Is Jeet Kune Do an Effective Self Defense form? • ft. Matt Thornton 

If Bruce Lee were still alive he would still be learning and also adjusting his fighting style.

“I have not invented a “new style,” composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from “this” method or “that” method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see “ourselves”. Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don’t, and that is that. There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune Do is simply the direct expression of one’s feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is. Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive. Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one’s back.“ - Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee himself said that Jeet Kune Do is not a fighting style, it's a concept. That mind set of keep what is useful, discard what is not, and add what is uniquely your own is what he used to make his fighting style. Each person has their own opinion on what is useful and what is not. That's why it was hard for him to teach it. What he found useful may not be to someone else. If you use the best of two of anything, that is your Jeet Kune Do. Bruce Lee didn't just use Wing Chun. Lyoto Machida doesn't just use karate. Ronda Rousey doesn't just use judo. They use the best of everything they learned. If Jeet Kune Do is useless, then how come Bruce Lee rarely lost a fight. Bruce Lee was a genius. Maybe some people just can't grasp what he was trying to teach.

If Matt Thornton took Jeet Kune Do and "functionalized" it for himself, then it is still Jeet Kune Do. That is the very concept of Jeet Kune Do.

I've never understood how a person can be a JKD instructor, when the premise of JKD is learning what works for *YOU* .

'If you love life, don't waste time, because that is what life is made of' - Bruce Lee

"Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all the heavenly glory"

Bruce Lee did what every other “master” on Okinawa did at the beginning of karate. He learned something from someone. Then he practiced it, used it in fights and adapted what he was taught to make himself a better fighter. Then he started teaching his adapted “style” to others. As he interacted with other styles he picked up things that worked and added them in. When he realized there were certain “concepts” and principles that held true no matter what, he shared them. The “techniques” were expressions of the principles.

The Jeet Kun Do philosophy makes it difficult to reject an entire martial art out of hand, in my view. While traditional martial arts systems have idiosyncrasies and weaknesses, even the most seemingly absurd of them also have useful elements. So in my view, the question is not, "does Aikido work?" but "what works in Aikido?" and "how can I integrate that into my own system of martial arts?" In my experience, wristlocks are some of the babies that should not be discarded with the bathwater.

Jeet kune do is just a concept of attacking first and intercepting the opponent as fast as you can, so with that in mind any art can be that, all the moves Bruce Lee did fit him at that time of exploration of arts in the 70s and is dated, so it's good to explore JKD not as as a structure but as an idea that can be applied to any art just as modern aikido could be any art that fits the idea of protection of both attacked and attackers

I was a JKD person for a long time. I still greatly enjoy going back to what Bruce Lee wrote and my time in JKD helped me a lot of with developing the necessary outlook to know how to keep improving even when I was no longer part of a JKD gym.

The true Jeet Kune Do is a concept. Not bound by any one fixed style of martial arts. It can use techniques from ANY style to adapt to your opponent. The idea is to be FORMLESS like water and adapt :) However the JKD nucleus group that is heavily based on Wing Chun is probably what most ppl consider a STYLE.

Bruce Lee also mentioned No Way, As Way_ No limitation, as limitation. Jkd is a artless art, it adapts.The main point for Bruce Lee creating Jkd is for Mental Growth&Self Discovery. And to find *What Works For You....*

I am not a JKD practitioner but... In my martial arts training I've seen 3 types of jkd practitioner. Someone who wants to fight exactly like Bruce Lee fought, someone who takes Bruce Lee's Theory and applies it to more modern martial arts, and a third (never met personally) is one of the very few people Bruce Lee approved of teaching Jeet Kune Do. 1- it works if you're dedicated to the training. 2- it works if you're dedicated to the training. 3- it works if you're dedicated to the training. People respect a martial art that doesn't require explanation from Wyatt technique works. People respect instructors that are actually fighting instead of coaching from an armchair. There's no mystery to what does and doesn't work

Apparently everything is ineffective except BJJ when it comes to you. Maybe the problem is not the art style.

50% of the people in MMA lose therefore MMA is ineffective. 😐

JKD core philosophy is MMA. Bruce Lee is one of the unofficial Pioneer of Mixed Martial Art. A lot of MMA fighters gives credit to Bruce Lee. Today's UFC MMA started with cage fighting using a single martial art form. And slowly evolving, incorporating and mixing other martial arts form. Continually developing, adding what is useful and removing what is useless. Removing the inefficiencies and refining to its highest efficacy. This is the core philosophy of JKD. JKD is just a name, but its core essence is today's MMA. A true Martial artist would understand Bruce Lee's saying: "Be Formless... Be like water..." JKD is FORMLESS... JKD is NOT a single form nor a single style.

Towards the end of his short life he talked to innosanto about ending the jkd name as it was becoming stylish. The name JKD describes the art of adopting what works. I disagree with the guest though. Silat is great for weapons fighting

All I know is JKD worked for me as a "bouncer" for quite a few years, against anyone.

