IN SPORTS a team with a great offense that can score points can still lose if it cannot prevent the opposing team from scoring more points. So, in addition to having a solid offensive plan, a balanced team must have effective defensive skills. The same is true in combat. Even if you have a strong ability to attack, there will come a time when you must defend yourself against an opponent’s attacks or counterattacks. If you have not developed your defensive capability, you may be defeated or hurt, no matter how good your offensive skills may be.
Thus, while Jeet Kune Do emphasizes attacks and counterattacks against an opponent, the development of defensive skills is also important. Fortunately, Bruce Lee did not consider such skills as merely an incidental part of his overall art. Rather, it is an important and integral aspect of the total package. There is an entire group of defensive methods that Lee incorporated into Jeet Kune Do.
These defensive methods can be broken down into several general categories. One is the use of footwork to avoid being hit. A second one is the employment of parrying to deflect an attack. A third one utilizes evasive body movements to steer clear of a strike. We will examine each of these below.
Most focus mitt drills used in the beginning of Jeet Kune Do training are geared toward developing offensive tools. Nevertheless, even at that stage, you can practice defenses by having your partner throw both punches with the gloves and light kicks.
In Jeet Kune Do footwork plays an important role—not only in moving you into range where you can score, but also in moving you out of the path of your opponent’s attack or counterattack. With footwork you can open up the distance so that your opponent’s strike falls short of hitting you. You can also use footwork to move off-angle against your opponent’s attack, which leaves you in position to counterattack.
If you want to open up the distance so that an attack cannot reach the target, you can use different types of footwork to move outside of your opponent’s range. For example, if your opponent throws a lead punch at your head, you can use a push shuffle retreat to quickly move your body back. If your opponent throws a lead side kick at you, you need to move farther back, so you would use a slide step retreat, which covers more ground, to account for the longer reach of your opponent’s lead leg. Still, another type of footwork you can use is a step-through retreat, in which you step back with your front leg and end up in a different lead.
The use of footwork to avoid your opponent’s strikes has the added benefit of frustrating your opponent psychologically. When an attacker sees that you can consistently evade the strikes aimed at you, he or she can become upset, and an emotionally worked up opponent will not think clearly. It is generally easier to attack someone who is distracted by feelings of frustration.
Parrying
In parrying you use your hand to deflect an attack off of its path. You can utilize either your front or rear hand to parry your opponent’s strike. A parry is different from a block in that a block is usually a hard movement that uses force against force. A parry, on the other hand, is a lighter movement that moves an attack off-line and does not require a large expenditure of energy.
Ideally, when you parry your opponent’s strike, you want to wait until the very last moment, when it is about to hit, before you deflect it. Timing is a crucial element in a successful parry. If you see a strike coming and try to parry too early, you will miss the striking limb altogether and the strike will hit you. Also, when you parry too early, your opponent can switch the direction of the attack and score along a different line. However, if you start your parry too late, you will not deflect the strike in time to avoid being hit.
Distance is another important element for successful parrying. In some cases you may want to retreat as you parry, in order to open the distance. This can provide added safety, especially if your opponent has a long reach. In other cases you may want to advance in order to close the distance as you parry, in order to counterattack. You have to gauge the correct moment in which to parry your opponent’s attack, so as not to run into his attack.
A parry can move laterally (for example, from left to right or vice-versa) against a punch. It can also be used in a semicircular fashion, in which you move your hand from high to low or low to high to deflect the strike. Sometimes you can use the parry with a slight upper-body lean or a short sidestep to give you more distance to avoid the strike.
In executing the parry you must take care to use small movements. However, if your parry is too small, it will not deflect the opponent’s strike sufficiently, so you can still be hit. If you over-parry, that is, use too large a movement, then when you deflect the strike, your opponent can use your energy to change the line of attack and score. In some cases your over-parry can knock your opponent’s striking limb into your own limb, which you might be using to counterattack.
