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JIK-CHUNG-CHUIE - JKD'S STRAIGHT BLAST
By Dave Carnell

"If in doubt straight blast." This was one of the primary lessons echoed by all of Bruce Lee's first generation students. This simple, deceptive form of attack was one of the techniques Dan Inosanto focused on in his first few months training with Lee.

Bruce felt that 'the straight blast is a valuable technique to learn because it is easy to develop, easy to combine with other techniques and also very hard to defend against.'

Its origin lies in the Wing Chun system of Gung-Fu. The essence of the technique is its piston-like repetitive punching down the centre line, with a barrage of punches that overwhelm the opponent, keeping him off balance and making it hard for him to cover.

Although the essence remains the same, Lee modified the delivery system, giving the JKD man's straight blast a flavour of its own. Both arms fire along a defensive triangle structure which is built into the Bai Jong on guard stance. The correct form allows for the principles of Lin-Sil-Die-Dar, simultaneous attack and defence.

While one arm fires forward, the other chambers ready. Each consecutive punch is replaced with the next in rapid succession, the fists side by side as each arm pumps out along the runway created by the triangle wedge formation. The forearms form a deflective shield cutting into the opponent's attack, giving you centreline advantage as your footwork explodes you forward. It is important to keep constant forward pressure in your techniques, but not so much that if your attacker were to side step you would fall on your face.

The vertical fist alignment of the arm allows for what heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey called the power line. This is an imaginery line running from the shoulder down your arm, exiting through the second knuckle up from your little knuckle. Punching along this power line brings about a three knuckle strike, so' that no one knuckle takes the full force of the blow, helping to protect the hand.

Punching a Wing Chun style square wall bag helps to condition the knuckles and strengthen the
wrist, preparing the fist for solid impact and is a good way to
check power line alignment.

Try out your straight blast on the focus pads. Have a training partner hold two focus pads braced against his shoulder. Concentrate on punching full power, snapping through the target with a two inch penetration. Once this feels comfortable, have your partner retreating as you straight blast with advancing footwork. Make sure that your punches go forward and through the target. Don't fall into the habit of circling your punches in a hammering down fashion as this will cause you to scrape the pads as opposed to penetrating them.

To get used to the elbow extension which gives the snap needed for the explosive power of the Chung Chuie, Bruce Lee recommended punching with very light weights, then trying to create that same feeling of heaviness in the punch. He referred to the punch as being hit by an iron ball on the end of a chain.

The key to a good, effective straight blast is timing and distance. It normally follows some kind of entry, either your opponent coming in or you going forward. If you start the straight blast too far away, you can lose that overpowering element of surprise, which is all important in the success of the technique.

Although the Jik-Chung-Chuie straight blast forms an integral part of the JKD fighting method, it is important not to become bound by it. Using it sparingly at the right time you will always have that element of surprise,. Catching an opponent when he is unprepared is sometimes all it takes to overpower him.