This is a fascinating topic to me as someone who did TMA and Kali/JKD as a teenager, but does MMA now as an adult. I love the point about the JKD community posturing like they're super practical (acting high and mighty above TMA) while still engaging in the same fantasy. JKD may be the best instance of a concept I think is important for us to embrace a martial artists: It's not so much that certain systems are useless in a fight, but that certain communities are useless in a fight. Most martial arts have at least a few techniques, concepts, or tactics that could be beneficial, or even fully applied in fighting. The problem is that the communities practicing these arts practice them in a way that ensures they'll never be able to actually apply their skills in a fight. I recall going to a Silat seminar last year just for fun, and at one point we were doing this silly multiple attacker drill where one person did lame arm drags and trips as his four "attackers" walked at him slowly and feeding him extended arms to maneuver as he saw fit. When it was my turn to try, I playfully got in a boxing stance and started rhythmically bouncing around (like we were actually going to fight). Just this simple gesture of opposition/resistance/violence actually made the two guys in from of me flinch a little. That's how little exposure this JKD crew had with live training. This isn't to say all arts are equally fight applicable. Aikido is not equally practical to BJJ, save for the terrible training methods. Even if you took the Aikido syllabus and trained it with resistance and progressive drills, the nature of the syllabus will hold it back compared to some other arts. But this does not make it useless. Every art has a limited syllabus. Boxing, one of the most practical arts in the world, has explicit limitations, so much so that even a world class boxer could lose an MMA match against a mediocre grappler. JKD may be the best illustration of this concept because if you look at the sort of final form of JKD (when Bruce Lee died) the techniques involved are shockingly good. Yes, the grappling is primitive and largely absent, and there is still some remnant Wing Chun trapping, but the core of it is straight kicks to the knee, the straight blast, and the lead finger jab to the eye. Those last three are hyper effective techniques. As Matt Thornton mentioned, the straight blast is a little different than the typical jab in boxing. Lee developed the punch from Jack Dempsey's writings, and fencing (his brother was a fencer). However, there are still fighters today who use there jab in a way similar to the straight blast, as in a jolting thumb-up jab wherein their body is almost totally side-on at the end of the strike. This says nothing to the weird video series Paul Vunak did years ago wherein he referred to the straight blast as simply the Wing Chun chain punching method. That video is just awful, and his philosophy on how said approach matches up against styles like boxing is truly stupid. Fun side-note: in that video Erik Paulson is the training partner Vunak performs on. Paulson is certified under Inosanto. He almost never mentions it, as I suspect that of all the styles in his background it's the one he's least interested in advertising, teaching, or continuing. That says a lot right there. At any rate, one only needs to look at Jon Jones to see the effectiveness of those technique. Straight kicking dudes' knees and poking them in the eyes are Jon's bread and butter. Granted, the latter is illegal, but effective no less. Those techniques are truly useful, and are still taught in JKD classes. There's the whole debate in JKD about what JKD even is, with the Inosanto camp on one side, and the Ted Wong camp on the other. But even in the Inosanto schools, you still usually have traditional Jun Fan JKD classes, which teach Bruce's finalized version of the art, as distinct from the JKD concepts, or JKD blend (MMA for people who can't fight). But even the South East Asian arts Inosanto loves like Silat, Kail and Panantukan (Filipino dirty boxing) have things to offer. I remember Jack Slack, one of the best MMA analysts on the planet, writing about this after Andrei Arlovski knocked out Travis Browne. Andrei was using these windshield-wiper combinations with the same arm (right hook, right seeping hammer fist, right hook again) and they dropped Browne multiple times. Jack Slack basically said, "Maybe there's something to those Panantukan pad drills where there hitting the mitts with boxing combos with hammer-fists and stuff added in between." So yes, I think there is importance in drawing a distinction between the art's effectiveness and the effectiveness of the community. This also circumvents some of the retorts TMA practitioners toss out when their art is attacked. They insist "Real kung fu" works, or that some long dead grandmaster made it work. Even if either of those statements are true, the real point is that THEY themselves cannot fight, regardless of the actual merit of the art's techniques and concepts.

If you're intention is to find a "perfect" defense form, please allow me to save you the trouble. There isn't one. Everything can be countered or broken. A kickboxer can lose to an adept mma fighter, who might lose to a jiu jitsu practitioner, who would be at a disadvantage to battojutsu practitioner, who may lose to a HEMA practitioner, who ultimately would lose to anyone with an M4, who would lose to someone with a bomb who would lose to someone with bigger bomb..... My time in the military and being sent downrange, what I learned is there is no such thing as a "perfect" self defense form, but anything is possible, depending on many factors. But, ultimately this experiment of yours seems less interested in that and instead seems more interested in attacking other styles, than coming up with your own that effeciently works for you.

