The Way Of The Intercepting Fist

[Jay]

I was bored so I thought I would just outline a few of the principles of JKD and see if anyone would like to have a play with them in their training.

Nearest Weapon To Closest Target- This principle stems from the 'Interceptng Part'. The idea is to use your closest weapon to strike the closest most vunearable target. For instance if at long range you would use your side kick to strike the opponents shin/knee. Or at closer range if someone is grabbing your hand, you could use your leg and kick them in the groin.

Strongest Side Forward- During fighting Bruce believed that you use your forward leg and forward foot the most. Thus he decided to adapt his stance to fight with his strong side forward. Thus resulting in two rather equally strong hands rather than one less and the other more.

Independant Hand/Body Movement-For instance when firing a punch in order to be as non telegraphic as possible you move the punching hand first before the body. This one is extreamly hard have never seen anyone do it properly except Bruce Lee. A good example is his fight with Ohara in Enter The Dragon.

Broken Rhythm- Instead a fighting in a linear fashion you try and mix things up as much as possible. For instance when moving quick changes of direction while in the middle of a step would constitute to this. Quick changes of level, for instance while throwing a hand combination insert a kick in the middle of it and then continue to punch. Feints and Fakes also constitute to broken rhythm. There are many ways to do this and is fun to mess around with.

Keep Your hands Moving-While moving around vary your hand position by making small circular movements, also you can move your body like you are slippling a punch. This helps you be predictable.

Simultanous Defence and Attack-In JKD we try not to parry, you should always be looking to intercept, however you will have to parry sometimes and when you do parry you should strike at the same time. Once this is practiced enough you should be striking first and then just leaving a covering hand this is the so called 'Intercepting Fist'.

Economy Of Motion-This is related to the first principle, whenever you try to do a technique cut down on any excessive motion. For instance pulling back when you strike, you should fire it fro whereever your hand or foot is at the time. You should try to refine every technique by going as direct to the technique as possible. A straight line is always faster than a curved line. This can result in you using 'hybrid' techniques. For instance depending on the angle your hook kick may be a cross between a front and a hook kick (you may know as roundhouse),so it could be diagonal in nature.

I hope some of you find something interesting from these and play with them even if you know them under a different name.

[joesteph]

-Simultanous Defence and Attack-In JKD we try not to parry, you should always be looking to intercept, however you will have to parry sometimes and when you do parry you should strike at the same time. Once this is practiced enough you should be striking first and then just leaving a covering hand this is the so called 'Intercepting Fist'.

This one stands out first for me, Jay, because during the time I was studying JKD, my instructor made a point of how it cuts out any time lag. Lee wasn't into the classical approach to MA when he was designing Jeet Kune Do, and the classical is pretty much, as I see it, block then strike. If you keep practicing it that way, training hours that way, you'll do it that way with the time lag built in. During that time, you're a target. With the simultaneous approach, which is not hard to learn, it just shouts out "common sense."

I remember working with a partner who had two focus mitts, one for the parry and the other for the simultaneous attack (punch), and then we'd switch. It surprised me how quickly it can be caught on to.

[Sheephead]

-Simultanous Defence and Attack-In JKD we try not to parry, you should always be looking to intercept, however you will have to parry sometimes and when you do parry you should strike at the same time. Once this is practiced enough you should be striking first and then just leaving a covering hand this is the so called 'Intercepting Fist'.

This one stands out first for me, Jay, because during the time I was studying JKD, my instructor made a point of how it cuts out any time lag. Lee wasn't into the classical approach to MA when he was designing Jeet Kune Do, and the classical is pretty much, as I see it, block then strike. If you keep practicing it that way, training hours that way, you'll do it that way with the time lag built in. During that time, you're a target. With the simultaneous approach, which is not hard to learn, it just shouts out "common sense."

I remember working with a partner who had two focus mitts, one for the parry and the other for the simultaneous attack (punch), and then we'd switch. It surprised me how quickly it can be caught on to.

Really nothing revolutionary here actually. In my opinion this stems from Bruce's background in Wing Chun and such. Basic stuff and hardly a thing that JKD is alone in advocating.

[Jay]

-Simultanous Defence and Attack-In JKD we try not to parry, you should always be looking to intercept, however you will have to parry sometimes and when you do parry you should strike at the same time. Once this is practiced enough you should be striking first and then just leaving a covering hand this is the so called 'Intercepting Fist'.

This one stands out first for me, Jay, because during the time I was studying JKD, my instructor made a point of how it cuts out any time lag. Lee wasn't into the classical approach to MA when he was designing Jeet Kune Do, and the classical is pretty much, as I see it, block then strike. If you keep practicing it that way, training hours that way, you'll do it that way with the time lag built in. During that time, you're a target. With the simultaneous approach, which is not hard to learn, it just shouts out "common sense."

I remember working with a partner who had two focus mitts, one for the parry and the other for the simultaneous attack (punch), and then we'd switch. It surprised me how quickly it can be caught on to.

Really nothing revolutionary here actually. In my opinion this stems from Bruce's background in Wing Chun and such. Basic stuff and hardly a thing that JKD is alone in advocating.

Yes it does actually come from Wing Chun, Lin Sil Di Dar and no its not revolutionary. But at the time in the 60's it was, most people were karate students and traditionally they don't do this so it was quite new at the time. Again its also something that most people don't actually do.

[bushido_man96]

I do like the strong side forward idea, and used a lot in my sparring for years. However, being able to use either side forward is a boon, as well.