JKD Grappling

Grappling with the Giant Kareem Abdul Jabbar

by Rick Tucci

Introduction

If you were to ask most people, including martial artists, what techniques they would envision Bruce Lee using in a real fight, I'd bet they would see him using lightning-fast finger jabs, punches, kicks and maybe some trapping to facilitate the hitting.

He would use this barrage to overwhelm his opponent into defeat. Much of Bruce Lee's fighting image has been burned in our minds from his powerful screen presence in the best martial arts fight scenes ever put on film.

Although there is truth in this image, it is certainly not the whole truth of Bruce Lee's own personal combat system, nor is the truth of the JKD/Jun Fan gung-fu curriculum as handed down by Bruce Lee, it's founder. Granted, with his speed, power and timing, Bruce Lee probably would overwhelm most opponents with his first, second or third motion.

Never Satisfied

Bruce Lee, however, was not the type to be self-satisfied or complacent when it came to his martial arts training or life in general. He knew that it was extremely important to be well-skilled in all areas of combat, and in fact, is probably the first martial artist to emphatically state just how important this is.

That is why in his personal expression of the art and in the JKD/Jun Fan gung-fu curriculum, there are three main areas - kickboxing, using the feet and hands in fast and powerful striking combinations; trapping, immobilizing the opponent's limb or limbs to continue striking, locking or throwing; and locking or grappling, to throw, lock, choke, control or break.

According to acknowledge expert Dan Inosanto, Bruce Lee made a fairly extensive study of this third area or combat. Lee knew there would be combat situations where it would be most efficient to throw, lock, choke or control his opponent. To better understand this area of fighting, he researched and studied the training methods and applications of systems including - but not limited - to chin na, judo, jiu-jitsu and aikido. Lee did not share these locks, throws, controls, breaks, and the ways to get into them, with many people.

Behind Closed Doors

Inosanto, who in Bruce Lee's own writing is designated "head instructor" of the Los Angeles Chinatown school and taught 90 percent of the classes there, says that only a few locks were shown in Chinatown. Inosanto is probably the only person who had direct experience with the insight into Bruce Lee's locking and grappling area of JKD/Jun Fan gung-fu. In private sessions, Lee would experiment on Inosanto using different entries, locks, throws and controls to see what worked.

Rick Tucci is a jeet kune do practitioner who has been personally and privately trained by Dan Inosanto. He is a certified full instructor under Sifu Inosanto, and is the director and head instructor of Princeton Academy of Martial Arts. He conducts seminars worldwide. For more information, call (609) 452-2208; e-mail info@pamausa.com.

Excerpted from Bruce Lee's Arm Bar Series by Rick Tucci, Martial Arts Legends presents Jeet Kune Do.

Last Updated: Tuesday, September 2, 2003 2:04 PM