Читать книгу Straight Lead - Teri Tom - Страница 10

I N T R O D U C T I O N

“T H E C O R E O F J E E T K U N E D O”

It may seem a bit excessive to devote an entire book to a single punch, but as Bruce Lee himself declared, “The straight punch is the core of Jeet Kune Do.”¹ To write a book on the Jeet Kune Do straight lead, then, is to write a book on the most basic, fundamental principles of JKD. In fact, the entire structure of the art was designed around the most efficient and forceful delivery of the straight punch. Strategically, you must have a strong lead hand for both offense and defense. Other weapons—hook punches, rear crosses, uppercuts, and kicks—are of little use without a good lead hand to set them up.

The culmination of years of scientific study, the straight lead is a biomechanical marvel maximizing the potential for leverage, accuracy, acceleration, and force production. Once you have grasped the mechanical principles behind the straight lead, you will be able to learn other JKD punches and kicks with greater ease.

N O M Y S T I Q U E

By Bruce Lee’s own admission, though, the straight lead is the most difficult technique in the Jeet Kune Do arsenal, and of the art itself, he said, “Only one of 10,000 can handle it. It is martial art. Complete offensive attacks. It is silly to think almost anyone can learn it.”² And as Ted Wong has said of straight punching, “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.”³

However, the exclusivity of JKD has nothing to do with exotic, ancient hoodoo voodoo. There are no mysterious secrets steeped in mythology or rigid classicism. No, these are the very things Bruce rebelled against. If anything, Jeet Kune Do laid everything about the martial arts out in the open. Instead of being shrouded in mystery, its principles are rooted in the sciences of biomechanics, physics, and fencing strategy.

The scientific principles behind JKD are not difficult to grasp, nor is the physical conditioning required to practice it particularly difficult to achieve. What makes Jeet Kune Do and the straight lead so challenging is the patience needed to take a few simple techniques and stay with them—the perseverance to refine, refine, refine, knowing that you will never achieve true perfection. Even so, the problem is not necessarily that people lack discipline. In many cases, they just haven’t been given the scientific information to convince them to stick it out.

In writing this book, then, I am stating the case for simplicity and refinement. Everything presented here starts with Bruce Lee, and where possible, I have referenced his published work. Because of Bruce’s untimely death, however, he never left us with a comprehensive guide to the straight lead, so wherever I could, I have traced Bruce’s writings to their original sources in the works of Aldo Nadi, Jack Dempsey, Jim Driscoll, Edwin Haislet, Roger Crosnier, and Julio Martinez Castello. All other material appearing in this volume is what I have learned directly from Ted Wong.⁴

The purpose of this somewhat academic approach is to demonstrate that Jeet Kune Do is not a mere smorgasbord of styles. It is true that Bruce was heavily influenced by Western boxing and fencing, and, yes, he incorporated some grappling techniques into his system. But he did not haphazardly throw styles together, as some would like to believe. No, Jeet Kune Do is its own system, with its own set of carefully researched and honed techniques. As you will see throughout this book, those things Bruce chose to incorporate evolved from a history of fighting science that dates back thousands of years.

You will also notice that Bruce did not choose everything. He went with the thumbs-up-power-line punch over the more modern boxing jab, the rebellious cocked left heel over the orthodox grounded heel, the rapier over the broadsword. There were reasons behind these choices. It is the aim of this volume to reveal those reasons.

T H E R O O T S O F J K D

No technical Jeet Kune Do book would be complete without first looking at what Bruce called the roots of JKD. They are:

1. Physical ingredients

On-guard positioning

Footwork and movement

Postures in relaying force

2. Underlying ingredients

Balance

Economy of form

Intuitive expression of self in applying force and releasing speed

Organic quiet awareness—continuity of being

Totality in structure and consciousness of the whole

Efficient mechanics

Capability to regulate one’s rhythm as with the opponent’s,

plus the ability to disturb same

Strong, dominating aura to flow with or against the “harmonious unit”

Having no public

Sincerity and honesty

To function from the root⁵

The on-guard stance, footwork, relaying force, balance, economy of form, efficient mechanics. Remember the roots, for they are the foundation of all JKD techniques—not just the straight lead—and they are the guiding principles of this book. When we speak of simplicity and refinement, we are talking about the roots. When you are lost, confused, or unsure of your technique, go back to them. They are your roadmap.