Against an experienced fighter, Lee advises varying your parries and the types of defenses that you use. This will keep your opponent guessing and hesitating, which will affect the strength of his or her confidence and penetration.
An effective way to use a parry is to combine it with a counterstrike that occurs at the same time. This is known as a simultaneous parry and strike, which is more efficient than parrying first and then striking afterward. In Jeet Kune Do we use Four Corners training to develop the skill of concurrent hitting and parrying. Lee incorporated this concept from Wing Chun, which views the upper body as being divided into four sectors, or gates. Each of these gates is an area in which an opponent can strike. You can defend each of these gates with a different rear-hand parry. The upper gates are defended with high, upward parries, while the lower gates are defended by low, downward parries. As your opponent launches a punch into these different gates, you employ the appropriate parry to deflect the punch. At the same time you counterattack with your own lead punch.
There are numerous types of movements, drawn largely from Western boxing, that you can use to avoid an opponent’s attack. The idea is to shift and angle your body to avoid your opponent’s blows, while remaining at a distance to launch a counterattack. Thus, evasion differs from a footwork retreat, which enables you to open up the distance to avoid a strike, but prevents you from counterattacking unless you move back into the proper range. The following are the basic evasions used in Jeet Kune Do.
• Ducking: This is a simple maneuver that can be used when an opponent swings or hooks a punch at your head. You move underneath the arc of the punch by bending your knees and dropping your body down to avoid being hit. Although you can lean your upper body forward slightly for added safety, you should avoid leaning too far because you will be off-balance.
As you drop down, you should keep your head up and your hands high to protect your head. Your eyes should be focused in front toward your opponent (see Figure 18-1). This is important because you need to guard against the possibility that your opponent will strike you with a knee as you duck. You also have to be aware that your opponent might slam a fist, elbow, or forearm into your neck as you duck. Therefore, after you duck down and your opponent’s arm has passed, quickly spring up from your feet and continue from there.
• Slipping: This maneuver is used primarily against straight punches fired at your head. It involves a slight angulation of your upper body to either side of the punch, as it extends, so that the punch misses. For safety reasons it is preferable to slip to the outside, rather than to the inside, of the punch. When you slip to the outside, you basically isolate your opponent so that his or her other hand will be difficult to use against you. You only have to deal with the punching hand. However, when you slip to the inside, you have to concern yourself not only with the punching hand, but also with the other hand. You are putting yourself in a position where you can be hit by the other hand when you slip inside.
To slip to the outside against an opponent’s right lead punch, you rotate at the waist and turn your right shoulder slightly to the left, forward, and down. In this way the punch travels just over your right shoulder and goes past your right ear. To slip to the inside against the same punch, you rotate at the waist and turn your left shoulder slightly to the right, forward, and down. In this way the punch travels just over your left shoulder and goes past your left ear.
To successfully slip a punch, you must have both good timing and proper distance. Good timing means that you wait until the very last moment before you slip the punch, so that your opponent is committed to the action and cannot stop in midstream. If you slip too early, your opponent can redirect the punch along a different path to your new position. Also, he or she can halt and wait until you return to your upright position and resume the strike. Either way, you will be hit. If you slip too late, you will not move your head away in time before the punch arrives, and you will be hit. So, you must gauge the right moment in which to initiate your slip.
Proper distance means that you must judge the right distance at which to slip the punch so that the punch goes over your shoulder and you are in range to counterattack. If you are too far away when you slip the punch, you have not accomplished anything, because the punch would have fallen short of you anyway. Also, you will likely be out of range to counterattack. If you are too close when you try to slip, you may misjudge the amount of time it will take for the punch to reach you. You may slip too late and be hit by the punch.
A slip normally does not engage your hands, so you are free to use either hand to strike your opponent. However, in some instances, you may wish to combine your slip with a front- or rear-hand parry, for added safety. Even if you parry the punch while you slip, your other hand will still be free to counterattack. Another way to increase your safety is to combine a small sidestep with the slip. This opens up the distance a little bit farther from the punch but keeps you in range to counterstrike.
