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Bruce Lee's Straight Blast

The straight blast is a martial arts technique popularized by Bruce Lee and associated with Jeet Kune Do. It is one of Bruce Lee's most famous signature moves, and many martial arts gyms have been named after the technique.

The technique operates on the principle of using a sustained offense as a means of forcing an opponent to move on the defensive. The move consists of putting both fists perpendicularly above one another and moving them in a circular motion (starting forward and downward) in a tight formation with fists kept facing forward bent at the wrist outward and clenched vertically, compounded with running toward an opponent. This is intended to throw off the opponent while effectively dealing a barrage of centrifugally forced punches toward the center of the opponent's mass. A poorly executed or premature straight blast attack can usually be effectively countered by one or more kicks to the attacker's shin, knee, or groin.

In some of his books, Bruce Lee mentions how boxers would scoff at this 'funny' looking technique, but when they were not expecting it in sparring matches, they would take the brunt of the attack, be thrown off guard and defeated.

I find it amazingly ironic that some twenty-five years after Bruce Lee's death, so much has been said about Bruce and his fighting methods, yet so little has been said about his straight blast. Why has this pivotal technique gone largely unmentioned? When you look at the numbers, it becomes clear. Millions of people have experienced Bruce Lee's theatrical Jeet Kune Do through movies, but less than twenty have truly experienced his functional JKD. Bruce was very cognizant of what "looked good" in movies, versus what actually worked in the street. Consequently, we never saw a straight blast in his movies.

When Bruce sparred during demonstrations, he was very much aware of what impressed the sometimes uneducated eye of the public. For example, Bruce Lee's most famous demonstration was at Ed Parker's Long Beach Internationals, where Bruce sparred full contact with Dan Inosanto and a few of his other instructors. One can witness Bruce performing several kicks to the face, yet no thigh kicks or groin shots. Watching Bruce's foot effortlessly kick his opponent's face at will with lightning speed was truly something to behold. Conversely, watching someone execute a straight blast is not the most impressive sight in the world! It probably looks rather silly to the average person, in fact. However, unbeknownst to most people, the entire was formulated around getting into the straight blast. The reason Bruce spent a lifetime developing the ability to burst forward with incredible pressure is a simple one...

ANY OPPONENT IS RENDERED HARMLESS WHEN HE IS RUNNING BACKWARD WITH HIS ARMS FLAILING, TRYING TO CATCH HIS BALANCE!

One immutable principle of fighting (regardless of style) is that for an opponent to hurt you, he needs to have a base. Without a base, without balance, a fighter cannot deliver any strike effectively.

In Gung-fu there is a stance called the "Crane" stance. Picture someone up on one leg, with his arms locked out, imitating the bird known as the crane. Now picture someone on the receiving end of a straight blast, hopping backward on one leg with his arms flopping around. The image of this resembles a wounded bird; hence Bruce's favorite expression. When he wanted one of his instructors to executed a straight blast while sparring, Bruce would say, "Put him in the Wounded Crane"!

The straight blast was, and still is the single most important thing to do in a fight. It is safe to say that if we were to search the world for the best Karate man, the best Gung-fu man, the best Aikido man, the best Thai boxer, the best grappler (and so on), you can bet that none of these fighters have ever practiced their art RUNNING BACKWARDS!

The Straight Blast was Bruce Lee’s absolute favorite move. “I would watch him revert to it, time and time again when ever he was serious in a fight”, Dan Inosanto. There are very few things more direct, and emotionally devastating than the straight blast. One of the things that differentiate a blast from, all other techniques, is the fact that, whoever is the recipient of this particular technique, has been reduced from a fighter to a pedestrian. Why is that ? Because unlike, punches, kicks, elbows, knees, etc…The straight blast causes, everyone to instantly back pedal, literally running backwards. And when any human being is flailing backwards, they have instantly lost, the two absolute and immutable perquisites, for any fighter. Base, and Balance. Without which, simple put, one is reduced to a pedestrian. Additionally, when someone is climbing down your throat, literally doing the 50 yard dash down your centerline, while simultaneously using your head as a speed bag, there is a visceral emotional response that every recipient has. The best word I can come up with, within the confines of our human lexicon is “frozen”.

Imagine leaning back in a chair day dreaming, and your prankster friend sneaks up behind you, and quickly tips the chair back, and there is that brief nanosecond where you are shitting in your pants, you are that perverbial deer looking into head lights. This is what I mean when I say “frozen”. So if you can imagine, being instantly hit with a technique, that freezes you emotionally, shuts you down physically, and turns someone from a fighter to a pedestrian. All at once its no wonder, why this is the absolute favorite move of Bruce Lee, Dan Inosanto, along with myself.

First and foremost, the first punch of the Blast has to connect. Pain must precede the Blast. This means, that the assailant, is coming towards you and you first kick him in the groin and then follow-up with the blast, and then things should go your way. Another example, perhaps he steps in, and you wrap him on the thai with a thai boxers thai kick, and then straight blast him. And again, things should go your way. Re-iterating that in both aforementioned examples, pain preceded the blast. If you are going to initiate with a straight blast, it is absolutely positively paramount that the first punch of that blast makes contact (thus abiding by our law, of Pain preceding blast). Now that we have established that the first punch has to hit first, it is only logical, to ascertain what is that punch. Well, it is the jab. All straight blasts, must start with a jab(unless you have created pain elsewhere). So from now on, when you are sparring with whom ever, every time you hit them with a jab, think of that being your portal to your straight blast. Now ones mission is to simply hit them with a jab, follow up with a cross, and then hit them with just one more jab. And presto, you have got yourself a straight blast.

"Absolutely every serious altercation that I ever saw Bruce Lee in, he would execute a straight blast to his opponent." Dan Inosanto