to be effective in real life combat. Although he researched many sporting aspects of the martial arts, such boxing, fencing and thai boxing, he was always applying it back to a real life combative situation where no rules existed.

Scientific Training

Many say that Bruce Lee was ahead of his time as he was one of the first martial artists to apply scientific principles to martial arts training. He researched exercise science thoroughly and practiced training methods such as isometric training, weight training and functional training.

JKD Concepts

Jeet Kune Do concepts are aimed at achieving effective real life combat based on a practical scientific principles.

Some of the main concepts are:

• Economy of motion. Bruce Lee believed that in a real life encounter effectiveness meant causing injury to your opponent quickly. Thus all movements should be direct and economical.
• Ranges of combat. Bruce Lee believed that no technique or style was superior because of the different ranges that exist in combat. For example, boxing may be effective in punching range but not in grappling range and vice versa. For this reason, he felt that it was important to train and be proficient in all the ranges of combat.
• Functional training. Bruce Lee had little time for set patterns or non-functional training. He believed in testing the effectiveness of a technique by applying it in full-contact sparring with protective equipment.
• Human differences. Bruce Lee understood that all humans are different. We vary in terms of height, weight, strength, flexibility and mental makeup. He thus believed that a martial art should be adapted to suit the individual and not the other way around. He believed in each individual researching the martial arts and finding what ‘worked’ for them.

Video Clip

In the video clip below Dan Inosanto, an original student of Bruce Lee, talks about Bruce Lee and JKD. It is a great clip that truly expresses the meaning of JKD.