Bruce Lee and the Art of Scientific Street Fighting

This article talks a lot about what is effective versus what is not. It's worth pointing out that there are lots of reasons to train a martial art that have little to do with street effectiveness. Having done judo, a more traditional jujitsu, and now having settled into a comfortable 6-10 hours of aikido training a week, I can honestly say that street effectiveness is way, way down on the list of things that I get out of training.

In terms of practical skills, the only thing I think is immediately useful is the ability to fall safely. Maybe, some day I'll be attacked and my attacker won't be dissuaded by gifts of my wallet and cell phone... or me violently and intentionally soiling myself. Until that day, I'm rather uninterested in combat. For me the amazing interval training workout plus the zen-like concentration required to make any of these ludicrously subtle techniques actually do what they say on the tin is more than enough. Plus the people are nice.

Random drunk throw a haymaker at me? I'm probably better prepared than the average Joe, but then again I've never had this happen and don't anticipate it happening. Hand-to-hand combat with a trained adversary on the street? Ain't happening.

It's interesting that the article doesn't delve into non-Asian martial arts like Krav Maga, which, in my limited experience, offers an extremely reductionist 'does it work' mentality.

Interesting also that the gold standard of the article is 'in the ring'. I would have thought messy 'real world' combat is gold standard (but obviously less reproducible, from the science perspective). Additionally, multiple opponents.

he got tired of punching people in the back of the head as they ran away from street fights. the dude really had it together, sometimes a fluke of design happens and someone derives a framework that simplifies and streamlines centuries of pugilistic assumptions. spending decades of my own time pursuing this specific ideal, i realized that Bruce had it right and deserves more credit for his revolutionary approach that i still havent been able to find fault in.