When we think of martial arts, it is difficult not to think of Bruce Lee. Besides being a highly gifted fighter, Lee was a movie star from early adulthood, and, perhaps more importantly, developed his own fighting style, Jeet Kune Do.

Bruce Lee first developed the philosophy of Jeet Kune Do in 1967, and made its development a life-long project. Rather than adding new principles and techniques to his martial arts form, Lee made it a point to "winnow" out any excess. He was known to use the analogy of an artist with a lump of clay, carving away and discarding anything that wasn't essential to the finished product.

The name, Jeet Kune Do, translates to "Way of the Intercepting Fist", a reflection on its principles. Lee used his background in Western Boxing and Western Fencing to form four basic principles for what he hoped to be the "ultimate fighting form":

1) Be like water: He told his students to keep an open mind and absorb what is useful; disregard what is useless.
2) Economy of movement: Students were taught to block each stack with one of their own, avoid high kicks, and to parry and punch simultaneously.
3) Learn the four ranges of combat: These were defined as kicking, punching, trapping, and grappling.
4) Use the five ways of attack: These are listed as single angular attack, hand immobilation attack, progressive indirect attack, attack by combinations, and attack by drawing.

Unlike many martial arts forms, Lee's Jeet Kune Do discourages the use of "kata", or solo training forms in their beginning training. Lee believed that, because warriors would always be facing an opponent and a fighting situation could change in an instant, pre-arranged fighting patterns or sequences were not practical. Lee believed that warriors should be fluid, flowing from one movement to the next, drawing techniques from numerous disciplines. For this reason, he is known by some as the father of mixed martial arts. Jeet Kune Do, also known as JKD, may be considered the catalyst for our modern fascination with "hybrid martial arts".

Needless to say, Bruce Lee's opinions on such matters were seen as controversial at the time, and some traditional teachers still disagree with his ideas of fluidity between disciplines.

Although Lee officially closed his schools two years before his death, his current teachers continued to teach JKD principles in private settings. Recently, the form made a brief cameo on the television series "Longstreet", which showed a video clip of Lee discussing JKD. Today, the martial arts form has split into two factions for reasons of personality and legal issues, and can be found in various martial arts studios are the country.

The Bruce Lee - The Master Collection is available from Amazon.com.

A PimpWiz Exclusive By, Jennifer George

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