Bruce Lee's Sharp Secret

IT’S PROBABLY a safe bet you don’t think Bruce Lee had a knife fighting method. Trust me; that’s no knock against you. Most people think the same. It’s actually a big secret literally hiding in plain sight, and one thing that makes you slap yourself on the head and say, “Duh!” when it’s shown to you.

- Jason Korol

I had this revelatory moment in October 1995 as I waited with Ted Wong for the rest of our group to meet us for dinner. Now, I know that’s not the venue most of us think of when we think of the optimal weapons learning environment, but that’s where I got it.

We’d broken off the training for the day, and Sifu Wong and I were the first to arrive at the Wong Restaurant. I may have made a few bad jokes about how we could know if we were at the right establishment. Some things never change. In hindsight, Sifu Wong may have brought up knife fighting because he was sick of my jokes and was considering stabbing me to death as we waited in the darkened parking lot. But, thankfully, disposing of bodies on an empty stomach is tough work.

Anyway, we’d been going over simplicity all day. That was his thing. We had worked the ready position, the fighting measure and distance control, and straight hitting from the lead hand and foot. I remember two guys grumbling about the training. They were peeved that it was “too basic”—just footwork and that “stupid lead punch again.” They weren’t saying this loud enough for Sifu Wong to hear, but he could tell that a few trainees were a little bored. So, we were talking about that, and he was extolling the virtues of keeping it simple. He gave me one of my favourite quotes that night. He said, “If you get tired of repeating yourself, you’ll make a mess of Jeet Kune Do.”