You know, the thing that upsets me about videos like this and your videos in particular is that you can say this about almost every martial art and will end up being true for someone or most everyone. I remember an arguement where the guy threw up the “fact” that aikido is a supplemental martial art. Well here is how I see it, every martial art is a supplemental martial art. There’s are only 3 things a person can do to better prepare himself in a fight. One is physical conditioning. You take someone thats in great shape, and yeah I know there are many versions of being in shape, but for this point, the more endurance and strength you have, the more punishment you may be able to take and give out. You run out of gas or get hurt easily, you are done. Second is attitude, you take a fat slob that doesnt know how to fight and you threaten his children, for the time he has left until you do get him, you are going to have a fight on your hands. Cross a mother protecting her kids shes going to give everything without regard for her safety, and be prepared if she catches you, it isnt going to feel good. The third in my opinion is training. Most people that get into “fights” aren’t exactly trained. Most, not all but most trained fighters avoid fighting. Almost every fight I have been in outside the ring I was against an opponent that had no idea what was coming. I am also of the opinion, which I have stated before on some of your videos that limiting yourself to a particular style limits you. Also, as a person ages he cannot do all the things he once could, at least as well, so he must continually train to make sure he is as up to date in his current condition as possible and adjust to his new limits. I once saw a video with one of the Gracies, i dont remember which one were him and another guy were sitting and laughing at a post where they said BJJ sucked for fighting multiple attackers. The point of the video is, fighting multiple attackers is hard and you are more than likely to get hurt whether or not you survive or win. Training conditioning and attitude all help, but, at the end of the day, you and your argument reminds me of trying to line up a group of people in alphabetical order by height and weight and age all at the same time. One persons “style” is his own and if others follow it, it might not serve them as well. You videos bring up a lot of good points, but I don’t think it matters as much what system you study, as much as studying, studying anything. Jeet Kune Do, it a great art.......but it might not work for everyone as well as Bruce Lee. Same with any art. On a last note, Jeet Kune Do worked great for Bruce, because it fit him, his kicks were rarely Chinese, on leg was longer than the other and his guard was extended the way it was because he wanted his southpaw hand to be as close to the target as possible, and he was superhuman when it comes to speed and conditioning. He also trained constantly and in anything he found of use. You can spend an entire lifetime training and you wont master everything, so find what suits you as best as you can and train.

When people ask me what I train in, I usually say MMA for the sake of simplicity. I train at an Inosanto Lineage school though.

I’m sorry, I’ve used Jkd in a few street fights, I learned from Taky , and 1 fight was with 2 guys, and I came out on top, thank you!

I love how everyone is an expert

If you are disillusioned with the CONCEPTS of JKD then something went wrong. JKD can NEVER be fully "learned" or "mastered". Most try and emulate Bruce Lee the man or focus TOO much on what get called "jkd techniques" once again, you lost the way. It also seems that people that become disillusioned with jkd concepts have NOT read the Tao of JKD. Jeet Kune Do is similar to a person's HANDWRITING. Even though you and I both know how to write the SAME language ( English for example ), your PERSONAL HANDWRITING is going to be "different" from mine. JKD is the ultimate because in the end it's not a "style" or system.The end of the Tao even says It's just a name, please don't fuss over it. Even trying to explain JKD, is hard. It's like explaining what does God look like? As you know many people refer to God yet there are so many forms of God.

Bruce Lee could make anything look like a sound fighting system.

I studied tae kwon do, judo, greco roman wrestling , boxing, and for some time i was a pro wrestler, i was a bouncer n bodyguard for 29 yrs, when a finally studied wing chun then studied all my books on jet kun do, my fighting ability got better , im also a bodybuilder and its always said we are muscle bound , bull shit! There is no such thing, i have friends who at one time learned from dan inisanto , we al used to get together and train, in real life situations jet kun do works, thank you sifu lee.

This guy is 100% correct! I wrote my previous comment before watching the whole video, but he ended up saying exactly what I wrote. He really understands the true meaning of JKD that Bruce Lee had in mind. Its a constantly evolving thing. All these guys still stuck on using the old stuff from the 70s have completely failed to understand what JKD is. MMA guys are carrying the torch for true JKD.

He doesn’t know what he is talking about

Jeet Kune Do is MMA mixed martail arts, use what works for "you"

I been a martial artist for 14 years. My elder brother is a jeet kune do expert. He was tought by Tim tackett, and taki Kamara. And he definitely knew what he was tought and added his own expression. My brother doesn't believe that jeet kune do shouldn't be used in sports fighting. He believes that it should be used for unexpected situations. I can relate to that. So I studied traditional thai boxing, Filipino martial arts of arnis/kali, and IP man lineage wing Chun. So I learned how to adapt to all of it as my own expression. So that is why My brother has his own way of jeet kune do. I say jeet kune do is a very effective martial art. Just have to find your own expression about it. Because your also learning yourself how to put together your own foundation and expression.

