Jeet Kune Do: is it useful in a street fight?
In choosing a martial art, one of the questions that keep popping out of a person’s mind is if the said martial art is good for actual fights and self-defense. There are numerous martial arts that focus on competitions and flashy moves making them not effective in real-life situations. But is Jeet Kune Do one of them? It is useful in street fights? Let’s find out.
Jeet Kune Do is useful and good in a street fight because it is a martial art that focuses on efficiency. In fact, JKD prefers having effective techniques rather than flashy ones which makes them useful in a real-life scenario. Lastly, it is a combination of effective moves from other martial arts making it ideal for street fights.
In this article, we are going to discuss Jeet Kune Do in a street fight. We will see why it is really good and their philosophy when it comes to fighting.
Is Jeet Kune Do good in a street fight?
Jeet Kune Do is good for street fighting because it is a collection of the best moves from other martial arts. Furthermore, they have a wide variety of strikes that are very useful in fighting multiple enemies at the same time making them good at real-fight scenarios.
Bruce Lee created JKD for “Street fighting”. Thus it is very effective in street fights. But they’re also pretty useful on MMA.
JKD has lots of strategies that are pretty useful in MMA.
While their effective techniques take a huge time to learn. When learned, it was very useful in real-life situations.
JKD’s moves are actually pretty good in actual fight scenarios. In fact, JKD values practical knocks, hard knocks, and energy efficiency.
Since it is not only effective but energy-efficient, learning Jeet Kune Do is a good idea to protect yourself in a street fight.
Jeet Kune Do is actually a philosophy of martial arts. It is not a martial art that hates change,
Compared to other martial arts, Jeet Kune Do accepts change especially if the newer moves are better. This made the martial art evolve over time to be even useful in street fights.
That’s why in Jeet Kune Do, one of the basic principles is this: “Take what works, throw away the rest.”
It has a set of strong principles that can be applied to real-life combat such as movements.
When it comes to principles, it is also good to know that Jeet Kune Do is not a martial art that forces fights.
In fact, Jeet Kune Do lessons have discipline and respecting others aside from learning martial art.
They try their best to avoid any conflict and to respect others which is why I think that even if Jeet Kune Do is very strong, their practitioners are generally humble.
But back to its effectiveness in street fighting.
Jeet Kune Do’s principles encourage you to consciously choose techniques that work very well.
Your teacher will surely impart the same thinking, but each lesson has its own aspect of the program.
Even if Jeet Kune Do schools are not actually standardized, it doesn’t really matter much. The fact that the basic principle of Jeet Kune Do is to use strong moves, it is effective in real situations.
This is one of its difference to boxing which I discussed in a separate article. In boxing, the focus of training is competitions.
This means that their goal in practicing is to win matches.
However, because of the limitations of boxing, it’s not that good in actual fights.
In actual fights, Jeet Kune Do will be better.
If you are interested in that article, you can find it here: Which is better: Boxing or Jeet Kune Do
No matter what Jeet Kune Do school you enroll, they all learn the same things, and they all have these techniques with only a few minor differences.
Generally speaking, Jeet Kune Do has great principles in street fighting and martial arts.
If your teacher is well trained and experienced, you should be good in most situations. “Street fighting” is a very broad term that includes matches with several people that has no rules.
While it is effective, it is also wise to just stay away from fights.
The great thing about JKD is that it captures a lot of effective elements and is based on kickboxing, which I think is the best street fighting skill.
The reason is that kickboxing has a variety of strikes which is more than boxing, and uncommon for grappling sports like Jiu-Jitsu.
While Jiu-Jitsu is a good martial art to learn and is effective in street fighting, it can’t be used if you have multiple enemies.
Holding an enemy with BJJ leaves you open for strikes.
That’s why a striking type of martial art is ideal for these scenarios and that’s where kickboxing comes.
But, Jeet Kune Do is a mixture of multiple martial arts such as Wing Chin, Kick Boxing, Fencing, and so much more.
That’s why if Kickboxing is effective in street fights, it can also be said that Jeet Kune Do is also if not better than Kickboxing.
This is also true since Jeet Kune Do teaches how to attack and defend at the same time.
I like the idea of attacking and defending at the same time which is usually helpful in real fight scenarios.
In addition to the usual types of moves you’ll learn for matches, you will also learn neck, spine, and front knee in JKD.
In addition to falling, you will learn to fight with combinations of boxing and kicking that are strong, proven, and enough to adapt to stressful situations.
Basically, there are other tools in Jeet Kune Do to implement the knockout. Thus, Jeet Kune Do is very useful when you are trained properly, as this style is not just a mix but an effective mix of martial arts.
As you can see, Jeet Kune Do can be very useful, but you need to exercise and practice regularly to learn JKD. It is also good to learn it with a partner since they have moves that are quite hard to master alone.
I have made a separate article discussing if it is good to learn Jeet Kune Do. In that article, you’re going to learn if it is good martial art to learn, how easy it is, and more. Here is the article, check it out if you’re interested: Is Jeet Kune Do a Good Martial Art to Learn?
How good is Jeet Kune Do for self-defense?
Jeet Kune Do is very effective for self-defense. Not only does it have a variety of blocks to choose from, but it also teaches how to properly dodge in actual fights. Furthermore, it is also one of the martial arts that teaches how to attack and defend at the same time.
Jeet Kune Do is an effective art of fighting.
Since Jeet Kune Do focuses on effective defense and attack. Thus, it is a good martial art for self-defense.
Jeet Kune Do has a large amount of foundation from other martial arts. That’s why it is considered as a mix of multiple martial arts.
By combining the best techniques from multiple martial arts, it can easily be seen that Jeet Kune Do is good and practical for self-defense.
That’s why Bruce Lee used a variety of boxing techniques, including roller blocks and a forearm.
JKD emphasizes practical punches, hard blocks, and punches, and the efficient use of energy makes learning Jeet Kune Do great defending yourself.
Plus, it teaches how to defend and attack at the same time.
Jeet Kune Do also emphasizes the personal expression of the individual.
It is considered to be an art of self-defense that adapts to the abilities of the opponent regardless of who they are.
Lee emphasized the use of art for personal development and concern for individuality
