ABOUT TRAPPING, BRUCE'S WAY

There are a number of very good drills that can be used to develop the kind of effective trapping skills enjoyed by Bruce Lee in what I like to call his personal art. This simply means the way "he" did it. The principles and mechanics that he used and what made him so astoundingly effective.

To be sure, there are different kinds of trapping for different systems. For instance, Filipino martial arts make use of extremely effective trapping, designed around its structure, tools, and strategies. The same holds true for other martial arts like American Kenpo where trapping is a component of the system. Bruce's trapping was born from Wing Chun Gung Fu, an art that is very much different in nearly every respect to other arts, including its trapping methodology.

When Bruce trapped you there was a lot more going on than opening a line of attack and/or tying up your arms. He disrupted and broke down your structure, a key strategic point. He corrupted your balance, froze your timing, and sent shock into your body like electricity through copper wire. By virtual of his technique, he was able to automatically measure the correct distance for optimal striking power and accuracy, the kind needed for deep penetration to attack the body's nervous system. While here-angled his attack to open new lines, he took away the distance that you needed to be effective in your counter attack. And to make all of this work, he depended on body structure, proper mechanics, a variety of carefully forged tools, and a high degree of tactile sensitivity and knowledge of energies. To put is simply, he trapped with the entirety of his body, not just his hands.

Bruce's inner body structure had been uniquely developed for the most part from his earlier Wing Chun training. Yet he still had some knowledge of other gung fu arts, including Tai Chi and, to a lesser degree, Preying Mantis. Although he later modified his fighting stance, you can be sure that his inner structure did not change. It still afforded him the kind of grounding needed for exerting and holding pressure while jamming and trapping, along with all of those special mechanical advantages that were so often mistaken by observers as sheer acts of strength. These mechanical advantages constituted many of the details that not only went into Bruce's trapping, but also into every phase of his personal art. In other words, the way he did it.

One of the things that made Bruce so different from other martial artists here in the US was that he more directly faced his opponent. Rarely, if ever, was Bruce caught in a position where he would be forced to give away one side to his opponent. At the same time, he would always be in position to gain control of either the opponent's side or his center, both basic strategies of Wing Chun. This facing principle was a central part of Bruce's method fighting method and of core importance to his trapping and striking, in particular. So that I might narrow this discussion a bit, I'll limit myself to just a few of the mechanical advantages enjoyed by Bruce that made his trapping so incredibly effective. Of course, this requires a brief mention of his tools.

Bruce compared a tool like tan sao (palm up hand) to a car jack. "If you want to lift a Cadillac," said Bruce, "use a jack made to lift a Cadillac, not a Volkswage". What Bruce was saying here is that your tools must be strong enough to do the biggest jobs. At less than 135 pounds, Bruce jacked up a professional wrestler holding him pinned to a wall with double tan saos.

So, to make the tools strong requires a number of important factors and attention to some small details. Here are a few:

1) Immovable Elbow Principle. The elbow must be maintained on or close to your centerline, and should never be positioned less than one fist length from your body. "If your elbow gives," I recall Bruce saying, "then your structure is destroyed". About this, Bruce was adamant!

2) Structure Softening. Learn to soften and concave the chest so that you are all shoulders, back, and forearms. This allows structural strength and firmer grounding while reducing tension in the body. It keeps your mid-body at further reach from your opponent while, at the same time, naturally extending your reach to him. The soft curvature of the body face is also used for setting up gaps that you may need for exercising powerful mechanical advantages in the use of your tools.

3) Sealing down the shoulder. Raise it and your structure will be both offensively and defensively weakened. This is not only important while jamming and trapping, but also in striking. The Sil Lum Tao form teaches how to weld down the shoulders so that your structure will powerfully unitized, rather than weakly disjointed.

4) Triangle structure. Bruce's structure was based on triangles. A number of triangles beginning at the feet work all the way up the body and end with the tools. For instance, even the simple tan sao if done correctly provides the angles for five separate triangles. See if you can you find them.

5) Chi. To improve chi energy for greater strength in your tool you must be sure to keep open a space between your index finger and middle finger, particularly in tan sao, jut sao, bon sao, wu sao. In tan sao, keeping the palm flat up and angled slightly will also create a natural mechanical advantage and line of deflection. Bruce believed in chi!

6) Wrist Mechanics. The practice of wu sao, huen sao, and jut sao (as in the Sil Lum Tao form) teaches powerful and indomitable wrist mechanics. Pay close attention to the drilling and adduction principles using the joints of ankles, knees, hips, forearms and wrists. These are the mechanics that will move a bigger man around with seemingly little effort on your part. A Bruce specialty!

7) Ball Principle. If you were to roll around on a big ball, you would be rolling on multiple planes of movement. You can go under, over, around on either side and in either direction, or at any one of 360 degrees of direction, or push straight through. Learn to use these planes to your mechanical advantages. For instance, you might lift or push down the opponent's arms or elbows to break down and move his structure. Bruce was great at this!

8) Switching. The switching movements both at the heels and the balls of the feet offer certain mechanical advantages. For power and uprooting your opponent switch on the heels. For instance, a bon sao that not only deflects an attack, but also serves to put shock into the opponent and disrupt him, switch on the heels. To create angles and cover single ground in a single movement switch on the toes. To cover ground, as in snake-stepping alternate switching on heels and toes. Bruce could either come straight at you or retreat without ever taking a step!

9) Falling Step Power. True Bruce picked this one up from Jack Dempsey's book, but he was also quite familiar with its principle from his gung fu training. It has to do with landing your punch or trapping a hand in timing with your lead step and weight transfer. Actually, there is an exercise that develops this power. It's one of those tricky things that looks like a feat of strength, but also provides a clearer understanding of how to optimize the falling step effect. (See: "Falling Step Drill"). I still wear Bruce's palm print on my chest! ;-)

10) Bow Action of Hip. Here the hip acts like a bow (as in bow and arrow), flexing and building tension, then releasing it directionally. A fundamental power source provided by the wing chun structure and well known to Bruce. It's the very kind of thing that you don't see, but you can be sure it's there! (see: "Hip Loading Drill)

11) Tactile Sensitivity. Bruce developed this mostly from Wing Chun's Chi Sao's sticking hands, but also from Tai Chi's pushing hands. The only way to learn this correctly is to learn it from a good instructor, hands on. When Bruce trapped he became one with his opponent. But one trap is not always enough. The highly skilled practitioner will be able to go to the next move, and the next move, and whatever is needed to finish the job. Bruce did not get stuck after the first move!

12) Helping Hand. Sometimes a single tool is just not enough and you need a little help. This is where the other hand comes into play, a mechanical reinforcement or engine for maximizing results. It made Bruce's traps ndomitable!

13) Third Hand Principle. Tactile sensitivity teaches how to use the full arm as a tool. Often times you will be in a position to trap or jam down with your opponent by using your upper forearm while, at the same instant, freeing both of your hands. This is how Bruce fought with three hands.

14) Expanding Triangle. One of the greatest forces throughout the universe is the Principle of Compression and Expansion. Compressing and expanding the body's structure and the use of its tools was a powerful component to Bruce's art. The Expanding Triangle involves setting up a triangle structure with the arms, backed by the triangle structure of the body and expanding it. The effect is unbelievably incredible mechanical forces, but with very little effort.

15) Needless to say, this list does include all of the principles and mechanics used by Bruce, such as grounding, slipping, poling, vectoring, oscillation, plyometrics, slanting, joint selectivity, jing (final power), simplicity, and more. I always find it amusing to think how utterly simple Bruce's art is if you understand all that complexity of details.

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