BRUCE LEE UNDERESTIMATED

by: Patrick Strong

Just the other day I received word from a European writer who has written a number of articles on
Jeet Kune Do and, having known many of JKD's top people, is now completing a book on Bruce
Lee and his Jeet Kune Do. I enjoyed the discussion, but there was something in te writers
reporting that troubled me. It was the notion that Bruce Lee has been overestimated. Boy, how
many times on different jkd forums have I read that very same thing.
My response was just the opposite. I maintained that Bruce was not overestimated but, in fact,
that he was grossly UNDERESTIMATED! I went on to say that Bruce has never really received
proper credit for the TRUE DEPTH of his KNOWLEDGE. What he has been credited for was an
amazing exhibition of skills, breaking tradition, and the forming of a new martial art; and while
these thoughts can be appreciated and are certainly true, they are, at very best, very shallow. In
truth, Bruce had a scientific approach to martial art that began with a proven body of knowledge
containing a host of pragmatic principles and startling mechanical advantages.
As a researcher, he was not only interested in experimenting with new ideas and concepts, but
actually putting them to test and proving them out. As a young student of Wing Chun Gun Fu, he
was driven to prove that what he learned in the kwoon would work in the street. In Hong Kong,
Bruce Lee, his close friend and training partner, Hawkins Cheung, and a few other young men
gained deserving reputations as "The Rooftop Fighters". When not fighting in the street, Bruce
and Hawkins would meet go out of their way to meet other stylists on either a rooftop or is some
darkened garage, as such fights in Hong Kong were illegal.
Whenever either one of them would run into a problem in a fight they would not rest until they
figured out how to solve the problem. Fortunately, they had two wonderful sources to draw from.
There was Wong Sheung Leung (Hawkins says he was known as, "Crazy Leung"), who was the
most notorious battler of the Wing Chun clan, and one of the original Rooftop Fighters. Leung
was older than Bruce and Hawkins, but he took an interest in them. Bruce and Hawkins, in turn,
hung out with Leung to learn everything they could about real combat. Leung had been so
respected as a fighter that even though he was a wing chun man, fighters from the other systems
welcomed him as a referee even when fighting Wing Chun fighters. At the same time, Bruce and
Hawkins would go to Master, Yip Man who, behind closed doors, would analyze their queries and
give them special pointers to take into the street.
When Bruce packed his bags and left Hong Kong, he brought with him a unique fighting ability,
based on a set of highly unique principles and mechanics. So unique were they, that martial
artists in America would be amazed by his effectiveness. In 1959, Bruce gave a demonstration at
Edison Technical School in Seattle where he met James DeMille, a former U.S. Army Heavy
Weight boxing champion with over 100 fights in the ring. At 225 lbs, James was also a highly
reputed and feared street fighter, yet he was no match for Bruce at around 135 lbs who could tie
him knots and shut him down in an instant.
I remember when a karate sensei came over from Japan and challenged Bruce to a fight. After
the fight, the Sensei explained his injuries as being in a car accident. It is reported that Bruce,
after his fight with Won Jack Man, had been displeased with his performance and that is why he
began to change his art. I recall having had dinner with Bruce shortly after that fight. At that
moment, he had been most pleased with himself, considering that Won Jack Man was so very
difficult to hit because he kept running and spinning and way from Bruces attack. It wasn't until
Bruce was finally able to catch up to Man that they went to the ground where Bruce finished the
fight. Knowing Bruce, I give Won Jack Man tremendous credit for his skills in avoidance. I think
he was smart not to stand his ground with someone the likes of Bruce. At this period in Bruces

