Paul Vunak is a renowned martial arts expert, known for his innovative combat training and self-defense techniques. With over four decades of experience, he has trained elite military units for real-world scenarios.
Part 1 - My secret to Bruce Lee's interception
|
Let me sing out some facts... Street fights don’t start the way most people imagine. Most people think the first shot is just a choice… like you’re picking a button on a menu: “Eyes or groin?” But the reality is different. The first minute of a fight is not about picking targets. It’s about controlling range, timing, and cadence before the other guy can get his hands on you. This report breaks down how that first minute actually works, in the same way Bruce Lee approached real fighting:
Section 1: The First Rule — Intercepting Comes Before Striking Why “Picking the First Shot” is a Trap.... Guys… this particular section obviously hit a chord. We were flooded with emails and questions, which included (but were not limited to) several “Yeah Buts.” Please forgive the fact that I am going to be bouncing around a little bit, because this report was sparked by several questions I’m going to answer right now:
Questions that all have this general tenor assume one thing: That we are already in range to hit our opponent. Furthermore, it assumes that it is us who gets to choose which blow and which target. The problem with this is a simple one: If you can hit the opponent, he can hit you. If you can jab the opponent’s eyes, the opponent can jab your eyes. Therefore, the first rule of Jeet Kune Do is to intercept. In order for an interception to occur, we must be outside the range of our opponent. If an altercation looks like it’s going to escalate into something physical, in those first seconds of the match one needs to get into a safe range (Bruce Lee named this period Preliminary Analysis). As you see further below, we are reverse engineering Bruce’s process to help give you guys the whys. Now, our particular altercation takes us up to stepping out into a safe range during our Preliminary Analysis, taking a deep breath, and beginning Phase 2. Phase 2 has us relaxed in a fighting stance, breathing, and in safe range. Conversely, our opponent is doing none of the above, and out of rage and stupidity the opponent is encroaching upon us in order for his attack. Now, using Bruce Lee’s #1 principle of economy of motion, we strike with our longest weapon to the opponent’s closest target. This is, of course, the shuffle kick to the groin. This will do one of two things:
When you hit the groin, the opponent’s in pain. When we fake the groin, the opponent drops his hands, and then we attack the eyes. Then we reverse this process: fake the eyes, and then go to the groin. This second stage of the fight Bruce appropriately named Pot Shotting. I will begin Phase 3 by answering a few questions. I stated that our Phase 3 termination was elbows, knees, headbutts, and biting. This facilitated several questions…
My answer is a definitive no. Hell no! If one is in the middle of their Phase 3 rally with headbutts, elbows, and knees, and knows that there are two other guys in the wings while our assault out of the Thai clinch is occurring, one may step it up by, of course, grabbing a bottle, breaking it, with repeated jabs and soonketties to everyone’s face in the bar… Combining this with projectile weaponry—pool balls, bottles—and Kinamutai face bites that would make Hannibal Lecter look timid. One escalates the game to these heights to protect their family during a lethal mass attack. Once any of these blows land, people tend to scream and bleed profusely. And we use this asymmetric military paradigm to affect our escape. I hope this answers all of your questions. Now that you understand the logic behind interception, pot shotting, and the rally… let’s get into the missing piece that makes interception possible in the first place: How do you create that safe range under pressure? Paul Vunak |
Paul Vunak
Paul Vunak is a renowned martial arts expert, known for his innovative combat training and self-defense techniques. With over four decades of experience, he has trained elite military units for real-world scenarios.
If you missed the first or second write up to this series on Bruce Lee's secret to interception, you can find them here Part 1 & 2 === Encounters can be broken down several different ways. In this case, we are going to be emphasizing how a fight actually starts—and what to do in the very first minute. In order to facilitate this, we are going to divide a street fight into two areas. One is a mugging-type energy. In this sort of fight, you go from 0–100 in a nanosecond. In this sort of fight,...
We continue are series on my secret to Bruce Lee's interception and if you missed part 1 you can read it here: Part 1=== The Footwork That Makes Interception Automatic Now here is my ace in the hole that is the secret to intercepting... For me, the epiphany that enabled me to stop kickboxing and start intercepting happened in the office of the old Kali Academy at about 2 in the morning with Larry Hartsell, drinking dark beer and watching Bruce Lee sparring footage (this was our routine every...