Maurice Teague – Jeet Kune Do Cross Training Materclass

MAURICE TEAGUEMaurice ‘Mo’ Teague is a BCA Coach with the greatest practical, real-world experience of anybody in the Association.
Few people could aspire to his impressive, practical background.
He began his martial arts career in traditional Shotokan Karate over 27 years ago and has subsequently trained in Wing Chun, Tai Chi, Muay Thai, Boxing, Sambo, Judo, Eskrima, and JKD.
He works as an Instructor for Grand Master Richard Bustillo of the IMB Academy in Los Angeles, California, as well as Rick Faye.
Mo served in an Infranty Regiment for 15 years, witnessing active duty in Northern Ireland, including Covert Ops, and front-line involvement in the Gulf War.
Mo worked as a weapons and tactics teacher, arrest and restraint instructor, and search adviser during this time (IEDs).
Mo’s practical expertise with ‘Street’ engagements stems from almost ten years of door work, including two years working alone in a bikers pub.
He has served as a bodyguard and was a member of the Guardian Angels’ UK branch.
Mo’s expertise is unparalleled, with over 300 street encounters, including knife strikes.
This session was taped during our BCA seminar in April 2005.
Mo works on his ‘SSTTM’ Model, which includes a confrontational Map and a ‘Physical Options’ system to assist individuals in surviving violent confrontations.
“Mo” Teague began his martial arts training in Karate, Judo, Boxing, Sambo, Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Silat, Wing Chun, Tai Chi, and Jeet-Kune-Do over thirty years ago.
He served in an elite British army infantry unit for fifteen years, experiencing active action four times.
A covert surveillance unit member who is also a member of The Guardian Angels.
I was a bodyguard.
I worked as a bouncer for almost ten years and witnessed over 300 street fights.
Bouncers and bodyguards are now being trained.
Special Forces and law enforcement organizations are taught.
DO JEET KUNE
Jeet Kune Do (Chinese:, Cantonese: Jitkyùndou, Jyutping: Zit6 Kyun4 Do6, Pinyin: Jiéquándào lit. “Way of the Intercepting Fist,” sometimes “Jeet Kun Do,” “JKD,” or “Jeet Kuen Do”) is a hybrid martial arts style and life philosophy developed by Bruce Lee in 1967.
Jeet Kune Do is largely a hand-to-hand combat style.
The approach is based on the usage of several ‘tools’ for various scenarios.
These scenarios are divided into ranges (Kicking, Punching, Trapping, and Grappling), with methods flowing seamlessly between them.
It is also known as a “style without style.”
Unlike more traditional martial arts, Jeet Kune Do is a philosophy with guiding concepts rather than a set or systematic technique.
The Bruce Lee Foundation agreed to adopt the term Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do () to refer to Lee’s martial arts style in 2004.
Lee’s Chinese given name was “Jun Fan,” hence the direct translation is “Bruce Lee’s Way of the Intercepting Fist.”
Lee’s outlook
Bruce Lee named his martial technique and philosophy Jeet Kune Do (JKD) in 1967.
When Lee first started exploring other combat methods, he gave his martial art the name Jun Fan Gung Fu.
However, instead of creating another style with the constraints that all styles have, he offered us the method that generated it.
Bruce Lee stated, “I have not devised a “new style,” composite, modified, or otherwise, that is set apart from “this” way or “that” approach.”
On the contrary, I wish to liberate my audience from sticking to trends, patterns, or molds.
Remember that Jeet Kune Do is only a term, a mirror through which we may view “ourselves…”
Jeet Kune Do is not a formal organization to which one can belong.
Either you understand or you don’t, and that’s the end of the matter.
My personal style is unmistakable.
My motions are straightforward, direct, and non-classical.
Its outstanding aspect is its simplicity.
Every action in Jeet Kune-Do is self-contained.
There’s nothing phony about it.
I always feel that the easiest path is the best one.
Jeet Kune-Do is just the straightforward expression of one’s sentiments with as little movements and energy as possible.
The closer you go to the actual style of Kung Fu, the less expression you waste.
Finally, a Jeet Kune Do practitioner who claims that Jeet Kune Do is entirely Jeet Kune Do is just not on board.
He is still hooked up on his self-closing resistance, which is now fastened down to a reactive pattern, and he is naturally confined by another modified pattern and can only move within its bounds.
He hasn’t accepted the notion that truth exists outside of all molds; pattern and awareness are never mutually incompatible.
