An American Martial Art

In a nutshell Jeet Kune Do was created by the legendary and immortal Bruce Lee. Early on in his Gung Fu evolution, Wing Chun Gung Fu (Which is a close combat art emphasizing the center line principle, the trapping range of fighting and sensitivity training) was his preference. It wasn’t until he came to America that he realized that some of the techniques from Wing Chun did not hold up against the larger and stronger Americans. So he modified his original art to a point that it hardly looked like the original art.

“Modified with what?“, you ask.

To make a long story short, he kept using Wing Chun for its centerline theory, trapping skills, sliding leverage and the infamous Chi Soa exercise. However he also added the punches, stance, footwork, rhythm philosophies, combat principles, and terminology of European sword fencing and western Boxing, He modified kicks to his liking, drawing from Savate (French Kickboxing), Thai boxing, Northern and Southern Shoaulin, Praying Mantis, and Pananjakman.

These are just a few of the 26 arts that influenced Bruce and his life philosophy of Jeet Kune Do; the simple, direct, and non classical martial art.