Customer Reviews

Bruce Lee's Fighting Method, Vol. 1

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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).

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 [...] 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
Bruce Lee's Fighting Method, Vol. 2: Basic Training (Bruce Lee's Fighting Method)
Bruce Lee's Fighting Method, Vol. 3: Skill in Techniques (Bruce Lee's Fighting Method)
Bruce Lee's Fighting Method, Vol. 4: Advanced Techniques (Bruce Lee's Fighting Method)
ISBN: 0897501241 Wing Chun Kung Fu/Jeet Kune Do: A Comparison


DVD:

Bruce Lee's Fighting Method - by Ted Wong and Richard Bustillo
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

Street Safe I by Paul Vunak
Street Safe II
Street Safe III
R.A.T. Fighting System

Legendary Bruce Lee (Literary Links to the Orient)

Being the author of several books on the martial arts and fighting, I am always looking for books of exceptional quality to add to my library. If I have a book in my library, it's definitely worth owning. One such book is Bruce Lee's and M. Uyehara's, "Bruce Lee's Fighting Method; Volume 1: Self-Defense Techniques."

As is stated in the introduction to this and the other three volumes in the series, Bruce Lee never intended for these books to be published. However, since his untimely passing, his wife Linda decided that she would allow them to be published. Something we should all be thankful for.

What I will attempt to do in this review is to give you a well-rounded grasp of what Bruce has written and demonstrated for you in this series of books. Although nothing can replace the value of a qualified and competent instructor, a well written book can still provide you with a wealth of knowledge if you know how to realize it and obtain it.

1. Defense Against a Surprise Attack:

a. The best defense against a surprise attack is not to be surprised by an attack.
b. Awareness is the key and should be practiced at all times.
c. Bruce demonstrates 4 different scenarios in which an attacker attempts to surprise him with an attack.

2. Defense Against An Unarmed Assailant:

a. Bruce stated that he felt you are wasting your time and energy by studying set patterns of forms (kata). On this particular point I have to agree and disagree at the same time. If you are studying the forms and practicing them for their intended purpose it is definitely not a waste of time. However, if you are studying them incorrectly, then yes I would have to agree that for the most part it would be a waste of time.
b. Bruce demonstrates 9 different scenarios for defending yourself against an unarmed attacker.

3. Defense Against Grabbing:

a. The best defense against being grabbed is not to let them grab you in the first place.
b. However, once you have been grabbed the most practical defense is to use your hands.
c. Bruce demonstrates 16 different scenarios from which to defend from. These include wrist grabs, arm grabs, belt or pants grabs, etc.

4. Defending Against Choke Holds and Hugs:

a. Once again, the best defense against a choke or a hug is not to let them grab a hold of you in the first place.
b. However, once you have been grabbed the best defense is the most simple and effective.
c. Remember, awareness of you and your surroundings is the key.
d. Bruce demonstrates 11 different scenarios from which to defend from. These include various chokes, bear hugs with and without your arms being pinned, etc.

5. Self-Defense Against An Armed Assailant:

a. "You are at a disadvantage against someone with a weapon, so keep away from him."
b. You must constantly practice in order to have a chance in this type of situation.
c. Demonstrated in this section are 9 different scenarios for defending yourself against an attacker armed with a stick or staff.
d. Demonstrated in this section are 4 different scenarios for defending yourself against an attacker armed with a knife.
e. Demonstrated in this section are 2 different scenarios for defending yourself against an attacker armed with a handgun.

6. Defense Against Multiple Assailants:

a. Defending yourself against more than one opponent at a time is always harder.
b. However, having said that, just because there is more than one attacker doesn't necessarily mean you are at a disadvantage. Sometimes there is a disadvantage in numbers.
c. Bruce demonstrates 8 different scenarios from which to defend from when fighting against more than one attacker at a time.

7. Defense from a Vulnerable Position:

a. Always remember, "Anything goes when defending yourself."
b. Bruce demonstrates 3 different scenarios from which to defend from when sitting in a chair.
c. Bruce demonstrates 4 different scenarios from which to defend from when lying down.

