JEET KUNE DO

THE WAY OF THE INTERCEPTING FIST

(Using no Way as Way, Having No Limitation As Limitation)

"Jeet Kune Do" is the second name given to a Martial Art created by legend Bruce Lee." Do " The Way of  "Jeet Kune" the Intercepting Fist.

The first Martial Art name "Jun Fan Gung Fu" was used by Bruce Lee in his schools. "Lee Jun Fan" Bruce Lee's Chinese name. "Jun", to arouse to the active state or to make prosperous. "Fan", the Chinese name for San Francisco. Thus the true meaning of Bruce’s name--JUN FAN--was “to arouse and make FAN (the United States) prosperous.” The gut feeling of many Chinese at that time, who felt suppressed by and inferior to foreign powers, was that they wished to outshine the more superior countries and regain the Golden Age of China., "Gung Fu"is Kung Fu as Bruce Lee pronounced it.

At the age of 13, Bruce was introduced to Master Yip Man, a teacher of the Wing Chun style of gung fu. For five years Bruce studied diligently and became very proficient. He greatly revered Yip Man as a master teacher and wise man and frequently visited with him in later years. When he first took up kung fu, he used his new skills to pummel his adversaries, but it did not take long for Bruce to learn that the real value of martial arts training is that the skills of physical combat instill confidence to the point that one does not feel the constant need to defend one’s honor through fighting.

Although the backbone concepts (such as centerline, vertical punching, and forward pressure) come from Wing Chun,  Jeet Kune Do was heavily influenced by European boxing and fencing.*

*Lee stopped using the Wing Chun stances in favor of what he considered to be more fluid/flexible fencing and boxing stances. Lee stated that they allowed him to "flow" rather than being stuck in stances. For instance, instead of using footwork to position the body for maximum fighting position vis-a-vis the opponent, JKD uses flowing "entries" that do not require "bridges" from Wing Chun. Bruce Lee wanted to create a martial art that was unbounded and free. Later during the development of Jeet Kune Do, he would expand that notion and include the art for personal development, not just to become a better fighter. Lee was also a Cha-Cha Champion  an advantage that  produced amazing footwork.

Bruce Lee's death on July 20, 1973 was caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the prescription pain killing drug Equagesic (Meprobromate & Asprin). Dr. Langford who treated Lee for his first collapse stated after his death that, "There's not a question in my mind that cannabis should have been named as the presumptive cause of death." He also believed that, "Equagesic was not at all involved in Bruce's first collapse." Professor R.D. Teare, who had overseen over 100,000 autopsies, was the top expert assigned to the Lee case. Dr. Teare declared that, "the presence of cannabis was mere coincidence," and added "that it would be irresponsible and irrational to say that it might have triggered Lee's death." His conclusion was that the death was caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the prescription pain killing drug Equagesic. Dr. Peter Wu's preliminary opinion was that the cause of death could have been a reaction to cannabis and Equagesic. Dr. Wu would later back off from this position however: Professor Teare was a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard; he was brought in as an expert on cannabis and we can't contradict his testimony. "The dosage of cannabis is neither precise nor predictable, but I've never known of anyone dying simply from taking it."

When the doctors announced Bruce Lee's death officially, it was ruled as "Death by Misadventure."

BRUCE LEE ALLOWED PUBLICATION OF  ONLY ONE BOOK ON THE MARTIAL ARTS:

 Chinese Gung Fu, The Philosophical Art of Self Defense (1963)  By Bruce Lee.

ALL OTHER BOOKS WERE WRITTEN AFTER BRUCE LEE'S DEATH AND NOT APPROVED BY BRUCE LEE

After Bruce Lee's Death "Jeet Kune Do",  since it was not copyrighted was took on by everyone seeking to make a buck on the late Martial Artist legend.

Today, there is much debate over Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do and Bruce Lee is not here to defend his Martial Art. Bruce Lee was 32 when he passed away, there would be much more that Bruce might have changed or clarified in Jeet Kune Do. Saying that, a person interested in learning JKD must make their own decision on the right way to interpret the late martial arts legend's art.

