Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do Explained (& Why It’s So Different)
In the 1960s, Bruce Lee created his own martial arts style called Jeet Kune Do. Here’s what it is, and what makes it different from all other styles.
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Jeet Kune Do, a martial arts system created by Bruce Lee, is different from all other forms of kung fu. It was founded in 1967, four years before Bruce Lee became an international martial arts icon. Lee started Jeet Kune Do after leaving Hong Kong and moving to California.
In his early years, Lee learned kung fu from Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man. What he learned from Ip Man later became the foundation for Jeet Kune Do. Lee took what he learned from studying Wing Chun under Ip Man and other martial arts instructors and began opening up his own kung fu schools. During the 1960s, Lee taught kung fu to anyone willing to learn, including a handful of Hollywood celebrities. Actors like James Coburn, Steve McQueen, and James Garner all became practitioners of Jeet Kune Do and students of Bruce Lee.
In China, there are hundreds of different styles of kung fu, including Taijiquan, Hung Gar, Southern Praying Mantis, the various styles associated with the Five Animals of Kung Fu, and more. Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do, also known as “The Way of the Intercepting Fist,” differs from all of them in that it rejects tradition. All other kung fu styles are built on specific stances, moves, and hand positions like the “tiger claw” or the “crane beak,” but practitioners of Jeet Kune Do don’t follow all these long-held rules. Lee believed that all the kung fu styles were so rigid and strict that it was necessary for him to develop a style of fighting that wouldn’t limit the martial artist in terms of what he could do to counter an attack.
In a way, Jeet Kune Do is less of a “kung fu style” and more of a system of ideas on how kung fu should be used. He taught against the use of styles and patterns and sought instead to devise a system that would be effective in street fighting. That’s really what Jeet Kune Do is all about. Since Lee felt that people shouldn’t be stuck in a certain mindset and that they should be “formless” like water, he encouraged new ideas to be considered. For example, Lee incorporated some of Muhammad Ali’s movements into his fighting style (even though Ali was a boxer, not a kung fu expert).
Jeet Kune Do puts an emphasis on defense and intercepting attacks, hence the name “Intercepting Fist.” Adaptability and being able to properly react to an attack are key. For students of JDK, the best way to do this is to use minimum effort for the purpose of a quick retaliation. Lee referred to JKD as “the direct expression of one’s feelings with the minimum of movements and energy” [via Black Belt Magazine]. One of the main ideas behind Jeet Kune Do is that in battling an opponent, a martial artist should minimize the number and range of their moves and focusing on delivering the maximum of amount of power at lightning-fast speed. How well Lee was able to put this idea into practice is demonstrated by the effectiveness of his famous one-inch punch. In short, Jeet Kune Do is essentially a reflection of Bruce Lee’s martial arts philosophy.
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