Bruce Lee's Fighting Method, Vol. 1: Self-Defense Techniques

Rating:
Summary: Bruce Lee's Fighting Method Vol. 1: Self Defense Techniques
Review:
Bruce Lee's Fighting Method: Self Defense Techniques, Volume 1

By Bruce Lee and M. Uyehara

This is the first volume out of four volumes titled "Bruce Lee's Fighting Method" written by Bruce Lee in 1966 but not published until after his death in 1973.

The introduction in this book also tells us that the very popular and informative "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" also written by Bruce Lee was written, "to complement this book." While this volume of "Bruce Lee's Fighting Method" illustrates simple examples of possible self defense scenarios without a lot of attention to detail concerning the more subtle, almost imperceptible reasoning integrated into the system of fighting Bruce Lee evolved from his intense analysis and examination of strengths and weaknesses of many martial art styles or systems, "the Tao of Jeet Kune Do" was written to formulate Bruce Lee's analysis and examination of elemental martial art systems into comprehensive theories which Bruce Lee would probably describe as his philosophy of martial arts.

While the various martial art systems of Asia represent traditional institutionalized philosophies of various styles, some of which have imposed religiously rigid ritual dogma in their practice and instruction methods, Bruce Lee sought to simplify the process of learning and practicing martial arts to make the process and the practitioners more efficient and effective by removing the deceptive policies and dogma of institutionalized martial arts which only exist to create a social structure in each of the various martial art institutions which exaggerates the accomplishments and abilities of socially promoted participants promoted on their participation in ritual performance and obedience to established authority in the hierarchy of institutionalized style rather than on their real level of skill attained in training and practice of self defense.

Bruce Lee believed that institutionalized imposition of ritually practiced kata was a mandatory prescription to fight in a dictated pattern of actions, which would be of no use to a martial art practitioner in a real fight without rules. In a real fight each person involved does not know how the other is going to engage and react in the fight. Surprise or unfamiliar situations can catch even the most experienced martial artists off guard when the martial artist finds himself in unexpected situations for which all his training has not prepared him. Furthermore, Bruce Lee recognized that structurally slow and impractically imposed reactions of prescribed tactics and techniques unproven in real fights could actually inhibit a person from performing as well as he or she might otherwise be able to with simpler, more direct tactics, techniques and intellectual preparation for the unexpected. Bruce Lee recognized that the purpose of learning to defend one's self in any martial art is not to execute complex, beautiful moves, but to come out of the fight with as little damage to one's self as possible, which sometimes requires inflicting as much pain and damage upon the opponent as required to subdue him or to render him harmless.

With the above mentioned perspective of Bruce Lee on his philosophy and theories of martial art practice in mind, the reader of this volume of "Bruce Lee's Fighting Method" might now understand the simplicity of reactions to each scenario illustrated in the sequence of photos contained in this book. It seems as though you might be able to sum his strategy of dealing with conflict as seizing initiative to act from an assailant with psychological and physical preparedness to deal as simply and directly as possible with any as yet unknown situation, which the assailant will produce.

You will not find clever, complex series of moves to deal with each assalt scenario in these volumes as you would find in books of classical institutionalized martial arts. The series of moves executed by those defending against the assalt scenarios are simple, almost common sense sequences of moves almost undifferentiated by the distinction of styles. I am not saying that Jeet Kune Do was not influenced by classical styles. It was. You can still see the influence of the Wing Chun style upon Bruce Lee in many of the scenarios. Some of the reactions to assalt scenarios in this book appear to be influenced by a blend of Jujitsu, western wrestling and even common street fighting. In other volumes of Bruce Lee's writing the influence of western boxing shows its traits in Bruce Lee's method of fighting. This brings me to the conclusion that Jeet Kune Do is a modern hard core, untraditional system trimmed of inefficient practices. More emphasis is upon psychological and physical alertness, quickness of perception and recognition of the situation at hand and preparedness perfectly timed to seize opportunity and initiative away from the assailant. The very name given to Bruce Lee's method of fighting, "Jeet Kune Do" translated as "the way of the intercepting fist" might be more quickly appreciated for its nature to those of us who speak english if it were a title to describe it such as "How to foil an assailant's attack at the instant he begins to move" instead of a name.

