er. Pro- e o f my ~ t r s at I d tell 1 didn t Jong to a con- the air usly on way By Led 190 )eidler 1 about he had o f his Bruce. mfront j ques had to · ironic, en. ier has i never nor . Bruce but he those o may . Some . While ck that I t was excel- )na to e • The Straight Lead Punch is the most import nt punch in Jun Fan feet Kune Do It is completely different both in purpose n d execution from th e boxer s left jab. B xing is a ring sport with rounds and a point system. The basic principle is to use the jab as a feeler, or as a minor blow to set up a major one; i.e., jab to straight rear o r hook, or to outpoint your opponent. And many boxing teachers that we ve worked with teach the jab differently. For example, our friend Bert Poe taught a heavy (uncris py ) jab, while other boxing teachers have shown us a loose, snappy (crispy) jab. Whichever jab was taught, however, it was still done with the weak hand with the rear hand lying in wait as the power hand . .. FM JEET KUNE • UGUST 1998 5
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p un ch from ll posilionsbut em phasize d the use o f
the On-Guard posilion ast allowe d fo r perfect
balance a nd quick
recovery.
Aasic tenant of Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do
is to have your p ower hand for-ward. Why is this? Bruce Lee writesin his notes that there is a good
chance that you will run into a b igger, stro n ger
opponent so you can not give him time to use hisstrength against you. The basic idea of our art is todeve lop your tools to a high level, to c ultiva te them
to such a great extent, that you can take out any
opponent with a few well timed, p owerful p u nc hesor kicks. One of the basic blows to take an oppo-nent out with is the Straight Lead Punc h.
8 AUGUST 998 • JUN FAN JEET KUNE DO
STR IGHT LE D PUN H PRINCIPLES
l I t is a powerful punch that gets its power fromusing the entire body, not just the arm.
2. It is a snappy , long range punch that uses theelbow to get the snap.
3. I t is a punch that penetrat es o nly two inches
through the target while still hitting with a snap. I f
you penetrate more than two inches you r punch will
lose power as you will be pushing instead o f hittingwith power .
4. Because of number 3 ab o ve , d istan ce is a cru-cial element and must be train ed over and over . I t
should be trained from three differen t dist ance s:
• STATIONARY: You don't move forward. The
power star ts with a powerful twist of your coiled rearfoot.
• ADVANCE WITH LEAD STEP: The distance issuch that the two inch penetration is obtained by
taking a step forward with the front foot while your
rear foot d oes n't move forward . Remember to hit asplit secon d be fore your front foot touches the
groun d .
• PUSH SHUFFLE (THE BURST) : Hit while
thrusting your entire body forward. The power comesfrom the coiled rear foot pushing off. Again , your
front foot does not make contact with the ground
until your fist hits the target.
hen training, you should vary the
distance so you can hit the target
with a two-inch penetration
withou t the slightest hesitation. Work it so much thatyou can hit at the pro pe r distance without tho ught.The only way you can do this is by cons tantly varyingthe distance while train ing. Really work the hell out
of it, and remember it 's daily decrease not daily
increase . Here are a few of the drills you can use tohelp perfect the straight lead punch .
I f you want to find out which angle of the fist is stronger try the following experiment. Have your tra iningpartner push on your fist as you hold i t as if you 've completed a punch with the following three angles:
hat this experi
ment will show isthat the hori
zontal punch is too weak to generate a Straight Lead Punch withknockout power. While the vertical fist is much stronger than the
horizontal one and should be
used for any punch that cuts intothe tool (sliding leverage ) or the
one-inch punch, the diagonalfist is stronger . Bruce Lee said tha tthe diagonal fist is best for the
Long Range Straight Lead Punch
because it protects the wrist and
the bones in the hand, that is tosay that the wrist and arm line upbetter. But don't take our word forit - try it for yourself.
This is probably the only martial art group in the world thaJ h s more teachers than students. Pictured hereare the gang wha take part in the Wednesday-Night-Workouts in Sif u 1im Tackett s garage . From kft to
right: eff Taywr (student), Jim Sewell (original member o f Bruce Lee s Chinatown school and Wednesdaynight teacher), Sifu 1im Tackett , arry Dixon a JKD instructor under 1im Tackett) and Dennis Blue a JKD
When p unching the focus glove concen trate on hitting with full power and snap ping th ro ugh the target with atwo -inch penetration. This "snap " is achieved with the stra ightening of the elbow. We realize that many martiaartists say that you should never st raigh ten your arm com pletel y when you punch at an op ponent as you run the
risk of hyperextending you r elbow. However , whe n Bruce Lee was asked about this, he said that he neve r - ever- found a person who could block his punch - let alone break his p un ch ing arm (Figs. 5-A B C, D & E)