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Commonly asked questions about Jeet Kune Do

(Q&A)

What is the goal of Jeet Kune Do (JKD) instruction?

To prepare a person for life threatening physical altercation. Whatever else a student learns is specific to them and not part of curriculum.

What should I look for in a Jeet Kune Do (JKD) instructor?

Look for someone that has spent years practicing JKD with direct lineage to Dan Inosanto, not just an original practitioner, since Dan Inosanto is the only living person certified by Bruce to teach Jeet Kune Do. Too many people spend a few days or weeks studying JKD and then go out and start teaching. This occurs quite often with senior practitioners from other martial arts. They assume that the training methodology they previously used will be effective in purveying their limited knowledge of JKD to their students. JKD instruction simply doesn’t work that way. The only way to properly learn JKD is through intense contact with an experienced instructor that understands the complex training methodologies involved in instructing students in diverse fighting techniques and divergent philosophies.

I have heard that there are two different types of Jeet Kune Do (JKD) --- how are they different and how do they relate to each other?

There are two main schools of thought in Jeet Kune Do --- Jeet Kune Do Concepts (JKD Concepts) and Jun Fan Gung Fu. Jun Fan Gung Fu is the original curriculum as taught by Bruce Lee with no additions. JKD Concepts, on the other hand, contains the original curriculum as taught by Bruce Lee, but with additional advancements made by Dan Inosanto.

Dan Inosanto was Bruce Lee’s most senior student and the only person given a mandate to change or modify the original curriculum. Adherents to the original curriculum are teaching a static set of information, relying on the individual student to advance their own learning.

Is one sbetter than the other?

It depends on your reason for seeking out Jeet Kune Do. If you’re a simple scholar of Bruce Lee’s original teachings, by all means, study Jun Fan Gung fu. The truths he taught forty years ago are still truths today.

But if you’re interested in self-defense JKD Concepts is clearly superior. Jeet Kune Do was meant to be constantly evolving, not just from the student’s perspective, but from the instructor’s perspective as well. Anyone who believes otherwise hasn’t made a proper study of Bruce Lee’s teaching.

People need to remember that Bruce Lee was a young man, still evolving, when he passed away. No one knows what Jeet Kune Do would have become if he was still alive. All we know for sure is that it would have changed to become more effective, to give students of the philosophy the best tools to deal with any situation. Also we believe that Bruce would have added weapons training into the curriculum since in today's society (much different than 30 or 40 years ago) 90% of all physical encounters involve a weapon of some kind. That’s what Jeet Kune Do Concepts has done under the guidance of Dan Inosanto.

It should also be mentioned that a number of people now teach what they refer to as Jeet Kune Do. The majority of these people are simply not qualified to teach JKD and have no legitimate lineage to speak of.

At the same time, still other instructors teach personal variations of what they learned under Bruce Lee’s original students. A good instructor will always teach their own personal interpretation of Jeet Kune Do separately from the original teachings.

Is Jeet Kune Do (JKD) the first Mixed Martial Art (MMA)?

People often think that a person studying MMA is studying the same curriculum as a JKD practitioner --- that the two are interchangeable. This is most certainly not the case.

While no-holds-barred fighting has been around for at least two millennia, the modern, sport based MMA that people see on television was brought to the United States by the Gracie family through the UFC (the Gracie family had an original stake in the organization). The current breed of MMA developed from Brazilian vale-tudo (anything goes) competitions.

The Japanese also have a version of MMA, called shoot-style, which is highly popular outside of the United States. Many other cultures also have MMA style competitions, many of which predate both Bruce Lee’s studies and Brazilian vale-tudo.

With the exception of JKD, the activities mentioned above are sports with rules. Jeet Kune Do is not a sport. It has no rules. In that sense it comes closer to meeting the criteria for a true no-holds-barred competition, with one important difference --- it isn’t a competition.

Some people have the mistaken perception that Jeet Kune Do would have somehow metamorphosed into today’s MMA had Bruce Lee survived. A lot of this has to do with misinterpretation of Bruce Lee’s teachings and related comments made by Dana White (the head of the UFC) concerning his own feelings about the relationship between the two communities. A third factor is that some JKD fighters have gone on to gain renown in the MMA fighting community, and opened up schools teaching the two styles.

The association between Jeet Kune Do and Mixed Martial Arts is a product of both intentional and accidental publicity, misinformation, and the reverence in which most martial artists hold Bruce Lee.

If mixed martial arts and Jeet Kune Do (JKD) aren’t the same, but they utilize some of the same techniques, then how are they different?

