How to Block a Straight Punch

Video Transcript

"Hi everybody! I am John Graden from the Martial Arts Teachers' Association and John Graden.com. How do you block a straight punch using Jeet Kune Do? Well, Jeet Kune Do is the system first developed by Bruce Lee. What is interesting about Jeet Kune Do? Bruce Lee's mindset was if you label the style, you limit it. So, he was brilliant. He was so far ahead of his time. He was constantly innovating, changing, and evolving his art. So, Jeet Kune Do had he lived, certainly would have continued to evolve with him. One of the tenants of Jeet Kune Do is that if you block, counter at the same time. Typically in Jeet Kune Do it is called a Parry. So, we are going to parry and counter attack at the same time. Joining me to illustrate this is my good friend Joe Brignoli from Prostar Mixed Martial Arts. Your left side forward please. Ok, so he is going to fire a jab right here at my jaw. Send please. I want to, this is a straight punch. Alright? It is not circular like a hook punch, it is straight from point a to point b. Either hand it does not matter. A straight punch is a punch. A punch is a punch. Straight punch is a straight punch. So, here it comes. I understand that one, it has got to reach me to hurt me. If it is not going to reach me, I do not bother blocking it. I will just counter attack. If it is going to reach me, I want to understand that I only have to move the width of his fist to avoid it. So, all I have got to do to avoid this punch is slide my head out that far and it is going to miss me. And, I have him blocked. So, both my hands are still free to counter attack. If I am forced to block, using a Jeet Kune Do concept, is that I am going to block this with a hand trap or parry. See I am raising the hand from my guard position. It just opens and gets in between his punch and my head. I am not doing doing this. I am not reaching to make the block. I am not reaching to make the contact. If it does not reach me, I do not care. I am not going to force the contact. So, I am just going to bring the hand up right here, right in front of the target. I am going to get between his punch and my target. I like to think of Star Trek with the shields. You know, shields up. That is shields up, alright. I keep them in close. The shields do not go out to the Klingon warship. The shields stay in close. So, at the same time this hand is coming in here, I am going to be counter attacking with my other hand. So, if I am blocking with the right hand, pow! I am going to counter attack immediately with that left hand. So, they move, they work simultaneously. It is not one, two. It is boom! One move. That is typical of Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee's great system. I'm John Graden with Joe Brignoli. Thank you very much."