Jeet Kune Do is no less or more than the doctrine of analyzing martial effectiveness, building on what works, and discarding what doesn't, without respect to form. While he provides examples of what was working for him at time of writing, Lee is explicit on this point throughout the Tao. Any discussion of disregarding form as a "form," or whether using only what is effective is effective, demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of Jeet Kune Do.

Great job on getting an interview with Matt. He has some excellent advice right there and key points on what's important, values and philosophy over dogma - but ultimately it being down to the individual to choose how to spend what time we have. Awesome stuffs.

Hi. "Martial Arts Journey" is a great name because that's really what it is. If "Jeet Kune Do" had another name, I suppose that's what it would be called. Now, there's "Jeet Kune Do" and "JKD". Most people, including instructors, use these names interchangeably but there's really a huge unspoken difference. "Jeet Kune Do" is a concept and means the "Way of the Intercepting Fist" or the "Way of the Stopping Fist." If I had to come up with a different name for it, it would just be called: "FIGHTING" or even "Fighting WITHOUT fighting" (which alludes to my favorite opening scene from "Enter the Dragon.") What you do versus one situation will be very different than another situation. It is really unpredictable and you need to be expressively spontaneous. And so the idea behind "intercepting" or "stopping" is to end or resolve a (possibly novel) conflict (pre-emptively) as quickly as possible without protracting, dragging it out, and getting tangled up in it, e.g., by beating someone to the punch, disrupting them, or not over-committing. The longer you fight, the greater is the chance that you will get hurt. Furthermore, to study and to be loyal to a system is to presuppose that situations will be limited to a set of situations that follow a choreography. Any "system" really begs the question of "what would you really do in an unscripted situation?" What you are left with are your instincts - just like a person who has never trained at all - with the difference being that you have refined your instincts through practice & testing of some habits, reflexes, tricks, psychology, & principles plus conditioning. In a way, because part of the journey that is Jeet Kune Do is borrowing from purist systems, it is less of a formalized martial and more of a parasitic approach which is, in part, the very discretionary art that is Jeet Kune Do. It is the creative discretion which becomes the art. As Bruce Lee said, 'truly expressing oneself is a very hard thing to do.' "JKD", on the other hand, is a packaged, commercialized, and, in a way, bastardized form of what should be the concept of "Jeet Kune Do." It gives students something concrete that they can identify with and receive when comparison shopping other martial arts schools. JKD is made up of where Bruce Lee left off in his journey combined with what his students incorporated into it like Dan Inosanto. It's very important to again underscore here that, as it appears today, part of JKD is a time capsule of where Bruce left off when he was 32. It is a set of recognizable Wing Chun, Fencing, & Kickboxing techniques often combined with Kali, Pentjak Silat, Muy Thai, plus some grappling, wrestling, takedowns, etc., from some other familiar martial arts. It is a starting point for students in their martial arts journey coupled with the reminder phrases, "No way as way. No limitation as limitation." You really don't know and cannot predict how things will unfold and the world is constantly evolving. And at any given point, you are limited by your current abilities versus the endless possibilities. The sky really is the limit for what could be and what you could become. Bruce Lee never developed a finalized system and we actually don't know what JKD or even fighting itself would look like now if he were still alive today. Perhaps he would have learned & applied NLP, hypnotism, or comedy.

Aren't all these arguments really just over which martial arts' rules come closest to having no rules, and therefore most closely resemble "reality"? They're all designed to be effective within the constraints that they're trained. If you set no restrictions on the form a punch or kick should take, over a long enough time you should eventually end up with a punch or kick that's most effective when there are no restrictions. That's just the nature of things. If you say a punch must conform to Aikido forms, you will end up with effective defenses against Aikido form punches. It follows then that if you want the most effective fighting style for when there are no restrictions, you should train in the fighting style that puts the fewest restrictions on you (without endangering you). An analysis of what forms would work best in certain situations is unnecessary. Forms are by definition restrictions, otherwise they would be formless.

You can argue about what works and what doesnt, but the main idea of JKD is awesome. I dont train it, but I use the idea of using what works and discarding what doesn't.

Been training in PFS/JKD well over 20 plus years.it had helped me get through some serious situations.anyone who really thinks it doesn't work or not effective I want to know what they are smoking cuz it's got to be fuckin really good

Nothing works unless you do!

hey Matt thorton, i dare you to run up on a person who knows how to use kali sticks, i'll pay for your broken hand. Admit it, u took the JKD philosophy and just monetized, and u focused on BJJ, and the belt system, and focused on the sport and not the self defense, because that's where UFC was going and the $$$

Love this. It's so good to hear people express their thoughts without being afraid of any lash back.

JKD: Philosophy of Martial Arts MMA: The application of JKD Two sides of the same coin.