MMA has rules and JKD doesn’t. The premise of Jeet Kune Do was created specifically to deal with potential life and death struggles where the combatants have no foreknowledge of each other and the outcome is unknown (in MMA there are only three potential outcomes --- win, lose, or draw). The structure of MMA, then, reflects the constraints placed upon it.

What you see in MMA competition is a focus on fighting styles that already conform to rules --- mainly western boxing, Muay Thai, and various forms of grappling. Of the arts involved the one still in its most pure form is grappling.

If one were to go back to the early days of Greek boxing and Muay Thai you would probably see eye gouges, headbutts, ear slaps, throat strikes, hand breaks, groin strikes - a variety of ‘foul’ tactics that have since become taboo. These strikes have been removed from the modern arts because they are too dangerous to conduct in full contact matches.

Grappling, on the other hand, has many effective techniques that can be trained and even used without permanently injuring an opponent. The caveat is that grappling techniques necessitate getting very close to your adversary, and in doing so making yourself extremely vulnerable to the most effective (and banned) techniques of the striking arts.

So while JKD and MMA share some of the same inherent tools, JKD focuses much more on what would be considered ‘foul’ tactics. JKD training reflects this wider array of techniques and ranges. Some training strategies - such as live sparring, athletic drills, and cardiovascular training are common to both disciplines, but those strategies should be modified to meet student needs. Training for MMA competition is different than training for a street fight.

Familiarity with fighting ranges is also common between the two disciples. Both camps strike, trap, and fight on the ground (without getting into the intricacies of each range). Here students of both camps learn the same basic tools, but the JKD practitioner goes on to add additional tools and techniques that would be unacceptable in competitive sports.

In fact, most MMA schools teach a very limited set of striking skills, even within the realm of allowable techniques. There are three primary reasons forth this:

1. Striking an experienced, prepared fighter is different than striking someone in a street brawl. Only what are considered the most powerful (i.e. effective) punches are taught.

2. Many of the less powerful strikes rely upon striking the more fragile (and easily damaged) parts of the body (eyes, grown, throat, etc.).

3. It is much more difficult to teach effective striking skills than it is to teach effective grappling skills. Striking is an unnatural act requiring odd body mechanics.

JKD focuses on the most effective weapons within each range, while becoming proficient with the rest. A properly trained JKD practitioner, for instance, will practice eye jabbing from every conceivable angle, both offensively and defensively, until he can do it in his sleep. MMA students do not do this because it is illegal in competition.

This is in no way meant to denigrate MMA practitioners, but the logic is fairly simple:

Given two opponents, all things being equal, would you place money on the fighter who is trained in all of the techniques, or on the one who is trained in only half of them (and the less effective half at that)?

Is one better then the other?

No. They each serve their intended purpose. A well-schooled MMA competitor should be able to fight extremely well in the ring and should be fairly effective in the street. A well-schooled JKD practitioner needs to change his whole "game" to fight in the ring, making him less effective while being extremely effective on the street. Fighting always comes down to the individual, but given the foundation of both disciplines, this should always be the result.

How does a Jeet Kune Do (JKD) fighter or practitioner differ from a Mixed Martial Art (MMA) competitor?

Generally, a different training regime will result in a different fighting style. JKD focuses on ending a fight quickly in any manner possible against any possible opponent (including a debilitating attack followed by an even faster retreat). MMA focuses on ending a fight quickly, but within a preset system of classes, using a limited tool set where the opponent is not maimed.

A true JKD practitioner is expected to test the limits of his or her body and be competitive with a professional athlete. But many people do not have the time to do this and must at least be fit enough to deal with the most likely real life scenarios.

There seems to be bad blood between the two camps, why is that?

The bad blood is more a product of cyber-space than real life. The people involved have little or no experience with either discipline or fighting in general.

The grappling arts seem to be resurgent. Does Jeet Kune Do (JKD) have a significant grappling component and how does it compare to something like Brazilian Jujitsu (BJJ)?

JKD Concepts has a comprehensive grappling curriculum that is based on a number of different grappling arts including Judo, Sambo, Kina Mutai, Dumog, various forms of Jujitsu and variety of other arts. Many of the traits considered unique to Brazilian Jujitsu also appear in the JKD grappling range.

Don’t misunderstand, JKD is not meant to be a grappling art. JKD students should not expect to enter grappling competitions and trounce full-time students of the grappling arts. However, they should be capable of defending themselves on the ground during an assault, and, by using superior techniques, defeat well-trained grapplers.

-Adam Heath

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Elite Jeet Kune Do LLC is an organization dedicated to the exploration/teaching of realistic street self-defense. Elite JKD was formed by renowned instructor