life, he believed in ending the fight quick within the first few seconds. But this fight went on a bit
with Bruce chasing his adversary with chain punches (straight blast). Anyone who has ever
thrown bunches of chain punches knows how easy it is to tire quickly, since the activity requires
involvement of Type II, Fast Twitch B muscle fibres for explosive outburst. Those type of fibres do
indeed tire quickly before giving over to Type II, Fast Twitch A fibres, that also tire fast.
Nevertheless, the outcome of a somewhat prolonged fight would have been adequate reason for
Bruce Lee to more closely examine his method. Obviously, he viewed it as a problem and, like in
the past, he set out to solve the problem.
I have told the story of how when in 1964 Ed Parker presented his first International Karate
Tournament in Long Beach, where he invited a young and virtually unknown Bruce Lee to come
and demonstrate his gung fu. For his demonstrators and forms competitors, Ed had had made
available a special room where they could rehearse. In the room surveying the talent was Sensei
Oshima, direct descendent of Funakoshi. Accompanying Sensei, Oshima was his highest ranking
black belt, Caylor Atkins, a legend in his own right, who told me this story. At the time, neither
Oshima nor Caylor had ever heard of Bruce Lee, nor had just about anyone else in the
auditorium. Only Ed Parker knew of Bruce's economy of motion, speed, and power that were so
incredibly unbelievable. Oshima and Atkins were standing in the center of the room when
Oshima's eyes fastened on a handsome young man. As Bruce walked past, Oshima pointed his
finger and said, "That one.. He is the only one here who can do anything"! Without having before
ever seen Bruce Lee, Oshima was able to sense the young mans ability simply by the way he
carried his body. My friends, this was in 1964. Jeet Kune Do, as such, had not yet been invented.
Shortly before Bruce has left Hong Kong, he and Hawkins went to train with an old man who had
mastered a number of gung fu styles. Although Bruce was only nineteen when he left Hong Kong
he had already developed himself as a martial artist and a fighter. In Seattle, he would go on to
train with an old man who had belonged to a Chinese ballet troupe (gung fu) and, who would take
on all challengers whenever the troupe had entered a new town. The old man, among his other
skills, was a Master of Red Boat Wing Chun. Bruce was already quite extraordinary. At 135 lbs.,
he could easily handle a 225 lb., U.S. Army Heavy Weight Boxing Champion/street fighter, not to
mention the other four boxers in the original Seattle group, and the three judoka, one of which
was a U.S. Judo Champion, Charlie Woo.
However, it was not Bruce the fighter that I feel is so much underestimated, rather Bruce the
martial artist. Bruce has been underestimated because the level of his knowledge has been
underestimated. Whatever people think JKD is all about, I can assure them that Bruce had his
personal JKD that consisted of a lot more than strong side forward, straight lead, straight blast,
some footwork, kicking, timing, etc. A lot more, indeed! In the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, page 24, is
one of my favorite sentences: It is not difficult to trim and hack off the non-essentials in outward
physical structure; however, to shun away, to minimize inwardly is another matter. Inwardly,
wrote Bruce. For a great deal of his personal training was to dig deep within himself. It was not
technique that mattered, but how the tools, themselves, worked in relation to the bodys structure.
To dig this deep he had to feel, explore, and analyze. He had to turn his study within to best learn
how to maximize forces without resorting to using muscular strength. He taught himself how to
use the short arcs of the joints, tendons, and bones for maximizing power. He eliminated intention
in his initial movement, because with it he would not be as fast. He eliminated choice reaction,
because it not only hamper his speed, but sacrificed the all-important beat in his timing. Instead,
he would make his opponent make the choices. This was the foundation for what he called his
Fistic Law, a worthwhile study unto itself. Bruce had gone within to study how to eliminate
tension. Tension at the wrong time could become a dangerous tool for the opponent to use
against you. A tense arm, shoulder, or body could act like a handle on a t-cup, giving the
opponent a tool to disrupt you. Bruces way was to not create a handle within himself, but instead
create the tool in his opponent.
How often have I heard knowledgeable martial artists and even kinesologists attribute Bruce