Can any 1 tell me what was the movi whose footage was shown, dude with long hair does back flip.???

I also questioned why Dan Inosanto, Richard Bustillo, and many other JKD instructors taught kali, escrima, penjak silat etc.Yet Jeet Kune Do taught how to go away from forms.In fact in the finished footage of Game of Death, Bruce refers to escrima as a "rehearsed routine" and emphasized how superior broken rhythm is.Ive never trained in Jeet Kune Do and only dabbled in kali/escrima at a Richard Bustillo seminar,but am I missing or misunderstanding something?

I dont like that this Matt Thornton is looking down on Kali art of South East Asia. Kali or Arnis is being taught to soldiers and it is battle tested in streets and multiple opponents situation.

I practise Jkd Concepts and I allways try to go to Boxing, Kickboxing classes to use all the things I learn under they 5 ways of Attack teached from Jkd. Great Video.

Dan Inosanto's JKD was the version 1.0, where Wing Chun is incorporated with JKD. According to Teri Tom's book called Jeet Kune Do where it talks about the history of Ted Wong's JKD was that Bruce Lee realized, incorporating Wing Chun went against what he was trying to preach JKD was supposed to be, which is supposed to be simple and direct. The time Bruce Lee spent with Ted Wong was that he developed a simpler system of JKD that doesn't incorporate Wing Chun.

Matt Thornton has his own agenda and having spent one on one time with him, I can tell you that he is not honest in all of his stories. Matt, go tell Erik Paulson, Paul Vunak, Greg Nelson, or former leader on Navy Seal Team Six Frank Cucci your wack ideas about Guro Dan and Bruce Lee. I heard your words one on one at the dinner table, so let’s not pretend. You have good Jiu Jitsu and fighting basics on your feet, but just because you cannot figure out how to make Kali work, it doesn’t work for anyone. Hence, your ridiculous ego. You are The Judge. Tell Marc Denny that Guro Dan’s Kali does not work and he will teach you how to do it. You do not embrace every technique in Jiu Jitsu and the basics win fights. First, you learn to fence. If you cannot hit and not get hit the rest of The Art is useless...which is why it did not work for you. You learned all the fancy stuff BEFORE you sparred and learned how to hit and not get hit. Those are the basics. Matt Thornton acts the authority, but there are many ways to skin a cat. Try telling your idol Master Rickson Grace how you really feel, cuz he is close with Guro Dan. How about the great Jean Jacque Machado? He is so close with Guro Dan...he would never speak to you again. Matt Thornton, many of your ideas and concepts are great, but you are still a dick.

To be the best fighter you can not stay with a style, you have to mix different styles and always change things around with everything from your footwork to stance and moves. JKD has no style and is all about blocking and striking at the same time and using speed but power at the same time. If your looking to improve you overall fighting you should look into the JKD and Bruce lees philosophy. Use the JKD but mix it with other martial arts to evolve it in the areas and parts where it need improvements

There are also videos of Larry Hartsel on RU-vid where he's teaching Jeet Kune Do , I strongly urge you to watch some of their content before dismissing Jeet Kune Do as ineffective .

Got to say, I just found this channel this week and it's definitely one of the most informative channels on Martial arts and self defence. No biased rubbish and a real eye opener. Keep up the good work. 👍

Jeet Kune Do is not a fighting form, it's a mindset

Id pay money to see a video of him sparring or fighting with any veteran sifu of jKD. He'd get his ass beat.

Is a knife an effective weapon??? Well depends on the hands it's in Is two sticks effective? Well depends on the user.... Get where I'm going with this

One of the philosophies of Jeet Kune Do is the adage; "Take what is useful and develop from there", also "Discard the inessentials". He was never a fan of 'flowery' forms or even kata and believed sparring and actual kumite are the acid test of working out your fighting arts effectiveness.

nice interview! Thank you.

It is kind of ridiculous to see JKD instructor, who switched to BJJ and treats it as a very effective self defense system. It is for sure one of the most effective systems as to one on one combat, however it sucks in many real life situations, like dealing with several attackers, who punch and kick you around. They dream to see you on the ground, grappling with one of them, and it will be the end of the game for BJJ fighter. Period...Mixing sports with martial arts doesn't make you any good.

I enjoyed this presentation! His pathway has several commonalities to mine as I've worked to evolve my original training through boxing, Muay Thai, JKD, and grappling. That's why I recommended the Corejkd system to you because he took his original Wing Chun training and made it into a functional MMA system. Thornton's advice echos what I said to you when I first commented on this channel :-)

It amazes me how Matt Thornton failed to mention that shootfighting bjj and muay thai is being taught in Inosanto's academy. I wonder what his aim was in not mentioning those.

