Over time, Bruce Lee practiced a number of totally different types of martial arts. Right here’s each combating model Lee knew and the place he discovered them.
Bruce Lee practiced all kinds of combating kinds he had discovered over years. Having acquired an curiosity in martial arts at a really younger age, Lee spent most of his life creating his expertise as a fighter. However whereas most martial artists are inclined to dedicate their time to mastering a single manner of combating, Lee was all the time evolving, choosing up strikes, stances, and concepts from different kinds.
A number of of the largest actors within the martial arts style, akin to Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, had a few years of formal coaching and a number of black belts. In stark distinction to them, Lee by no means had a black belt and solely spent a really brief interval of his life as a scholar in a martial arts faculty.
That being stated, he’s nonetheless famend as a kung fu legend and the best martial arts actor of all time. The extreme combat scenes Lee filmed for movies like Enter the Dragon, Means of the Dragon, and Sport of Loss of life are all indicative of the abilities he possessed.
Albeit with out the backgrounds that outlined so many different martial arts actors’ talents, Bruce Lee skilled diligently each by himself and with companions, and was all the time looking out for brand new concepts so as to add to his arsenal. Due to the effort and time he dedicated to his coaching, Lee was in a position to develop into well-versed in a various record of martial arts disciplines past simply kung fu. Right here’s each combating model practiced by Lee and the place he discovered them.
Used primarily by its practitioners to take care of a wholesome life, Tai Chi is normally acknowledged by its easy methods which are usually practiced in slow-motion. Because it lacks the quick tempo of most martial arts varieties, it’s not a well-liked alternative for road combating and has a greater popularity with these seeking to enhance their general well being.
Lee’s father, Lee Hoi-chuen, practiced Tai Chi day by day and taught his son the basics when Lee was nonetheless a toddler. In line with Bruce Lee: A Life by Matthew Polly, Lee admitted as an grownup that he discovered the methods “ineffective”. So whereas it could have been the primary martial artwork he ever discovered, it had hardly any affect on his growth as a kung fu fighter.
As a youth, Lee disliked Tai Chi, however rapidly took to Wing Chun, a “comfortable” type of kung fu constructed round reflexive moments, velocity, and timing. As an alternative of concentrating on creating uncooked power, Wing Chun fighters are taught to redirect their opponents’ assaults and disrupt their steadiness. Throughout the Fifties, Lee was a scholar of Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man, essentially the most well-known practitioner of the artwork and in addition the main target of the Ip Man movies starring Donnie Yen.
Though Ip is credited as Lee’s kung fu grasp, most of what Lee knew about Wing Chun really got here from another person. Following Lee’s enrollment, Ip assigned Wong Shun Leung – considered one of his senior college students (and a future Wing Chun grandmaster) – to be Lee’s major teacher. Lee later acknowledged in a letter that he regards Wong as his true kung fu trainer.
Whereas nonetheless a Wing Chu scholar, Lee gained an appreciation for a very totally different sort of combating when he found Western boxing at his highschool, St. Francis Xavier. Apparently, the varsity sports activities grasp was an skilled boxer who noticed potential in Lee and determined to coach him personally.
By combining his steering along with his expertise in Wing Chun, Lee competed in a highschool boxing event and received his first-and-only official match. This marked the start (and finish) of Lee’s days as a boxer, however his curiosity within the sport remained. Years later, Lee studied the fights of Muhammad Ali and included the heavyweight boxing champion’s well-known footwork methods into his personal combating model.
Though Lee had no formal coaching in karate, Lee was fairly expert within the Japanese martial artwork and made use of the strikes whereas enjoying Kato in ABC’s The Inexperienced Hornet present.
Lee’s information of karate stemmed nearly fully from sparring periods that he had with a few of his fellow martial artists within the Sixties. Amongst them have been karate world champions Ed Parker and Chuck Norris. Coaching collectively allowed them to be taught an awesome deal from one another. Norris, as an example, taught Lee easy methods to carry out excessive kicks.
An incident on the set of The Inexperienced Hornet uncovered Lee to yet one more combating model – judo. Reportedly annoyed with Lee’s roughness throughout filming, a gaggle of stuntmen requested Gene LeBell to intervene on their behalf and educate Lee a lesson. LeBell, a distinguished skilled wrestler and a judo champion, attacked Lee without warning and efficiently managed to hold the actor round on his again.
Lee was unable to interrupt free from his grip on his personal. Lee was naturally offended concerning the state of affairs, however couldn’t deny the practicality of LeBell’s strategy. In response, Lee took classes from LeBell and subsequently complemented his combating model with a number of of the wrestler’s grappling methods. Gene LeBell has claimed up to now that the holds utilized by Lee in Enter the Dragon got here immediately from his judo classes.
Escrima is a well known model of weapon-based combating from the Philippines. Certainly one of its most well-known practitioners was Dan Inosanto, a longtime buddy and coaching companion of Bruce Lee. Utilizing his information of Escrima, Inosanto additional deepened Lee’s vary by instructing him Filipino stick combating, together with the enduring nunchuck methods Lee later utilized in Fist of Fury, Sport of Loss of life, and Enter the Dragon.
Certainly one of Lee’s pals within the Sixties was Jhoon Rhee, a grandmaster at a Korean martial arts model referred to as Taekwondo. One of the crucial revered combating kinds on the planet, Taekwondo has a particular emphasis on highly effective, excessive kicking strikes. Sparring with Rhee allowed Lee to achieve an awesome understanding of Korean martial arts and in addition higher his kicking methods.
However, probably the most notable strikes he picked up from Rhee wasn’t a kick; it was from Rhee that he discovered the AccuPunch, an extremely quick assault described by Muhammad Ali himself as unblockable.
For years, Wing Chun was Lee’s go-to technique of combating, however all of that modified when he struggled to win a combat with Chinese language martial artist Wong Jack Man. Because of the difficulties he confronted in making essentially the most out of Wing Chun, Lee got here to consider that Wing Chun was a flawed system. Within the curiosity of changing into a greater fighter, Lee changed Wing Chun along with his personal model of combating.
Combining each type of combating he had discovered up till this level together with the footwork related to fencing, Lee created “the way in which of the intercepting fist”. Recognized right this moment as Jeet Kune Do, the martial arts disciple is extra of a set of concepts than it’s a model, because it doesn’t require the practitioner to make use of explicit stances or strikes.
As an alternative, the purpose of Jeet Kune Do is to grant the fighter the liberty they want to reply to any given state of affairs with out being restricted to a selected set of strikes. Bruce Lee purposely designed Jeet Kune Do to be sensible and efficient in street-fighting conditions.
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