BRUCE LEE QUOTES

"To tell the truth....I could beat anyone in the world

"If I tell you I'm good, you would probably think I'm boasting. If I tell you I'm no good, you know I'm lying."

"Fighting is not something sought after, yet it is something that seeks you."

"Be formless... shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, and it can crash. Be like water, my friend..."

"Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it."

"The more relaxed the muscles are, the more energy can flow through the body. Using muscular tensions to try to 'do' the punch or attempting to use brute force to knock someone over will only work to opposite effect."

"Mere technical knowledge is only the beginning of Kung Fu. To master it, one must enter into the spirit of it."

"There are lots of guys around the world that are lazy. They have big fat guts. They talk about chi power and things they can do, but don't believe it."

"I'm not a master. I'm a student-master, meaning that I have the knowledge of a master and the expertise of a master, but I'm still learning. So I'm a student-master. I don't believe in the word 'master.' I consider the master as such when they close the casket."

"Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there."

"Jeet Kune Do: it's just a name; don't fuss over it. There's no such thing as a style if you understand the roots of combat."

"Unfortunately, now in boxing people are only allowed to punch. In Judo, people are only allowed to throw. I do not despise these kinds of martial arts. What I mean is, we now find rigid forms which create differences among clans, and the world of martial art is shattered as a result."

"I think the high state of martial art, in application, must have no absolute form. And, to tackle pattern A with pattern B may not be absolutely correct."

"True observation begins when one is devoid of set patterns."

"The other weakness is, when clans are formed, the people of a clan will hold their kind of martial art as the only truth and do not dare to reform or improve it. Thus they are confined in their own tiny little world. Their students become machines which imitate martial art forms."

"Some people are tall; some are short. Some are stout; some are slim. There are various different kinds of people. If all of them learn the same martial art form, then who does it fit?"

"Ultimately, martial art means honestly expressing yourself. It is easy for me to put on a show and be cocky so I can show you some really fancy movement. But to express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly enough; that my friend is very hard to do."

IN 6000 PAGE'S OF BRUCE LEE'S PERSONAL NOTES The quote "Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is uniquely your own." IS NOT FOUND!

"Absorb what is useful" is common knowledge!

How could Bruce Lee have said "discard what is useless, and add what is uniquely your own" when useless may become useful and "add what is uniquely your own" would imply a style. Bruce Lee was quoted "I don't believe in styles anymore" and every fight is adaptive "Using No Way As Way, Having no Limitation as Limitation."

BRUCE LEE PHYSICAL FEATS

Lee's phenomenal fitness meant he was capable of performing many exceptional physical feats. The following list are the physical feats that are well documented and supported by reliable sources.

Lee's striking speed from three feet with his hands down by his side reached "five hundredths" of a second.

Lee could spring a 235lb (107kg) opponent 15 feet (4.6 metres) away with a 1 inch punch.

Lee's combat movements were at times too fast to be captured on film at 24fps, so many scenes were shot in 32fps to put Lee in slow motion. Normally martial arts films are sped up.

Lee could perform push ups using only his thumbs

Lee would hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.

Lee could throw grains of rice up into the air and then "catch them in mid-flight" using chopsticks.

Lee performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger

Lee performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.

From a standing position, Lee could hold a 125lb (57kg) barbell straight out.

Lee could break wooden boards 6inches (15cm) thick.

Lee performed a side kick while training with James Coburn and broke a 150-lb (68kg) punching bag.

Lee could cause a 300-lb (136kg) bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a sidekick.

In a move that has been dubbed "Dragon Flag", Lee could perform leg lifts with only his shoulder blades resting on the edge of a bench and suspend his legs and torso perfectly horizontal midair.

Lee could "thrust" his fingers through unopened steel cans of Coca-Cola, at a time before cans were made of the softer aluminum metal.

Lee can use one finger to leave "dramatic" indentations on pine wood.

In a scene from "Enter the Dragon" Lee sidekicked Bob Wall who was caught by a man, the man catching Bob wall broke both his arms.

QUOTES FROM BRUCE LEE'S FRIENDS ABOUT HIS AMAZING FEATS

Herb Jackson - "Bruce was interested in becoming as strong as possible".