Let me remind you that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name for a boat, and once over, it is to be dumped, not carried on one’s back. – Bruce Lee
Modern The ideology of Jeet Kune Do JKD as it exists now — if one considers it “refined” as a product rather than a process — is what was left after Bruce Lee’s death.
It is the product of Lee’s life-long martial arts development process.
Bruce Lee claimed that his notion is a winnowing out rather than a “adding to” of more and more items on top of each other to construct a system.
Lee took from Chan Buddhism the metaphor of repeatedly filling and then emptying a cup to describe his concept of “throwing aside what is worthless.”
He also applied the sculptor’s concept of starting with a lump of clay and chopping away at the “unessentials” until he arrived at what he called the basic combat necessities, or JKD.
Wing Chun inspired the fundamental ideas of JKD.
Centerline control, vertical punching, trapping, and forward pressure are all examples of this.
Lee blended principles from boxing and fencing into his personal studies and readings.
Later in the creation of Jeet Kune Do, he would broaden the art to incorporate personal growth as well as being a better combatant.
To demonstrate Lee’s point of view, in a 1971 Black Belt Magazine article, Lee stated: “Let me state unequivocally that I have NOT produced a new style, composite, or modification.
I have not established Jeet Kune Do as a distinct form regulated by regulations distinguishing it from ‘this’ style or ‘that’ approach.
On the contrary, I aim to liberate my compatriots from the shackles of fashions, trends, and beliefs.”
One of the JKD views is that a fighter should do whatever is necessary to protect oneself, regardless of the source of the tactics.
One of Lee’s aims with Jeet Kune Do was to dismantle what he saw as limiting aspects in traditional martial arts training and to pursue a fighting thesis that he felt could only be found in the reality of a battle.
Jeet Kune Do is now regarded as the origin of the present state of hybrid martial arts.
Jeet Kune Do not only encourages the blending of characteristics of several systems, but it may also adjust many of the aspects that it embraces to fit the practitioner’s ability.
Furthermore, JKD believes that every practitioner be permitted to interpret and adapt procedures for their own goals.
For example, Lee almost always chose to put his power hand in the “lead,” with his weaker hand back, within this stance he used elements of Boxing, Fencing and Wing Chun.
Just like fencing, he labeled this position the “On Guard” position.
Lee incorporated this position into his JKD as he felt it provided the best overall mobility.
He felt that the dominant or strongest hand should be in the lead because it would perform a greater percentage of the work.
Lee minimized the use of other stances except when circumstances warranted such actions.
Although the On-Guard position is a good overall stance, it is by no means the only one.
He acknowledged that there were times when other positions should be utilized.
Lee felt the dynamic property of JKD was what enabled its practitioners to adapt to the constant changes and fluctuations of live combat.
He believed that these decisions should be done within the context of “real combat” and/or “all out sparring” and that it was only in this environment that a person could actually deem a technique worthy of adoption.
Bruce Lee did not stress the memorization of solo training forms or “Kata”, as most traditional styles do in their beginning-level training.
He often compared doing forms without an opponent to attempting to learn to swim on dry land.
Lee believed that real combat was alive and dynamic.
Circumstances in a fight change from millisecond to millisecond, and thus pre-arranged patterns and techniques are not adequate in dealing with such a changing situation.
As an anecdote to this thinking, Lee once wrote an epitaph which read: ‘In memory of a once fluid man, crammed and distorted by the classical mess.
‘ The “classical mess” in this instance was what Lee thought of classical martial arts.
Bruce Lee’s comments and methods were seen as controversial by many in his time, and still are today.
Many teachers from traditional schools disagreed with his opinions on these issues.
The notion of cross-training in Jeet Kune Do is similar to the practice of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
Many consider Jeet Kune Do to be the precursor of MMA because of its syncretic nature.
This is particularly the case with respect to the JKD “Combat Ranges”.
A JKD student is expected to learn various combat systems within each combat range, and thus to be effective in all of them.
PrinciplesThe following are principles that Lee incorporated into Jeet Kune Do.
He felt these were universal combat truths that were self evident and would lead to combat success if followed.
The “4 Combat Ranges” in particular are what he felt were instrumental in becoming a “total” martial artist.
This is also the principle most related to mixed martial arts.
JKD practitioners also subscribe to the notion that the best defense is a strong offense, hence the principle of “Intercepting”.
Lee believed that in order for an opponent to attack someone they had to move towards them.
