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First Things First

Bruce Lee is the most underrated philosopher of the 20th century. Maybe of all time. Today, we're going to delve deeper into his seminal work, the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, and discuss what we can learn about Brazilian jiu-jitsu from it.

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Bruce Lee’s Intercepting Fist

Bruce Lee is arguably the most famous martial artist ever. He's a larger-than-life character whose legacy largely depends on who you're talking to.

Is he an actor? A martial artist? Or the gold standard for abs? All of it and more.

To me, Lee's most impressive contribution to the world came from his writings and teachings that live on in the martial art he defined. Jeet Kune Do, literally translated as the way of the intercepting fist, or stopping fist, depending on who you're asking.

The name gives us a clue into Lee’s principled approach to martial arts philosophy, “I don’t know dude, just stop them from coming forward with your fist.” Maybe more poetically, “Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.” It’s not a singular thing. It’s a system of principles for living and learning how to defend yourself.

Tao Of Jeet Kune Do

The Tao of Jeet Kune Do is closer to a college textbook than a martial arts manual. My copy is about 240 pages of 8.5 x 11 paper with detailed illustrations and philosophical discourse. Only about 10% of that is actually on Jeet Kune Do though.

Pages 28 - 210 cover every technical detail a martial artist would want to study. Warming up to attacking and everything in between.

Pages 15 - 26 and 211 - 220 are explicity on Jeet Kune Do and what it is. The section called “The Facts of Jeet Kune Do” is literally less than a full page. What’s most relevant is what Lee writes about combat generally. You can certainly apply it to Brazilian jiu-jitsu and any other martial art.

“To understand combat one must approach it in a very simple and direct manner.”

Lee gives us a two-part answer to explain how can we do that.

“Use any techniques or means which serve its end” and “Simplicity is the shortest distance between two points.”

We can consolidate these ideas to say that it’s a martial artist’s responsibility to use any technique which serves its end, in this case, a fist that intercepts our opponent’s advances. And it should serve that end as quickly as possible. A jab is the perfect example of this. Or a side kick that travels fast and far.

Now that we have a concise idea of what to prioritize, what should we avoid? Lee lists three important ideas:

1. Do not reduce reality to a static thing and then invent methods to reach it.

2. Instead of facing combat in its suchness, then, most systems of martial art accumulate a fancy mess that distorts and cramps their practitioners and distracts them from the actual reality of combat, which is simple and direct.

3. Fighting is not something dictated by your conditioning as a kung-fu man, a karate man, a judo man or what-not. And seeking the opposite of a system is to enter another conditioning.

All of these ideas point to one common theme. Don’t reduce training, sparring, or fighting to a pre-determined thing. You need to be flexible, adaptable, and always able to reach your simple goal. Namely, intercepting your opponent with straight, simple, and direct strikes.

What does this have to do with Brazilian jiu-jitsu?

Short And Simple Brazilian Jiu-jitsu

Simplicity is something that’s missing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The martial art grew to prominence recently so it benefits, and suffers, from limitless content on the internet. And limitless content can needlessly complicate the martial art.

Instead of being students struggling to find things to study, we’re forced to filter. We’re forced to ask, “will this technique work”, and, “why would I ever do this in the first place?”

The ocean of content drowns you in everything you can do while glossing over why what you can do works, and what you should try to do first. You should start by simplifying.

This is exactly why John Danaher and his teams were so successful so quickly.

Danaher exploded into the collective consciousness through his students' wins and a simple definition of the sport. “Jiujitsu is the sport of control leading to submission”.

You hear that and you know that your goal is to restrain your opponent. You have to do is put them in a position where they acknowledge they can no longer move, they face immediate bodily harm, or both. Simple.

Danaher’s athletes also embody the idea of prioritizing simple techniques that travel the shortest distance between two points. That’s partly why they use leg locks.

If you sit while your opponent is standing the closest thing to attack is their legs. It’s a simple way to travel the shortest distance between two points, gain control, and move to a submission. And we can use this idea in reverse to know what not to do when grappling.

If moving and attacking does not get you closer to a point of control, don’t. Wait it out. The beauty of Brazilian jiu-jitsu is in its efficiency. There is often no penalty for sitting patiently to set up your short and simple attacks.

The fun in training any martial art is figuring out your own style to navigate a relatively open field of play and accomplish whatever simple goal you might have. It’s in developing unique ways to wait for the perfect opportunities to score and win.

More than anything don’t obsess over what you call whatever you do. If it works, that’s it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

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