Jesse Glover - "When he could do push ups on his thumbs and push ups with 250lbs on hisback, he moved on to other exercises".

Herb Jackson - "The biggest problem in designing equipment for Bruce was that he'd gothrough it so damn fast. I had to reinforce his wooden dummy with automobile parts so hecould train on it without breaking it. I had started to build him a mobile dummy that couldactually attack and retreat to better simulate "Live" combat, sadly Bruce died before themachine was built. It would have been strung up by big high-tension cables that I was going to connect between two posts, one on either side of his backyard. The reason for themachine was simply because no one could stand up to his full force punches and kicks,Bruce's strength and skill had evolved to point where he had to fight machines. Bruce was very interested in strength training, you could say that he was obsessed with it".

Danny Inosanto - "Bruce was only interested in strength that he could readily convert to power. I remember once Bruce and I were walking along the beach in Santa Monica. All of asudden this huge bodybuilder came walking by, and I said to Bruce "Man, look at the arms on that guy" I'll never forget his reaction, he said "Yeah, he's big, but is he powerful???"Chuck Norris - "Lee, pound for pound, might well have been one of the strongest men in the world, and certainly one of the quickest".

Joe Lewis - "Bruce was incredibly strong for his size. He could take a 75lb barbell and from a standing position with the barbell held flush against his chest, he could slowly stick his arms out, lock them and hold the barbell there for 20 seconds, that's pretty damntough for a guy who at the time only weighed 138lbs. I know 200lb weight lifters who can't do that."

Danny Inosanto - "Bruce had tremendous strength in holding a weight out horizontally in a standing position. I know because I've seen it. He'd take a 125lb barbell and hold itstraight out".

Jesse Glover - "Bruce would take hold of a 70lb dumbbell with one arm and raise it to a lateral position, level to his shoulder and then he'd hold the contraction for a few seconds. Nobody else I knew could even get it up there, let it alone hold it up there".

Wally Jay - "I last saw Bruce after he moved from Culver City to Bel Air. He had a big heavy bag hanging out on his patio. It weighed 300lbs. I could hardly move it at all. Bruce said to me "Hey, Wally, watch this" and he jumped back and kicked it and this monster of aheavy bag went up to the ceiling, Thump!!! And came back down. I still can't believe the power that guy had".

Hayward Nishioka - "Bruce had this trademark "One Inch Punch", he could send individuals (Some of whom outweighed him by over 100lbs) flying through the air where they'd crash to the ground 15 feet away. I remember getting knocked up against the wall by that punch. I didn't think it was possible that he could generate so much power in his punch, especially when he was just laying his hand against my chest, he just twitched a bit and Wham!!!, I went flying backward and bounced off a wall. I took him very seriously after that."

Jesse Glover - "The power that Lee was capable of instantly generating was absolutely frightening to his fellow martial artists, especially his sparring partners, and his speed was equally intimidating. We timed him with an electric timer once, and Bruce's quickest movements were around five hundredths of a second, his slowest were around eight hundredths. This was punching from a relaxed position with his hands down at his sides froma distance between 18-24 inches. Not only was he amazingly quick, but he could read you too. He could pick up on small subtle things that you were getting ready to do and then he'd just shut you down".

Doug Palmer - "Bruce was like the Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali in his prime, somebody who stood above everyone else. It's not that the other martial artists weren't good. It's justthat this guy was great".

Jesse Glover - "Bruce was gravitating more and more toward weight training as he would use the weighted wall pulleys and do series upon series with them. He'd also grab one of the old rusty barbells that littered the floor at the YMCA and would roll it up and down hisforearms, which is no small feat when you consider that the barbell weighed 70lbs".

Herb Jackson - "He never trained in a gym, he thought he could concentrate better at home, so he worked out on his patio. He had a small weight set, something like a standard 100lb cast-iron set. In addition, he had a 310lb Olympic barbell set, a bench press and some dumb bells, both solid and adjustable".

Karreem Abdul Jabbar - "Bruce put me on a weight training program during the summer of 1970. It was a three days a week program, comprised mainly of the same stuff he was doingfor the major muscle groups. I think I was doing about 2 sets of 12 reps, but it worked".

