form in executing the physical components of JKD makes the underlying elements—balance, economy of form, and efficient mechanics—possible. The rewards of good form, as you’ll soon see, are increased force production, leverage, mobility, speed, elusiveness, and longevity—to name a few. Everything stems from good form.
C O N S T R U C T I N G T H E S T A N C E
S T R O N G S I D E F O R W A R D
There’s been some dispute over which hand leads, but you only have to go to the source— Bruce Lee’s writings—to find that the right hand is always referenced as the lead hand, because “in this stance, you will attack mostly with the right hand and right foot just as a boxer in his left stance uses mainly his left jab, hook, etc.”3 Of course, you only need to watch Bruce’s films and sparring footage to see that the right hand is the main weapon.
M I R R O R, M I R R O R, O N T H E W A L L. . .
Before we get started with constructing the stance, I recommend that you find yourself a reflective surface to practice in front of. As you are learning the basics of the stance, the mirror will give you invaluable feedback. In the beginning, you’ll need it to check your alignment, because your body doesn’t yet know how to achieve the proper form. With the visual feedback, though, you’ll progress much faster. As you train your body, you’ll be able to wean yourself away from the mirror, and you’ll be able to feel when you’re doing things properly.
Which brings us to the second advantage of visual feedback. As you become more technically proficient, you’ll use the cues acquired from mirror training to visualize technique. You’ve probably heard about the way elite athletes use mental imagery to prepare for competitive events. Our greatest athletes sometimes talk of almost stepping outside themselves and seeing themselves perform. If you train in front of a mirror correctly, your mental imagery becomes that much more vivid. Mirror training, then, is not just for beginners but for fighters of any level.4 See Figure 5.
Figure 5: Until you have proper body feel, checking your technique in front of a mirror is the only way to know your form is correct.
T H E F E E T
As I’ve already mentioned, everything begins and ends with the on-guard position. The stance was designed so that the most effective punch—the straight lead—could be initiated from this position with the least motion. To construct the stance, let’s start from the bottom, the feet.
In the beginning, you’ll want to find a surface like a basketball or squash court that has marked lines. Or you might want to use some chalk or tape to make your own lines. It may sound like splitting hairs, but by the end of this chapter, you’ll see why we’re such sticklers for precision.
Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulders’ width apart. Line your right toe up along the line so that your right foot makes about a thirty-degree angle with the line. See Figure 6.
Figure 6: The front foot should form a thirty-degree angle with the line that points toward your target.
Now position your left foot so that the line runs directly under the arch. Raise your left heel, à la Nadi, and turn your left toe in slightly. You should feel all the weight of your left side concentrated on the ball of your left foot. See Figure 7.
Figure 7: All of your power originates from the raised left heel.
Be careful not to raise your left heel so high that you have no more room from which to spring into action. An excessively raised heel will also cause you to be top-heavy, placing your center of gravity in an unfavorable position. Nadi recommended that the left heel be raised approximately half an inch.5 See Figure 8.
You’ll find Nadi’s influence on JKD in Bruce’s notes:
Unlike the traditional flat-footed practice, the left heel is raised and cocked, ever-ready to pull the trigger and go into action.
The left heel is the spark plug, or better still, the piston of the whole fighting machine.6
Compare these observations with their source, Nadi’s On Fencing:
The left leg is not just a prop. It is the spark plug, or better still the piston of the whole fencing machine. . . raising the heel ever so little, you cock the leg ready to pull the trigger and go into action.7
Figure 8: Raise the left heel just enough, but not so high that leverage is compromised.
What both Nadi and Bruce were trying to convey is that much of the potential energy that is unleashed by a fencing lunge or straight lead, respectively, is stored in that left foot. To properly release that energy, though, the heel must be raised, giving spring to the arch of the foot and providing a push-off point in the ball of the foot.
T H E L O W E R B O D Y
Moving up, we now need to properly align the legs. Again, they will be a little wider than shoulders’ width apart, knees slightly bent. We’ve just discussed potential energy in relation to foot position. The same applies to the legs, for it is the left leg that will exert pressure on the ball of the foot, causing the spring so necessary to the straight lead.
Because you will want to propel all your body weight forward, you do not want to waste any extra energy overcoming unnecessary inertia. This is why you want to feel all your weight, all your potential energy, concentrated on the inside, or medial sides, of your legs. If your feet are positioned correctly, you should already be feeling this. See Figure 9.
Figure 9: Left knee correctly turned slightly inward. You should feel all of your weight on the medial sides of your legs.
If you feel some of your weight rolling toward the outside of your foot, you will be slower to initiate the push-off. Again, we want to waste as little energy and time as possible, so not having your weight concentrated in the optimal position prior to throwing a punch is counterproductive, a bit like running uphill. This is why the left toe should be slightly turned inward. Doing this means that we’ll have less inertia to overcome when trying to spring forward. See Figure 10.
Also important to the storing of potential energy is what Bruce referred to as the “small phasic bent-knee stance,”8 The bend in the knees gives you greater flexibility and mobility, allowing you to spring into action at will. Obviously, if you start from a straight-leg position, you have nowhere left to spring from, and, therefore, no way of generating power. From a defensive perspective, bent knees allow you to give a little when receiving punches, taking some of the force out of a blow. And perhaps the most important advantage of a bent-knee stance is that it places your center of gravity in the optimal position—in other words, it enables you to achieve balance.
Figure 10: Left knee incorrectly turned outward.
Your weight will roll outward, slowing your punch.
B A L A N C E
“Center of gravity” is simply defined as the point around which an object’s weight is equally distributed. Suppose you were to throw a baseball bat. You would notice the bat wobbling around the fat end, where the majority of its mass is located. The wobbling occurs about its center of gravity. If, on the other hand, you were to throw a baseball, which is a symmetrical object, it would not wobble, because its center of gravity is located at its center. The way the human body is structured