A F E W W O R D S O F E N C O U R A G E M E N T

Straight hitting is no simple task. Bruce said so, as did all his major boxing influences— Edwin Haislet, Jim Driscoll, and Jack Dempsey. “The ability to hit straight from the shoulder is not a natural act,” wrote Haislet. “It cannot be learned by chance and experience does not teach it. Straight hitting, with body behind each blow, is an art that takes years of study and practice to perfect.”⁶ Years. You do not learn the straight lead overnight. Beginners often try it for a few weeks, become discouraged by their lack of power, and give up, reverting to their old ways. They later wonder why their progress plateaus, but as the saying goes, the definition of insanity is repeating the same action, over and over, expecting different results. Learning the straight lead may require you to step out of your comfort zone for a little while.

Yes, swinging punches look spectacular. Yes, that modern boxing jab feels more natural. But as you’ll soon see, there’s a difference between natural and scientifically effective. With this volume, I hope to present enough scientific evidence and strategic arguments to convince you to stick with the straight lead. Weigh the evidence yourself. As you progress through the various stages of learning—from awkward baby steps of neuromuscular programming to the advanced stages of combative application—I ask that you take a small leap of faith. Trust in the instruction presented here. Stay with it. The secrets that are hidden now will someday reveal themselves to you.

Finally, given that we live in a fast-paced world of instant gratification, it’s easy to see why straight punching, which takes years to cultivate, has become something of a lost art. It’s nice to know, however, that there are still some things that money cannot buy. The straight lead is one of them. There is just no substitute for time invested in any endeavor—for patience, hard work, experience, sweat, and, in this case, probably a little blood! So while other arts may focus on the accumulation of endless techniques, may stress the flashy over the efficient, or even allow the buying of belts, remember that you are on a different path. Stay on it. Use the roots as your roadmap, and the rewards will pay off big, in ways you cannot imagine.

At times you may be discouraged, as others on the quick and easy road seem to pass you by. You may be tempted to follow the crowd. To this, I offer the following from Jack Dempsey:

Let me emphasize again that you will feel very awkward when you first try the moves in long-range punching. I stress that awkwardness for two reasons: (1) so that you won’t figure you’re a hopeless palooka, and (2) so that you’ll pay no attention to wisecracks of friends or sideline experts who watch your early flounderings. Remember: He laughs last who hits hardest.⁷

In the seventeenth-century martial arts classic The Unfettered Mind —a book, by the way, that resides in Bruce Lee’s personal library—Takuan Soho had a similar message:

If you follow the present day world, you will turn your back on the Way; if you would not turn your back on the Way, do not follow the world.⁸

So with these words in mind, let’s begin our exploration of the Jeet Kune Do straight lead.

N O T E S

1 Bruce Lee, ed. John Little, Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee’s Commentaries on the Martial Way (Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 1997), p. 21.

2 Ibid., p. 59.

3 In conversation with Ted Wong, June 8, 2004.

4 See the Ted Wong interview in this book for his Jeet Kune Do credentials.

5 Lee, ed. John Little, Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee’s Commentaries on the Martial Way, pp. 385–386.

6 Edwin L. Haislet, Boxing (New York: A.S. Barnes & Noble Company, 1940), p. 7.

7 Jack Dempsey, Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defence (New York: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1950), p. 25.

8 Takuan Soho, trans. William Scott Wilson (New York: Kodansha International Ltd., 2002), p. 14.