Like any well written book, as much as you can learn from this book by reading it, you can learn just as much if not more by reading between the lines. I particularly enjoyed the simplicity of what Bruce was trying to relay throughout this and pretty much all of his books. What may work well for one person, may not work at all for another. Therefore, you as an individual needs to research the techniques that are out there and find those that work best for you and use them. Remember, there are no superior martial arts, only superior martial artists.

WHEN BRUCE LEE FIRST STARTS TO EXPLAIN WHAT THE OBJECTIVE OF EACH TECHNIQUE IS IT CAN SEEM CONFUSING, BUT IF YOU PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE BOOK IT SOON CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AND FOLLOWED. BRUCE LEE CAN HELP THROUGH HIS BOOK TO TEACH YOU TO DEFEND YOURSELF, BUT HE ALSO WANTS YOU TO UNDERSTAND THAT NOT ALL OF THE INSTRUCTION SHOULD COME FROM A BOOK, AND THAT YOU SHOULD SEEK INSTRUCTION FROM SOMEONE WHO IS SKILLED IN THE ART OF JEET KUNE DO. HE ALSO EXPLAINS THAT THIS SERIES IS USED TO COMPLIMENT HIS OTHER BOOK "TAO OF JEET KUNE DO." BRUCE LEE WAS AN EXCELLENT AND TALENTED MARTIAL ARTIST AND KNEW THAT YOU HAD TO WORK FOR WHAT YOU WANT. SO DON'T EXPECT EVERYTHING TO BE HANDED TO YOU IN THIS BOOK. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN IT YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO PRACTICE, AND BE DEVOTED TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING. AFTER ALL PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.

In all honesty, I wonder if the other reviewers on here are rating the same book that I read.

This book is a collection of photo's of Bruce, in many normal streetfighting situations. And in each situation Bruce does a combination of photographed moves. Out of 125 pages, the book goes over possibly 40-50 situations. I really, really like the other books in the series, but volume 1 is a bust, and a complete waste. Save your money for Tao of Jeet Kune Do.

I only learned 2 things from this book. (1) Bruce loves to kick and (2) Bruce tells his students to attack in any way possible (ie. eye gouging, hair pulling, clawing).

Overall, this was a good book. The defences shown are very simple, and seem to embody a "just hit him" way of thinking. There are some escape techniques included, which make this book compatable in philosophy to the Krav Maga tape series. There are deficiencies, of course. There are no lessons on where to hit, or how to hit, and no chapters on awareness. Other books in this series basically cover the first two, and taken with them, this book is worth about ****. This book is best for someone with elementry knowledge of martial arts techniques, who wants to use those techniques for street defence. I think it CAN be useful to any schmoe who picks it up, but is better suited to someone who already knows how to throw a side kick. In conclusion, this book's strongest point is it's simplicity, while it's greatest weekness is the lack of awareness training.

Although you can't learn martial arts from a book, Lee's books are very good historical references from the late master. Lee was constantly changing and evolving his fighting arts and these books show a small slice in time of his fighting philosophy and techniques. The series is simple, yet interesting. Lee's Jeet Kune Do was to the 60s/70s what mixed martial arts is to modern times. These books certainly deserve a place on the shelf of any Bruce Lee fan.

This is volume one of a four book series. I always thought that this book should have been last. It tells you what to do if you are attacked in this or that way (like the oh so common scenario where you are attacked by a maniac with a bo staff). But the other three books will actually show you how to go about doing the moves that you are supposed to do in this book. This book will tell you to punch, but not how to punch. It's still kind of neat, and you might as well buy it if you have the other three in the set.

I could only give this book 3 stars because Bruce contradicts his teachings now and then. Most of the techniques are simple and straight forward, however, sometimes he'll throw in a kick to the face when it would be dangerous to do so. It makes for a good picture and that's what I like most about the book. Most pages have 2 or 3 photos of Bruce. Even in photographs I love to watch him perform. He was a great martial artist and all his intensity and expertise show through in the photographs.

The book is laid out in a clear, easy to follow format. Beginners will get the most out of it. For more experienced martial artists, enjoy the pictures.

Ted Weimann, author of Warrior Speed