Larry Hartsell on Jeet Kune Do ( Part 2 )

Some people say that if your opponent wants to grapple, you will end up grappling. You can avoid grappling if both of you want to keep your distance; but if either person wants to come in, the other person has no choice.

Exactly. If there’s going to be a fight, somebody’s got to come in at you — whether it’s in kicking, punching or grappling range. So kicking, punching and trapping ranges are used mainly to get into grappling range?. That’s one way. Would you ever stay out of grappling range on purpose and not go in? Yes. If a guy is physically stronger or moving quickly, I would probably stay back and let him come to me. My defense would be my offense.

Larry Hartsell on Jeet Kune Do ( Part 1 )

For years, martial artists have associated Larry Hartsell with two ultra-effective fighting concepts: grappling and jeet kune do. Bruce Lee’s system will forever stand at the forefront of martial arts popularity, and now that proponents of Brazilian jiu-jitsu have focused the world’s attention on the effectiveness of ground fighting, grappling is in vogue.

This naturally brings us to Larry Hartsell — an expert in both ways of fighting — as he twists Black Belt into a knot and chokes us into submission. At the mercy of his elbow lock and hook punch, we bring you the following interview.

Could you begin by discussing your martial arts background?

Fighting Ranges of Jeet Kune Do

Nearly everyone has heard of the four ranges of combat: kicking, punching, trapping and grappling. They are perhaps most often associated with training in jeet kune do, in which students seek to acquire different skills from different arts to prepare themselves to fight in any situation.

Yet there’s another set of ranges — only three this time — in JKD training. They are the high, middle and low ranges. If you train to strategically use them, you can transform yourself into a smarter fighter and your opponent into a blithering fool who gets taken out of commission more quickly, more easily and more efficiently.

One Inch Punch

The one-inch punch is a punching exercise from Chinese martial arts (kung fu) performed at a range of 0–15 cm (0–6 in). The one-inch punch was popularised by actor and martial artist Bruce Lee. It is designed to improve punching power and technique.

It is commonly believed by experts and kung fu enthusiasts that the one-inch punch skill comes only from the Wing Chun system of kung fu. However, it is present in many styles of Southern Chinese martial arts. As a general rule, Southern Chinese martial arts rely mostly on hand techniques from very close quarters (as opposed to Northern Chinese martial arts which focus more on kicking techniques from medium to long distances). Because the Southern styles martial artists were often fighting nose-to-nose with their opponents, they had to learn a way to deal out punishing blows even while almost touching their target.

Chinatown JKD Association

The Chinatown JKD Association serves as a platform for dissemination of the Jeet Kune Do material taught by Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto at the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute:

Los Angeles Branch, while maintaining a focus on personalization and continued growth in the martial arts as advocated by Sijo Lee.

The organization's directors have compiled as a foundation, all of the techniques and training methods handed down by first-generation Bruce Lee student Bob Bremer and long-time JKD practitioner, author, and instructor Tim Tackett.

The Way Of The Intercepting Fist

Bruce Lee developed an art that was particular to him and he called it Jeet Kune Do (JKD). The Chinese characters around the symbol and the core philosophical tenet behind JKD translate to “Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation”. The term Jeet Kune Do was coined around 1967 by Bruce Lee in an attempt to put a name to his expression of his martial way. Lee wrestled with putting a name to his art as he constantly veered away from any type of crystallization of its essence, however, the simple need to refer to it in some concrete way won out and Jeet Kune Do was born.

The techniques and the philosophies of JKD apply to real life situations and real combat. Jeet Kune Do consists of physical techniques and applied philosophies and requires the practitioner to train him or herself to their most combat ready state so that when faced with a particular situation, the tools needed are readily available.