The name, "Jeet Kune Do" is obviously inspired from Bruce Lee's preferred method to react to an assalt whenever possible. Three examples of his preferred method are illustrated on pages 27, 28 and 29 of his "Self-Defense Techniques" Volume of his method of fighting which represents the epitome of trained conditioning to directly counter the initiative of the assailant without blocking, parrying or attempting to divert the assailant's attack. Bruce Lee called this particular technique a "stop-hit" or "stop-kick" and identifies it as one of the most advanced techniques requiring an advanced level of training in his "Tao of Jeet Kune Do". Never the less, he simply illustrates the concept of the technique on the pages of this book I have referred to above. Western boxing also trains beginners early to develop this technique, which is almost absent from some traditional classical martial arts until the practitioner is promoted to the level of black belt. Bruce Lee's movie performances of this method or technique demonstrates his mastery of it and are among the most impressive scenes of his performances, which distinguish him to this day from all other martial artists.

This book is small. It contains only 123 pages of very short, descriptive text to explain the photo sequences and short comments to clarify concepts, short details or training suggestions, etc. Most of each page is used to display very short, easy to understand photo sequences. The book is divided into seven chapters of categories of attack scenarios. This book by itself is a disappointment to any one who bought it wanting incite into Bruce Lee's dynamic fighting method. The Book gains appreciable value only when read with his "Tao of Jeet Kune Do." This book along with the other volumes of Bruce Lee's Fighting Method illustrates the concepts of the reasoning and analysis that make up the theories and philosophy contained in the Tao of Jeet Kune Do by the illustrated examples which are missing in the later.

By itself, I would rate the book at barely 3-stars. Together with the "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" it deserves 5-stars, even more so when the whole set is read together. It is like a puzzle you will not appreciate until you put together a more complete picture.

The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, however, can be appreciated by itself, but not without some amount of experience in Martial arts and the ability to think metaphorically. Again, in this case also, you would be putting together pieces of a puzzle to get a more complete picture.

Black Belt Magazine produced a companion video for this book and volume 2 of this book series of Bruce Lee's Fighting Method which is subtitled "Basic Training." The video is simply titled, "Bruce Lee's Fighting Method" with no reference to subtitles of the book volumes and is simply a video adaptation of the first two volumes. Richard Bustillo and Ted Wong perform the contents of the second volume first in the video, as it should be, followed by the contents of the first volume. It seems a little odd that the Basic Training would be covered in the second volume instead of the first because it is about warm up exercises and exercises to develop prerequisite fighting skills. The video, however, corrects this by reversing the sequence. Ted Wong is one of the original students who also is in the photographs in the books.
Richard Bustillo and Ted Wong simply demonstrate exactly what is in the book without ever speaking throughout the video. The text of the book volumes are narrated by a third party who is never seen. You can find this video by entering "Bruce Lee's Fighting Method" in Amazon.com's search box and selecting a VHS search. When you find the video listing on Amazon.com you can read my review of it.

Below I am listing titles of other books and videos which might interest you. You can find them by entering their titles in the search box. I hope that this review has been helpful to you.

Books:

ISBN: 0897500482 Tao of Jeet Kune Do
ISBN: 0897500512 Bruce Lee's Fighting Method Vol. 2: Basic Training
ISBN: 0897500520 Bruce Lee's Fighting Method Vol. 3: Skill in Techniques
ISBN: 0897500539 Bruce Lee's Fighting Method Vol. 4: Advanced Techniques
ISBN: 0897501241 Wing Chun Kung Fu/Jeet Kune Do: A Comparison


DVD:

ASIN: B00005R26B Jeet Kune Do
ASIN: B00009XN7V Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do
ASIN: B00009ZK6Y Jeet Kune Do - d

VHS:

ASIN: 1889877018 Bruce Lee's Fighting Method
ASIN: B00000I69B Bruce Lee's Fighting Method
ASIN: 1931363005 Street Safe I
ASIN: 1931363013 Street Safe II
ASIN: 1931363153 Street Safe III
ASIN: 1931363021 R.A.T. Fighting System


Rating:
Summary: More Bruce Lee
Review: An excellent book at the original date of publication. It is now very dated and has basic concepts and techniques. Yet, mastering the martial arts is nothing more then perfecting the basic and understanding and implementing the concepts. So this book is a must own for those Bruce Lee fans and will be acceptable to those interested in basic self-defense concepts. For other recommendations for books about self-defense or the martial arts please refer to my listmania suggestions.