Bruce Lee believed in Wing Chun centerline but he had a different way of defending it. He used boxing head movements to move his centerline out of the line of attack. This is a no no in traditional Wing Chun. He also ditched Wing Chun footwork as he believed it to be too rigid. He felt it lacked mobility and power. He used his own form of footwork derived from boxing and fencing with a little Wing Chun structure. This allowed him to put more power in his attacks and move faster along with more fluidity. This was forbidden in Wing Chun because balance and efficiency was seen as more important. Bruce discouraged blocking but he said there's cases where it works. He illustrated some circular blocks in his books. There’s no blocking in Wing Chun. Traditional Wing Chun emphasizes straight line attacks. This is because they land faster than other types of attacks. Bruce Lee believed you should attack at any angle and with power. He used crosses, finger jabs, hook punches, haymakers i think, hook kicks, roundhouse kicks, etc. His kicks came from Savate and some Taekwondo. Bruce actually used horizontal boxing punches and snapped them. Traditional Wing Chun doesn't do this. Bruce believed in adding whatever works to your arsenal like biting, headbutting, grappling, etc. In Wing Chun, you’re supposed to constantly go after your opponent until you defeat him or her. Bruce discouraged this and emphasized proper control of distance. In traditional Wing Chun, you're not supposed to use force against force. Bruce believed that you should fight against force if your force is greater. Traditional Wing Chun puts emphasis on parrying and countering at once. Bruce took inspiration from fencing and made the timing faster. He said the best defense is a strong offense. You counter-attack before your opponent can even begin an attack. He said you should attack first rather than wait for your opponent. In Wing Chun, there's no hitting first. Bruce believed that generally you should kick below the waist but if there’s an opportunity to kick high, take it. There's no high kicks in Wing Chun because it wastes time and energy. The only things Bruce Lee kept was the Wing Chun dummy, some flow drills, sandbag training, etc. That's about it. He only used Wing Chun principles as a guiding basis for his Jun Fan Gung Fu. In some ways, he followed them. In other ways, he violated them.

This brings to mind a quote from Tetsuhiko Asai-sensei, responding to someone telling him that something he was teaching at a seminar wasn't karate: "Everything that works is karate"

Thank you for the video! I am really enjoying your journey as this is a subject that has always interested me as well. In the traditional karate community, there is an individual named Ian Abernethy who has done great work rediscovering the functional side of karate. When looking for functionality, he is insistent that one must first understand the context an art was designed to function for. He postulates that if one does not understand the context, one will likely use the wrong tool for the job. What do you think aikido was originally intended to deal with? How can those things be pressure tested? Also, if you haven’t, I highly recommend connecting with Ian Abernethy. He always seems happy to go on other peoples shows. He might offer valuable insight. Thanks!

jeet kune do: the way of the interceping fist. you don't block opponents punch, your punch reaches him while his punch is halfway there.

I was a JKD student in Seattle for 6 years. It was always clear that all students should bring in whatever they like and incorporate it into their practice. Each student was unique. I brought wrestling, dirty fighting and a dash a judo as well. Sparring was encouraged and indeed I saw what worked and what did NOT. I use JKD to get into the clinch. Take them down. The principle is good. The problem is that people stick to the Wing Chun hand positions even when it failed them. Low kicks are good. Lop Tsao is still good to get to the clinch. Beyugies are good distractions.

In the end, his comment on our time in the world sums up everything.

This is the first time that I read the comments section and find so many well thought out and educated responses (with a few exceptions..). I re-posted and edited the following from my reply to one of the comments below. Training in JKD may not automatically make you an effective fighter, it's YOUR approach to your practice that will yield results. Bruce was an effective fighter because he discovered then liberated himself from his own ignorance. He was very clear explaining that JKD was a concept and the name was not to be fuzzed about. His ideas were always evolving and he never considered what he did a "style or system". So, training in JKD as he taught it in 1969 defeats and goes against what he preached. It will not turn you into him either. Some may consider MMA a part of this evolution, and that's ok. Where Bruce Lee preached simplicity and shedding away at the unessentials, many current teachers and curriculums have gone the way of adding other systems and making it way too complex and rigid, in other words, it almost feels like its turning into the rigid dogma and classical mess that he fought so hard against. I've trained with a few JKD instructors and respect them with all my heart, and a couple of them were great fighters and martial artists! But I have yet to find one that I feel will lead me in the right direction. To teach what I have discovered and what works for me will be doing a disservice to the individual. A teacher is a guide, a coach, some one who understands your specific needs and can modify his or her instruction to help you explore yourself and grow. Jeet Kune Do should be a tool in your arsenal, a principle to guide you further along your path. Matt Thorton went on his own journey of discovery and is doing what worked for him. He even still considers what he does FJKD but does not calls it that. And THAT is, in my humble opinion the true essence of Jeet Kune Do.

i came from Royce Gracie camp John Crouch was my instructor and i have really enjoyed your videos and to keep up the good work.