Lees amazing speed to having superior genetics, claiming that he must have been born rich with
the right kind of muscle fibres. The reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. To be
sure, Bruce Lee was faster than thought. Aside from the fact that he was in a trained state of
physical condition, his lightning speed was not the result of the proportion of genetically
prescribed, different types of muscle fibers. Rather, his speed was the direct result of unique
martial principles and mechanics, heightened by his own internal discoveries. In the scene with
the young monk in Enter the Dragon, Bruce slaps him on the forehead, telling him to feel or he
will miss all of that heavenly glory. Hawkins Cheung likes to call Bruce, "The fastest gun fighter".
Before Bruce came to the U.S. he was already greased lightning. Consider that there are four
kinds of speed: start speed, body speed, hand speed, and reaction speed. Bruce's greatest
speed was his start speed. Incredibly, it is the start speed where others are slow. Start speed is
how fast can you move from zero. In Enter the Dragon Bruce demonstrates his start speed in the
scene with O'hara (Bob Wall). The editor who cut the film watched the scene over and over again
and was not able to detect the beginning of Bruce's movement. It was as though Bruce had
finished without ever having started. He was just there! Bruce had fast hands and fast reaction
speed, but not the fastest by his own estimation. His fast hands were once again the result of
proper principles and mechanics, while his reaction speed was largely based on his ability to read
his opponent's intention. Joe Lewis has said that Bruce was the fastest man that ever stood
before him. After over 41 years in martial arts, I attest to the same.
Shortly before Bruce's death, Bruce and his old friend, Hawkins were able to spend some time
together. Of course, every second was dedicated to their love of fighting. As he had done before,
Bruce updated Hawkins on his own development. Finally, Hawkins asked him exactly what was
JKD? Bruce smiled and said, "Pak sao and hip". Pak sao and hip! That was Bruce's own
definition of Jeet Kune Do to his close friend and long time training partner, speaking in
Cantonese, and at a mutually very high level that few could arise to, or even begin to understand.
So then, what is pak sao? Translated, pak sao means "slapping hand". However, pak doesn't
really slap, at all. In reality, the technique of pak sao involves a great deal of information learned
by close attention to details. Be sure, pak and slap do not share the same energies, nor even the
same results. You may execute a slap, but not Bruce. His was pak! Nevertheless, pak sao has
still another meaning in wing chun. It's in the nature of the meaning whereby Bruce spoke when
he defined Jeet Kune Do as, "pak sao and hip". Pak sao's nature is to intercept. Thus, the name
Jeet Kune Do, The Way of the Intercepting Fist. Actually, there are only three ways to intercept.
Ahead of the opponent's beat, at the same time as his beat, or behind his beat. We call this a
half-beat ahead, same beat, or half- beat behind. To go a half-beat ahead is to go at his intention,
before he actually fires his muscles. In pak sao it means to cut off his movement. It means to
SHUT HIM DOWN! Translated, Jeet also means "to cut off". This cutting off was Bruce Lee's #1
specialty. Bruce could shut you down before you could go. You couldn't start because he already
hit at the very instant you intended to start. To go at the same beat as your opponent is to start at
the same time. The interception takes place in the area generally half-way between you and the
opponent, a little ahead or behind depending on the speed differences between you. This is a
good time to avoid, intersect, jam, dissolve, disrupt. To go a half-beat behind is good for slipping,
countering, and going to a takedown. All are within the concept of pak sao. The Five Ways of
Attack are based on these three timings. To go between the beats is to go behind one beat and
head of the other. Bruce said, "pak sao and hip". So what exactly did he mean by hip? It is the
action of the hip and all mechanics that effect it based on a unique set of principles learned and
studied in Wing Chun. People have said that Bruce Lee abandoned his Wing Chun. They say this
simply because they are not able to see the Wing Chun inside his Jeet Kune Do. Nevertheless,
the Wing Chun is there. And, it could be felt! Bruce's Wing Chun was in its principles and
mechanics that were at the beginning and in the final end of his punch, kick, trap, jam, or
whatever. It was the way his body worked as a unit, externally and internally. It was at the very
core of all that he did. It is how he hit so fast, so hard. It was why he could shut down and
overpower bigger and stronger men with relative ease. It was why his traps worked when so
many others claim that trapping does not work. Ask James DeMille, the heavy weight boxer

whether or not Bruces trapping worked. You may have all seen the photograph of Bruce doing an
isometric exercise on the Smith machine where it appears that he was strengthening his forearms
and biceps. In actuality, Bruce was training the structure of his hip. It was because of this
structure of the hip that he could raise huge dumbbells straight out in front of him like no
weightlifter could possibly dream of doing. Bruce modified his Wing Chun stance to the Jun Fan
stance, and then to the Jeet Kune Do stance, yet all shared the same hip structure for applying
huge forces with minimal effort, and with only the slightest adjustments. For the JKD'r who has
not trained the hip structure, he can never hope to achieve the same efficiency rating as did
Bruce, when using his methodology.
Bruce's start speed came from Non-intention, as he called it. Non-intention is NOT the same as
non-telegraph. I am always amazed at how Bruce came to figure out non-intention whose origin
came from Wing Chun. However, Bruce took Non-intention to another level. Bruce would often
demonstrate incredible feats of strength, power, and speed based on nothing more than mere
mechanical advantages. So incredible were the performances that onlookers could only doubt
their authenticity. The truth is that these extraordinary feats can be performed by almost anyone,
aside from two finger pushups and some his abdominal feats, but those too with practice.
At the core of Bruce's art, is what I refer to as his inner game. This is the part that you dont see,
but its the part that makes everything work as well as it does. It involves, among other things,
how structure can work in two separate modes, independently or together. The first mode is the
Physical Structure, the hip and tools. Second is what I call the Vital Structure. It is when the
Physical Structure is compromised that the Vital Structure must take over.
Bruce researched every avenue for improving himself. He also had the faculty to explore his own
kinesthetic awareness. In other words, he took the time to feel and analyze what he felt. He not
only looked to the outside, but he dared look to the inside where he reached not only for answers,
but for the very questions, themselves. And what came out of all of this was truly stunning. Bruce
had developed more than a martial art. He developed extraordinary means and certainties by
which an average person could aspire to and reach a true level of mastery. One last thing, to
learn to get to his personal truth, Bruce did not have to compete in the ring. He did it on rooftops
and in the street.