Bruce Lee has inspired millions of people to learn martial arts by displaying his fighting prowess. What made Bruce Lee unique was that he did not see martial arts as a bunch of techniques. For him it was ‘a way of life’. He developed his own system of fighting called ‘Jee Kwan do’.
‘Jee kwan do’ means intercepting fist or more accurately ‘the way of the intercepting fist’. He did not create it to appear ‘cool’ in front of the movie audience. It was born out of necessity. Bruce saw many defects in the way people were practicing martial arts during his time. Many punches and kicks left the body of the martial artist open for a fatal attack. He felt that this way would not help people in real combat. So, he created some techniques to use the hands as a shield to protect the body when attacking.
Bruce Lee was a striker by nature so he not only stressed on shielding the body but also delivering counter blows. He wanted his students to shield and counter attack at the same time – as a single step.
The ‘One inch punch’ and ‘two finger push ups’ were popularized by Bruce by his public demonstrations. ‘One inch punch’ is a useful technique in close fighting ranges. Basically the martial artist folds his knuckles and extends it to make contact with the opponent’s body. Bruce Lee’s one inch punch was compared to the speed of a bullet. Someone who got kicked by Bruce Lee reported that he felt like he was hit by a car. Bruce was not only powerful he knew how to direct his power to different parts of the body like fists, head and foot. ‘Two finger push ups’ were done to demonstrate that any part of the body can be strengthened by vigorous workouts.
Bruce Lee always applied the 80/20 rule in his fighting methods. He actively engaged his mind along with his body when trying to knock down a strong opponent. You never see him running blindly in front of an opponent he will always scan the environment and the number of opponents and their readiness and then make his moves based on those factors.
Bruce Lee’s fighting system is an effective model to follow especially if you plan to go in to full contact martial arts or real combat. Always remember martial arts are not only a physical art it also trains your mind to focus and keeps you alert at all times.