Danny Inosanto - "Bruce would always shadow box with small weights in his hands and he'd do a drill in which he'd punch for 12 series in a row. 100 punches per series, using a pyramid system of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10lb dumbbells and then he'd reverse the pyramid and go 10, 7, 5, 3, 2, 1 and finally zero weight. He had me do this drill with him and man what a burnyou'd get in your delts and arms."

Linda Lee - "Bruce was forever pumping a dumbell which he kept in the house. He had theunique ability to do several things at once. It wasn't at all unusual for me to find himwatching a boxing match on TV, while simultaneously performing full side splits, reading abook in one hand and pumping the dumbell up and down with the other. Bruce was a big believer in forearm training to improve his gripping and punching power. He was a forearm fanatic, if ever anyone came out with a new forearm course, Bruce would have to get it."

George Lee - "He used to send me all of these designs for exercise equipment and I'd build them according to his specs. However I wasn't altogether foolish, I knew that if Bruce was going to use it, it must be effective, so I'd build one to send to him and another for me to use at home."

Bob Wall - "Bruce had the biggest forearms proportionate to anybody's body that I've everseen. I mean, his forearms were huge. He had incredibly powerful wrists and fingers, hisarms were just extraordinary".

Van Williams (Green Hornet) - "Me and Bruce used to have these wrist wrestling contests. The two combatants arms are fully extended with the aim of twisting the opponent's wrist ina counter-clockwise direction to win. I was the only known person to best Bruce at this andhe used to get really mad at that. But it was simply a matter of weight ratios, I outweighed him by damn near 40lbs. Still, Bruce had a pair of the biggest forearms I've ever seen".

Herb Jackson - "Bruce used to beat all other comers at this type of wrist wrestling and even joked that he wanted to be world champion at it".

Taki Kimura - "If you ever grabbed hold of Bruce's forearm, it was like getting hold of a baseball bat".

Danny Inosanto - "Bruce was so obsessed with strengthening his forearms that he used to train them every day. He said "The forearm muscle was very, very dense, so you had to pump that muscle every day to make it stronger".

Van Williams - "Bruce used to pack up Linda and Brandon and drive over to visit my wife and me at the weekends. He'd always bring with him some new gadget that he'd designed to build this or that part of the body. He was always working out and never smoked or drank. He was a real clean-cut, educated and wonderful person. I've got to admit that when I last saw him, which was a month or so before his death, he was looking great, his physique was looking as hard as a rock. Bruce had great respect for me and as a joke he placed a sticker in the back window of his automobile that read, "This car is protected by the Green Hornet".

Mito Uhera - "Bruce always felt that if your stomach wasn't developed, then you had no business doing any hard sparring".

Linda Lee - "He was a fanatic about ab training, he was always doing sit ups, crunches, roman chair movements, leg raises and V-ups".

Chuck Norris - "I remember visiting the Lee household and seeing Bruce bouncing his little boy, Brandon, on his abdomen while simultaneously performing leg raises and dumbell flyes."

Herb Jackson - "He did a lot of sit ups to develop that fantastic abdomen. He told me "The proper way of doing sit ups isn't just to go up and down but to curl yourself up, likerolling up a roll of paper, doing them this way effectively isolates the abdominal muscles". He would also perform sit ups where he'd twist an elbow to the opposite knee when he rolled himself up".

Bolo Yeung - "Bruce had devised a particularly difficult exercise that he called "The Flag". While lying on a bench, he would grasp the uprights attached to the bench with both hands and raise himself off the bench, supported only by his shoulders. Then with his knees locked straight and his lower back raised off the bench, he'd perform leg raises. He was able to keep himself perfectly horizontal in mid air. He was incredible, in 100 years there will never be another like him".

Linda Lee - "Bruce's waist measurement certainly benefited from all of the attention hepaid to his ab program. At it's largest, his waist was 28 inches. At it's smallest, his waist measured under 26 inches".

