Developed by Bruce Lee, the art of Jeet Kune Do is based and adapted primarily from various styles of martial arts such as Wing Chun.

History and Philosophy

Bruce Lee, probably the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, created Jeet Kune Do to “liberate” people from classical or traditional martial arts, which Lee called “a mess”.

The culmination of Lee’s own life-long development process, Jeet Kune Do adopts the best aspects from different martial arts and melds them into a single effective fighting system. It features trapping and short range punches from Wing Chun, the kicks from northern Chinese martial arts and even French savate. It also borrows footwork found in fencing and techniques from Western classical boxing.

Lee simplified many of the techniques into a more fluid and compact system. For example, he discarded various Wing Chun stances in favour of more flexible Western fencing and boxing stances.

After Bruce Lee died, his disciples began teaching Jeet Kune Do in a different form under the name Jun Fan. Today the martial art of Jeet Kune Do, while not as popular as taekwondo or karate, is still very much alive.

Jeet Kune Do Training

Jeet Kune Do is more a fighting philosophy than a fighting style. It eschews rote memorisation of technique – katas, patterns and so forth – for a more fluid system. According to Bruce Lee, a practitioner should “absorb what is useful; reject what is useless; add what is specifically one’s own”. As such, Jeet Kune Do constantly changes in its approach to fighting.

There are some distinctive Jeet Kune Do techniques. Practitioners strive to stay on their feet through the concept of balance in motion. Another fundamental principle is evasion from an attack through manoeuvring or shifting the body. Trapping, which redirects an opponent’s attack, is also taught.

Like any martial art, Jeet Kune Do demands high overall fitness, agility and strength. In general, a Jeet Kune Do practitioner needs to have a background in at least one martial art to create an individual style.