THE FOUR RANGES OF COMBAT

Bruce Lee identified four ranges of empty hand combat.  The first range was identified as kicking range and is the furthest from your opponent. The next range is called boxing or punching range and is a little closer and is about one step in from kicking range. The closest range in stand up fighting is trapping range. Then finally we have grappling range which can be as close as two opponents can possibly be and often has full body contact top to bottom and is on the ground.

There are a few basic strategies in JKD as to how to use the 4 ranges.  One thought is to identify what range your opponent wants to fight in and you stay outside that range. For instance, you would not fight an expert boxer in punching range, but try to subdue them in kicking or trapping range.  While this is a good theory, in a street fight it’s not practical.  Firstly, you don’t have much time in a real fight to discover what your opponents expertise is and secondly the grappling range is always our last choice. A golden rule is we try to avoid going to the ground in a real fight.  Also, by the time you discover your opponents preferred range, it can be bad news for you.  We want to end a fight as quickly as possible and we are not planning to hang around to see if this person is a better fighter. Maybe he was a better fighter; we just didn’t give him a chance to prove it.

A much better way to think of the 4 ranges of combat is to think of them as a series of descending choices.   Another rule for street fighting is “distance is our friend”.  Speaking of distance, retreat has always been a military strategy and should be an important part of your repertoire.   In my opinion, the best way to think of the ranges of fighting is to try to end a conflict from the furthest range. If I can end a fight with a kick, why not? If the kick didn’t stop the assault then usually you find yourself in punching range and that’s the second choice. If punching range does not work, we flow into trapping range, which would be our third choice. The final range and absolute last choice on our list is grappling or going to the ground. There are so many reasons in a real fight to not go to the ground so that should always be last on our list if possible. Remember we are talking about street survival and not sports fighting.