Bob Wall - "Bruce was pretty much of a five mile runner, but then Bruce was one of those guys who just challenged the heck out of himself. He ran backwards, he ran wind sprints where he'd run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile. Whenever I ran with Bruce, it was always a different kind of run. Bruce was one of those total athletes. It wasn't easy training with him. He pushed you beyond where you wanted to go and then some".

Karreem Abdul Jabbar - "I used to run with him up and down Roscamore Road in Bel Air when we trained together during the summer of 1970. It was a very hilly terrain, which Bruce loved, and we'd do that at the beginning of each of our workouts".

Mito Uhera - "He'd ride a stationary bike for 45 minutes straight (10 Miles) until the sweat would form in pools on the floor beneath him."

Herb Jackson - "Bruce would wear a Weider Waist Shaper (a type of sauna belt) when riding his stationary bike. It was all black and made out of neoprene. He'd put it on beforegetting on the stationary bike. Then he'd turn the resistance up on it. He'd pedal the hellout of the bike. Sweat would pour out of him. He'd ride that bike for a series of 10 minutesessions. He felt that the sauna belt focused the heat onto his stomach and helped keep thefat off. Now maybe it worked and maybe it didn't, but you'd be hard pressed to find any fat anywhere on his body".

Danny Inosanto - "Bruce would be constantly reading through the muscle magazines and looking for new products that would help make him leaner. If he found such an item, he'd read all about it, order it, and then try it out to see if the claims made for it were true or not. If he found that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, he'd discard it and trysomething else. He was forever experimenting".

Bob Wall - "Every room of his house in Hong Kong had some kind of workout equipment in it, which he'd use whenever the mood overtook him. His garage, well he never had a car in hisgarage because it was always filled with equipment. He had a complete Marcy gym that was located just off the kitchen. Everywhere he went, even in his office, he had barbells and dumb bells. He literally trained all the time. His body building system consisted of lifting weights on a two days on, two days off type of program. However I also know that he changed things around a lot. Generally, his program consisted of three sets per exercise and usually about 15 reps. He was doing a lot of cable work at the time, when he'd pull one way and then the other way, he was into angles and he'd never do the exact same angle twice in a single workout. He was always trying to do things in a slightly different way".

Ted Wong - "Bruce would do a lot of different types of sit ups and bench presses. He was also using a technique like the Weider Heavy/Light Principle, working up to 160lbs in the bench press for three sets of 10 on his heavy days and then repping out for 20-30 reps with 100lbs on his light days. Bruce experimented successfully with partial reps, movements performed in only the strongest motion. He liked the fact that they were very explosive, sometimes he would do the bench press, using just the last 3 inches of the range of motion. It was the same range in which he would do some of his isometric exercises".

Linda Lee - "Bruce's physique reached its absolute peak during the later part of 1971. I think his physique looked just as good in '73, but he had been working really hard from '72 on. It was just one movie after another when we lived in Hong Kong. So he was having less time to do all the training he would have liked to".

Dorian Yates (Mr Olympia) - "He used to do that thing where he'd spread his scapulas and then tense every muscle in his body, he had an incredible physique".

Jhoon Rhee - "You could show him a tremendously difficult technique that took years to perfect and the next time you saw him, he would do it better than you".

James Coburn - "Bruce and I were training out on my patio one day, we were using this giant bag for side kicks, I guess it weighed about 150lbs. Bruce looked at it and just went Bang, it shot up out into the lawn about 15ft in the air, it then busted in the middle. It was filled with little bits and pieces of rag, we were picking up bits of rag for months".

Danny Inosanto - "Bruce told me to come along with him one day to Joe Weider's store in Santa Monica to help him buy a 110lb cast iron weight set for his son Brandon. I thought this was an odd gift since Brandon was only 5 years old. Bruce bought this beautiful Weider barbell/dumbell set from Joe's store, and when we pulled into my driveway, he said "I'm just joking, Dan. I bought this for you".

Michael Gutierrez - "Bruce Lee is very hot these days. So hot in fact, that a 8x10 sheet of paper that Bruce wrote on and signed in 1969 recently went for a cool $29,000 at the Bruce Lee Estate Auction in Beverly Hills last August".

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