One of the advantages of slipping a punch is that you can counterattack, either immediately after the slip or at the same time that you slip. For instance, if you slip to the outside against your opponent’s lead punch, your lead hand can fire a simultaneous low punch to the mid-section (see Figure 18-2).
If you slip the punch to the inside, your rear hand can fire a simultaneous rear cross to your opponent’s midsection. Alternately, immediately after slipping the punch to the inside, you can follow with a lead hand shovel hook to the kidney or solar plexus.
• Bob and Weave: In this maneuver you bend your knees and drop your body forward at the waist, to move underneath your opponent’s swing or hooking punch to your head. This is known as the bob. As in the duck, as you bend your knees and drop down, keep your head up and your hands high. Keep your eyes focused in front toward your opponent. You need to be aware of the possibility that your opponent may try to throw a knee strike or a downward strike with a fist, elbow, or forearm while you are bobbing.
As your opponent’s arm goes past your head, you swing your body to the outside of the punch, and rise back up behind the arc of the punch. This movement is known as the weave. It puts you in a spot to the outside of your opponent’s attacking arm, where you can counter with your own strikes, but you must keep your guard up against any strikes from your opponent’s other hand.
If your opponent swings from your left to your right, you bob and weave to your left so that you end up outside the punch as it passes. Then you can strike your opponent along the right side. If your opponent swings from your right to your left, you bob and weave to your right, ending up outside the punch as it passes. This time, you can strike your opponent along the left side. You can combine the weave with a small sidestep, both to move you more rapidly outside the punch and to put you in a better position to counterstrike.
• Snap-Away: Another maneuver that is useful against straight punches is the snap-away. As the punch is thrown at your head, you quickly move your head and upper torso back to avoid being hit. You accomplish this by combining the snap-away with a heel-toe sway, in which you drop your rear heel down and raise your front heel (see Figure 18-3). As the punching arm retracts, you can rapidly move your head and torso back into their initial positions.
You can snap forward and punch with your lead hand when your opponent retracts his or her arm. This requires good timing and proper distance to accomplish. For added safety, you should have your rear hand high to parry the punch if it comes too close to your face. For even more security you can combine the snap-away with a slight footwork retreat, which can open up the distance, especially if your opponent uses a deeper punch such as a rear cross.
Blocking or Covering
The final type of defensive maneuver used in Jeet Kune Do is blocking, or covering. This involves placing something in the path of the strike, such as an arm or a leg. In blocking or covering your limb basically absorbs the force of the hit. You should generally use this type of defense only when you are unable to employ one of the others. Even if you manage to block or cover against a hit, it can still hurt you and disrupt your balance. You will still absorb the punishment of the blow, but on your limb rather than your head or other part of your body.
As an example, when your opponent throws a lead hook punch at your head, you can raise your elbow and press your forearm against your head to protect it against the blow. You will still feel the blow, but your arm will absorb most of the force. You can combine this with a small step away from the punch to reduce the impact of the blow.
Similarly, if your opponent throws a lead hook kick to your ribs, you can drop your elbow down to protect your body against the kick. Your arm will receive the brunt of the kick and absorb most of the force. Again, you can combine this with a small step away from the kick (see Figure 18-4).
Against a midlevel kick you can lift your leg so that the kick lands on your lower leg. This will protect your body as your lower leg receives the brunt of the kick. You want to avoid having the kick land directly upon your shin, however, because the impact of the kick upon the nerves there will be quite painful.
Although Jeet Kune Do stresses excellent attack skills, the student of Lee’s art must also develop solid defensive capabilities as well. Just as specific ways of attack are more successful against certain types of fighters than against others, you must also vary your defenses according to the type of opponent you face. This requires you to develop a wide range of defensive skills and strategies from which to draw. The better you can adapt to different opponents, the more likely you will be to mount an effective defense against them.