Still a wing chun practitioner. Cross study boxing and mma. But, I maintain my wing chun concepts. A chain punch is a 1-2 repeated quickly from a more square stance. I even use the vertical fist. Pak dar, Lop dar, Bong sao, Tan dar, etc... These techniques work. They've been used on the world stage in mma. They only require proper training.

Hell, I'm just an observer, but isn't there a difference between wanting to survive the encounter and wanting to win a match? Which is going to aid me in immobilizing my enemy in the shortest amount of time and allowing me to live to fight another day? I wager its JKD. Life is not a few rounds in the octagon, it's a battlefield.

After Bruce Lee passed, everyone turned JKD into a style. The point of JKD was to adapt and evolve.

Having this dialogue is so positive. Great video. Keep them coming. I think the final conclusion will be that mma is the answer because it is the same as jeet kun do in that it’s about using whatever works for you. How can that be bad. In any situation, there are effective things to do. Is it important what it is, as long as it works. It depends on whether or not the fight goes on after that. You do not want to use up all your energy in every movement. You want to be efficient. If a punch ends the fight then it doesn’t matter that it used a lot of energy but if most movements do not accomplish anything extreme like injury then you will run out of energy too soon. My point is that all you have to strive to master efficient and effective moves. Where those moves come from is not important. Is it?

Sadly Jeet Kune Do was originally about the mindset of taking what worked and rejecting what didn't. But somewhere along the way it just turned into a stagnant martial art school, the very thing it was never meant to be. The whole point was continual innovation and evolution of the fighting arts and discovering the Jeet Kune Do that works for you individually. Kind of a downer really, because had Bruce lived on, he would've kept evolving as a fighter, but people get stuck on the level he was at before he died being something super special while ignoring the fact that the dude was constantly trying to rise above his current limits and flaws without limiting himself to a single style.

They ALL work, its the individual that makes it not work.

Modify wing Chun. Modify everything after you learn and master the basics! "flow like water".. Don't sit in a box!

This is gem. Thanks Matt and you for having this wonderful video...our time is limited...learn what useful..

I think part of the issue, is that when Bruce Lee past away, his colleagues and students wanted to preserve what had been done by Lee up to that point. Which is understandable, but as others have pointed out, Lee was continually learning like we all do. Essentially, JKD became mimicking Bruce Lee as a martial artist before he died and throw in some of what his main students were interested in. Inosanto is Filipino, so you’re going to see a little Kali and maybe Silat. Those are mainly weapons style and not as useful with empty hands. JKD became a style when it was intended to be and it got stuck in time.

From reviewing many of his videos which have covered about 2 years . I do believe that the person who created this channel creates content to tick people off and not to create conversation . I also believe that he creates content to gain subscribers and to make money from his channel.

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”. Mike Tyson

Preparation is the main key in a fight...doesn't matter how hard a fighter trains or how many styles he has incorporated to use in his arsenal if he doesn't properly prepare as well as adopt to the actual situation of the fight whether it's inside the Octagon or on the streets...mental alertness propels that ability to respond and act and react to the actual situation so as not to get hit severely or not as often getting hit, if striking first is denied, and to be able to absorb the blow and bounce back and retract and counter effectively...that's what Bruce Lee was trying to emphasize in his method which he intended to teach in JKD...!!!

What makes a martial art effective? The person using it

Functional for what? No weapons in MMA you see! I love BJB more that the air I breath, but if we were in the Octagon and I am coming at you with twin butterfly knives then you might want to rethink your definition of functional.

With all due respect,you are missing the fundamental point. You failed to understand that JKD is not a martial art,but a concept. As such, it is not static,and you are free to incorporate from other disciplines,whatever you feel effective for you. Keep in mind that JKD is the first MMA. JKD from earlier years, is not the same JKD as today. It constantly evolves,and the specificities depend on the style of the gym you belong. At my gym,we have a particular style,that reflects the evolution of MMA,we absorb and integrate grappling,grabbing, moves from Aikido,wresting,Pancrace, MuayThai,kick boxing,BJJ etc... If JKD is not functional,the reason is probably because you are not thinking outside the box.

What movie clip is playing in first few seconds??

The base of jeet kune do is boxing and fencing not mixed martial arts. Inosanto's jkd not effective but Bruce Lee's jkd is effective. Many people don't know about Bruce Lee's martial art.

2:44 George Dillman, Lord High Commander of Bullshido

Thank you for this awesome video. I kind of knew that jeet kun do has lost it's path since Bruce lee past away. It's all about being functional yet simple in real fights.

0:14 does anyone know the name of this movie?

