Jabs or Your Best Punch?

If you have read about Bruce Lee’s style of JKD, then you probably probably know that he advised leading with your best. That means that if you are left handed, you’d have your left side forward, and if you are right handed, then you’d have your right in the lead orientation.

Note: This is the opposite of what Western Boxing advises. They lead with the weaker side, keeping their best in reserve.

Why Lead With Your Best?

Bruce Lee’s theory was that you lead with your dominant side, because you might not get a chance to use it otherwise. If you only get one shot, his rule is, make it your best.

Let’s take an example: You jab three times and then on the fourth beat, deliver your fight-ending blow of an uppercut with the other hand. Great combination, right?

Well, in the Jeet Kune Do mindset, you have just given your opponent three beats to counter, BEFORE you ever get a chance to uppercut. And these initial jabs are easier to counter, because they aren’t your best.

Your good shot is in reserve.

Should You Avoid Jabbing?

Does that mean that all jabs are out of your repertoire of moves?

No, not at all.

I do have some suggestions, to make your jabs more successful:

Use jabs for a purpose, like testing your enemy’s reactions.

Don’t commit with your series of jabs, if you are testing. In other words, don’t let the technique move you out of a good position.

Learn how to turn any one of those jabs into a fight-ending move, on the spur of the moment. The corollary to this is to avoid being faked into committing.

Move With a Purpose
When all is said and done, you shouldn’t jab just to jab. Bruce said it best … move with a purpose!

If you are thinking of jabs as the “in between stuff,” then someone is going to take you out before you ever get to your fight ender. Jab with a purpose.

And jab at the right distance. (I like the exercises found in Worth The Price of the Book, an ebonus that comes with How to End the Fight with One Hit.)

Tags: bruce lee, jabbing, jabs, jeet kune do, jkd, move with a purpose, uppercuts