This provided an opportunity to “intercept” that attack or movement.
The principle of interception covers more than just intercepting physical attacks.
Lee believed that many non-verbals and telegraphs (subtle movements that an opponent is unaware of) could be perceived or “intercepted” and thus be used to one’s advantage.
The “5 Ways of Attack” are attacking categories that help Jeet Kune Do practitioners organize their fighting repertoire and comprise the offensive portion of JKD.
The concepts of Stop hits & stop kicks and simultaneous parrying & punching were borrowed from European Fencing and Wing Chun’s theory of simultaneous defending and attacking, and comprise the defensive portion of JKD.
These concepts were modified for unarmed combat and implemented into the JKD framework by Lee.
These concepts also complement the other principle of interception.
Be like waterLee believed that martial systems should be as flexible as possible.
He often used water as an analogy for describing why flexibility is a desired trait in martial arts.
Water is infinitely flexible.
It can be seen through, and yet at other times it can obscure things from sight.
It can split and go around things, rejoining on the other side, or it can crash through things.
It can erode the hardest rocks by gently lapping away at them or it can flow past the tiniest pebble.
Lee believed that a martial system should have these attributes.
JKD students reject traditional systems of training, fighting styles and the Confucian pedagogy used in traditional kung fu schools because of this lack of flexibility.
JKD is claimed to be a dynamic concept that is forever changing, thus being extremely flexible.
“Absorb what is useful; Disregard that which is useless” is an often quoted Bruce Lee maxim.
JKD students are encouraged to study every form of combat possible.
This is believed to expand one’s knowledge of other fighting systems; to both add to one’s arsenal as well as to know how to defend against such tactics.
Economy of motionJKD students are told to waste no time or movement.
When it comes to combat JKD practitioners believe the simplest things work best.
Economy of motion is the principle by which JKD practitioners achieve “efficiency” describe in the three parts of JKD.
Utilizing this principle conserves both energy and time.
Energy and time are two crucial components in a physical confrontation that often leads to success if employed efficiently.
In combat situations maximizing one’s energy is beneficial in maintaining physical activity.
Likewise minimizing the time to execute techniques because of traveling less distance is beneficial in that the opponent has less time to react.
Stop hits & stop kicksThis means intercepting an opponent’s attack with an attack of your own instead of a simple block.
JKD practitioners believe that this is the most difficult defensive skill to develop.
This strategy is a feature of some traditional Chinese martial arts, as well as an essential component of European épée fencing.
Stop hits & kicks utilize the principle of economy of motion by combining attack and defense into one movement thus minimizing the “time” element.
Simultaneous parrying & punchingWhen confronting an incoming attack, the attack is parried or deflected and a counter attack is delivered at the same time.
Not as advanced as a stop hit but more effective than blocking and counter attacking in sequence.
This is also practiced by some Chinese martial arts.
Simultaneous parrying & punching utilizes the principle of economy of motion by combining attack and defense into two movements thus minimizing the “time” element and maximizing the “energy” element.
Efficiency is gained by utilizing a parry rather than a block.
By definition a “block” stops an attack whereas a parry merely re-directs an attack.
Redirection has two advantages: It requires less energy to execute.
It utilizes the opponents energy against them by creating an imbalance.
Efficiency is also gained in that the opponent has less time to react to the nullification of their attack while having to worry about defending an incoming attack.
High kicksJKD practitioners believe they should target their kicks to their opponent’s shins, knees, thighs, and mid section.
These targets are the closest to the foot, provide more stability and are more difficult to defend against.
However, as with all other JKD principles nothing is “written in stone”.
If a target of opportunity presents itself, even a target above the waist, one could take advantage of the situation without feeling hampered by this principle.
Maintaining low kicks utilizes the principle of economy of motion by reducing the distance a kick must travel thus minimizing the “time” element.
Low kicks are also more difficult to detect and thus guard against.
The four ranges of combatKickingPunchingTrappingGrapplingJeet Kune Do students train in each of these ranges equally.
According to Lee, this range of training serves to differentiate JKD from other martial arts.
Lee stated that most but not all traditional martial systems specialize in training at one or two ranges.
Bruce Lee’s theories have been especially influential and substantiated in the field of Mixed Martial Arts, as the MMA Phases of Combat are essentially the same concept as the JKD combat ranges.
As a historical note, the ranges in JKD have evolved over time.
Initially the ranges were categorized as short or close, medium, and long range.