Matt, I really like your comments, your honesty. I myself am a JKD/Kali/Silat guy with an emphasis on Silat. My disillusionment with JKD/Kali began when I would see my instructors who are now highly ranked & well known in the JKD community get into streets and wouldn’t use their JKD/Kali skills but would inevitably fall back to their Thai Boxing, Shooto, or former brawling skills. Even that wouldn’t keep them from either a draw in the street fight or getting dropped on the bar floor. You say Silat maybe was not practical, that’s cool. For me, in the countless street fights with 2,3 persons at once that I’ve gotten into, Silat has made a difference. It’s emphasis on multiple opponents made me successful in these self defense situations. I even have the arrest record to prove it, lol. Keep up the honesty. It’s refreshing coming from a JKD guy. Late

Shotokan is really effective though in mma. You see it all the time with karate fighters who do really well in mma.

This video is spot on in many ways but I want to address a couple things. Jkd is MMA period. MMA is NOT A STYLE. While this video discourages people to "practicalize" their arts let's not forget that the Brazilians did just that with Japanese was jujutsu. This video gets right the fact that jkd was never really completed and eventually evolved into something more similar to Win Chun than MMA that talks technically but is never tested in live fighting. Towards the end Bruce was already moving towards what we see with present day MMA. Also on the point of the "ridiculousness" of karate. I was trained on karate all my life and have seen it implemented extremely effectively. However I think it's important to to study the root of these arts as they would not have existed at some point if they were not effective. For the Japanese arts the American occupation of Japanese resulted in the banning of martial arts and lead to the removal of the "lethal techniques". Karate was allowed to survive because it was beginning to be taught as a sport rather than a lethal art. Fast forward a purple generations to today and much of the practical elements have been lost. The same can be said about aikido which came originally from akijujutsu. Also akijujutsu was never really meant to deal with strikes but rather an opponent with a sword. To end I will say Ive used jkd's principles in MMA fights extremely effectively as I have also implemented some Aiki. There is a time a place for the core elements of these arts to be refined and renewed much like BJJ. It just takes time to study and to your point should be done after establishing a strong foundation in an MMA art.

JKD can be summed up in this statement: Question: What the highest technique you hope to achieve ? Bruce Lee:. To have NO technique That's JKD

I loved this video. Thank you.

The real application of jkd Philosophy is mma

I like to imagine Bruce Lee would have championed what became modern mma if he stayed around.

I trained with a jkd concepts group un the 90s. I got solid boxing and muy Thai fundamentals that later helped me a lot when I did mma. I started BJJ at the same time. I have stuck with bjj more than anything because I feel It is the most practical for me.

I am a recent fan and I would like to compliment you on how your philosophy has been developing. The style I've been studying for the last 12 years taught a traditional method then required us to practice in raw, more realistic scenarios. I hope that this idea might be of use to you and your students. Tradition holds a value unrivaled by most sports but I believe that if we could speak to those that created the forms we've dedicated ourselves too would encourage us to respect the tradition but use what works.

Good little talk! Looking forward to the whole thing :)

Any style may it be jeet kundo/Kung fu/ karate etc. is what you make it out to be period there will be things that work for you and things that won’t

Would you be open to doing a video on choi li fut? It's the style of kung fu I'm in.

First off, unless you talk about the four principles of JKD you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Secondly, For those of you who say "style of no style" miss the point as well. Movement is movement. It's about understanding the biophysics of how the human body works and optimizing how we're naturally built in terms of shaping energy or "striking." Your lats are the biggest muscle in your upper body. Hitting with a vertical fist engages that and facilitates hip rotation which in turn allows you to continuously shape energy. Bruce hit so hard because every strike was with his entire body. Punching horizontal is fine, but the philosophy is different, especially in terms of Karate or Boxing. We train to be efficient like a formula 1 car, not a Prius. 3. JKD concepts is not JKD! 4. Go study Jerry Poteet. 5. MMA is not JKD either! MMA is a regulated sport with rules and safeguards. MMA is great, I wouldn't want to fight any of those athletes, but real combat is different than sport fighting. 6 The Tao of JKD is not the bible of the art. It was written by Dan, who, while a great martial artist, is a concepts practitioner. 1.Always think Hit 2. Simplicity 3. Efficiency 4. Longest available Weapon to the nearest available target. For the Wing Chun People, there's a difference between forward pressure and forward Intent. If you're in a boat and there's a hole, you intend to clog it and stop the water. If you have forward pressure, you are the water. You can train in any art and be successful or fail. It always comes down to who's better in the moment. Every real fight (if you've ever been in one) is different, and scary. Any martial arts style is fine. If you're looking for a school get involved with an instructor that gives you the why's and how's behind your movement and problem solving formula instead of technique 32 choreography (unless you're in it for tradition, which is fine). If you really want to hurt someone run them over with your car. it takes ZERO training. Good JKD does not exist on RU-vid. Sorry. If you see anyone standing like how Bruce does in the movies, It's not JKD. This isn't meant to be an attack on anyone, it's just really hard to keep seeing the spread of misinformation. Keep training Finally, stop quoting Bruce. It's embarrassing and used out of context way too much.