Rating:
Summary: simple and effective enough
Review: Basically this is a how to manual with clear pictures of solutions for different self defense situations. Very suitable for beginners and to train at home, that's very good about this book. On the other hand I think some of the techniques are somewhat unrealistic because of high kicking and the defense against multiple attackers. The book is worth buying and a reasonable guide to train from, it gives you good guidelines. But don't expect too much of it.

Rating:
Summary: bruce lee's superiority in a simple way!
Review: before i became a orthomolecular-nutritionist, i practiced many years martial arts:jeet kune do (the method of bruce lee),thai-boxing,israeli krav-maga,ju-jitsu and boxing ,all of that for12 years.my experty was street fighting wich is the topic of this highly recommanded book. you can take it from me that this book is very practical even for proffesionals. bruce demonstrate the simplicity and effectiveness of street fighting in a veriety of situation that may cought you in the street such as:when someone is choking you from behind\or while getting or sitting in the car,against a knife\club attacks,in disadvantage positions like when you sit down on the ground,and a 2-3 attackers approaching at you.it is all cover with clear pictures and explanations,and much much more.it is true that it is not a replacement of a qualified instructor that can correct your errors while practicing,but it is one of the best books on self defence for the layperson,and not because it is the book of the greatest fighter,but because it is realy practical\effective\and easy to follow,and suitable against a dangerous attacker in the street.a very highly recommanded book(for woman as well as for man).

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Self Defense Book Ever!
Review: Bruce Lee was the greatest Martial artist of all time. In this book he shows his street self defense philosophy. I'm not kidding, buying this book was one of the best choices I've made in a long time. If you want the best techniques of self defense on the street buy this book. I promise you will not be upset. This book shows you the best ways to defend yourself against every type of attack imaginable. From single attackers, to multiple attackers, to suprise attacks, to attacks with weapons! It's like being trained by Bruce himself! A must buy!

Rating:
Summary: Bruce would be ashamed
Review: Do not be fooled! This book and all the others in this series are NOT written by Bruce Lee! They are written by a student of bruces named Mitoshi Uyehara. These books are just another immoral attempt to make money off of Bruces name. The books are really not very informative either, I would not recommend anyone wasting their money on this trash.

Rating:
Summary: knee kick, crotch punch
Review: Don't get me wrong. Bruce Lee is awesome and I love him and his art, but this book is terrible. I recently bought all four "Fighting Method" books and have read the first two thus far. I read the second one first, which is a really good book and gives you lots of tips on hitting, kicking, and training - I learned a lot from it, but this book wasn't very valuable at all. First of all, every page has about 3-4 pictures on it and a very small paragraph of 3-4 sentences at most. I read the entire book in about 30 minutes. All it does is go through some different senarios of possible attacks and shows you what to do in case they happen to you. I can some up all of the teachings in this book in one sentence - "When someone tries to attack you either kick them in the knee or punch them in the crotch." I do recommend Vol. 2, but leave Vol. 1 alone. You'll be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY
Review: Ehhm, Right !!! If you guys think this will ever safe your life in a street fighting forget guys. Why, isn't it about Street Fighting ? Yes, but nobody fights like that in REAL LIFE. You will never have the oportunity of fighting like that!!!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: Excellent book by Bruce Lee that shows how to defend yourself in various "street" scenarios. The examples shown are basic and straightforward, allowing the reader and practitioner the ability to easily grasp the defensive actions shown. Although some of the examples are unusual (ie - defense against a staff), they are still effective and easy to master. Very good book for anyone at any age, men and women! Other books I'd recommend based on his fighting style would be the rest of this series, as well as "The Bruce Lee Library" series by John Little. The "Tao Of Jeet Kune Do" is also an excellent book that includes his own personal notes and thoughts about his fighting art.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: Excellent book by Bruce Lee that shows how to defend yourself in various "street" scenarios. The examples shown are basic and straightforward, allowing the reader and practitioner the ability to easily grasp the defensive actions shown. Although some of the examples are unusual (ie - defense against a staff), they are still effective and easy to master. Very good book for anyone at any age, men and women! Other books I'd recommend based on his fighting style would be the rest of this series, as well as "The Bruce Lee Library" series by John Little. The "Tao Of Jeet Kune Do" is also an excellent book that includes his own personal notes and thoughts about his fighting art.