[4] These terms proved ambiguous and eventually evolved into their more descriptive forms although there may still be others who prefer the three categories.
Five Ways Of AttackSingle Angle Attack (SAA)/Single Direct Attack (SDA).
Is a single motion (Punch or Kick) which moves with no effort to conceal it, directly to the target on the most economical route.
It can also be indirect, beginning on one line and ending on another.
Such as a punch that starts to the stomach (mid line) and ends on the chin (high line).
SAA is an attack that is launched from an unanticipated angle that is achieved by moving in such a way as to create an open line into which to strikeHand Immobilization Attack (HIA) and its counterpart Foot Immobilization attack, which make use of trapping/parrying to limit the opponent’s function with that appendage.
Progressive Indirect Attack (PIA).
Simulating an attack to one part of the opponent’s body followed by attacking another part as a means of creating an opening.
Attack By Combinations (ABC).
This is using multiple rapid attacks, with volume of attack as a means of overcoming the opponent.
[6]Attack By Drawing (ABD).
The goal when using attack by draw is to “draw” the opponent into a committed attack by baiting him into what looks like an exposed target, then intercepting his/her motion.
One can execute a motion that invites a counter, then counter attack them as he takes the bait.
[7][edit] Three Parts of JKDJKD practitioners believe that techniques should contain the following properties:Efficiency – An attack that reaches its mark using the maximum amount of energy and applying it to a single point in the least amount of time.
Directness – Doing what comes naturally in a learned way.
Simplicity – Thinking in an uncomplicated manner; without ornamentation.
CenterlineThe centerline refers to an imaginary line running down the center of one’s body.
The theory is to exploit, control and dominate your opponent’s centerline.
All attacks, defenses and footwork are designed to preserve your own centerline and open your opponent’s.
Lee incorporated this theory into JKD from Wing Chun.
This notion is closely related to maintaining control of the center squares in the strategic game chess.
The three guidelines for centerline are:The one who controls the centerline will control the fight.
Protect and maintain your own centerline while you control and exploit your opponent’s.
Control the centerline by occupying it.
Combat realismOne of the premises that Bruce Lee incorporated in Jeet Kune do was “combat realism”.
He insisted that martial arts techniques should be incorporated based upon its effectiveness in real combat situations.
This would differentiate JKD from other systems where there was an emphasis on “flowery technique” as Lee would put it.
Lee claimed that flashy “flowery techniques” would arguably “look good” but were often not practical or prove ineffective in street survival and self-defense situations.
This premise would also differentiate JKD from other “sport” oriented martial arts systems that where geared towards “tournament” or “point systems”.
Lee felt that these systems were “artificial” and fooled its practitioners into a false sense of true martial skill.
Lee felt that because these systems favored a “sports” approach they incorporated too many rule sets that would ultimately handicap a practitioner in self defense situations.
He also felt that this approach to martial arts became a “game of tag” which would lead to bad habits such as pulling punches and other attacks; this would again lead to disastrous consequences in real world situations.
Because of this perspective Lee utilized safety gear from various other contact sports to allow him to spar with opponents “full out”.
This approach to training allowed practitioners to come as close as possible to real combat situations with a high degree of safety.
Donn Draeger world renown martial arts pioneer was the first Westerner to bring widespread attention to the often cited “-do” versus “-jutsu” controversy.
Historically the “do” or way arts were based on the “jutsu” or technique arts without what was deemed “dangerous techniques”.
The “do” arts such as Judo were thus seen as a “watered down” version of their “jutsu” counterparts such as Ju-Jutsu, a combat-tested martial art, and thus considered a sport.
Lee objected to these “sport” versions of martial arts and instead emphasized combat realism.
Absorbing what is usefulThis is the idea that one can only learn techniques in their proper context only through a holistic approach.
styles provide more than just techniques; they also offer training methods, theories, and mental attitudes.
Learning all of these factors allows a student to experience a system in what Lee called its “totality”.
It is only through its totality that one can “absorb what is useful”.
Applying what is learned in real combat training situations is what allows the student to figure what works or doesn’t work for oneself.
It is at this point that one can discard that which is useless.
The critical point of this principle is that the choice of what to keep is based on personal experimentation with various opponents over time.
It is not based on how a technique may look or feel or how well one can execute it.
In the final analysis if the technique is not beneficial in combat it is discarded.
Lee believed that only the individual could come to understand what worked for oneself based on critical self analysis and by “honestly expressing oneself; without lying to oneself”.
Enjoy!!!