Jeet Kune Do is a martial arts style created by legendary martial artist, Bruce Lee. It is a style that Lee developed on July 9, 1967, and Lee referred to it as a non-classical style. The reason for Lee himself stating that it is non-classical is because he was saying the Jeet Kune Do is a form of Chinese kung fu but, without the traditional forms of most Chinese kung fu. Jeet Kune Do, or JKD for short, was named after the Wing Chun art of intercepting or attacking as your opponent is about to attack. That is the reason Jeet Kune Do literally translates to 'way of the intercepting fist'.
Martial artists that use Jeet Kune Do believe in minimal movements, maximum effectiveness and extreme speed. Lee was among the fastest martial artists in the world, and it shows when he demonstrated the different techniques of Jeet Kune Do. In his films, he would have to slow down drastically so that the cameras could even track his fast movements. Because of Lee's speed being a major factor in JKD, intense speed is one of the most important aspects of this style. Speed reflects on one of Lee's philosophies when it came to his development of JKD. That philosophy was to be like water, meaning that one should be able to easily adapt to any situation he or she is placed in, and to move fluidly without hesitation. Those who practice JKD, must know when to speed up or slow down, when to expand and when to contract, and when to continue flowing and when to crash like water.
JKD teaches that the best defense is a strong offense, hence the translation of way of the intercepting fist. There are various ways to intercept with defense, but there are also many ways to incorporate offense as well. Lee focused on the four ranges of combat: punching, kicking, grappling, and trapping. The straight lead punch is one of those moves. It isn't designed for powerful strikes but instead formulated for speed, an important trait of Jeet Kune Do. It is not only the fastest punch in JKD, but also the most accurate. It focuses on its speed and on how loose the motion is. You are supposed to hold and strike with a loose hand and tighten only upon impact, adding to the punch. The straight lead is a punch that can be performed from multiple different angles and levels. Lee referred to it as the backbone of all punching in Jeet Kune Do. There are multiple different variations of punching in JKD, while kicking is mainly done as low kicks. Kicks directed at the shins, knees, thighs and midsection are where these strikes occur because they are closest to the foot and provide more stability while also being difficult to block. Trapping focuses more on intercepting than anything while grappling focuses on just that, grappling.
