Bruce Lee is a legend.
He revolutionized films and martial arts.
He additionally boasted unimaginable energy and all-around physicality.
Lee might place his fist one inch from the chest of a person twice his dimension and unleash a fast, cobra-like strike that’d ship his opponent flying.
Lee might carry out push-ups utilizing simply two fingers of 1 hand.
Lee wasn’t big, however his lean, chiseled, outlined physique was extensively admired, and bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, Flex Wheeler, Shawn Ray, and Dorian Yates all acknowledged the affect it had on their careers.
Co-star and fellow martial artist Chuck Norris described Lee’s ripped physique as “muscle upon muscle.”
A lady who requested if she might contact Bruce Lee’s flexed bicep (a typical request he appreciated receiving) described it as “heat marble.”
How did Lee develop his energy and physique? Was he merely a genetic freak?
Nope. In the event you take a look at early photos of the Little Dragon, he was a fairly scrawny man.
As an alternative of genetics, Lee systematically and relentlessly constructed his physique with bodily coaching.
Due to the meticulous analysis of martial artist and author John Little, we all know precisely what Lee did to realize his outcomes. Little shares the small print of Lee’s health coaching in his 1998 e-book Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body. The e-book is an absolute gold mine of health historical past and data, and I extremely advocate selecting up a replica.
In in the present day’s article, we check out the ideas that knowledgeable Bruce Lee’s coaching and the elements of his routine that turned a person right into a legend.
The Second Bruce Lee Received Severe About His Bodily Coaching
All through his childhood, Lee was extremely energetic. He received in bother at college, and his spiritedness drove him to mischief and road fights. If Lee had grown up within the twenty first century, he most likely would have been identified with ADHD. His hyperactivity impressed his household to name him “by no means sits nonetheless.”
To channel Lee’s power into much less harmful actions, his father signed him up for kung fu instruction underneath the tutelage of grasp Ip Man. Thus, at age 13, Bruce started the lifelong apply that will make him a worldwide legend.
By the point Lee was in his twenties, he had developed sufficient bodily conditioning to excel as a martial artist, however remained a thin man.
Then got here a second that will take his bodily coaching to the subsequent degree.
Within the early Sixties, Lee lived in Oakland, CA, and had begun instructing kung fu. Lee didn’t discriminate in who he took on as a pupil, and in keeping with some accounts, some conventional Chinese language kung fu masters within the space weren’t pleased with him instructing the martial artwork to non-Chinese language. So in 1964, they offered an ultimatum to Lee: participate in a kung fu battle in opposition to their finest fighter; if Lee misplaced, he needed to shut down his kung fu class.
Whereas completely different variations of precisely how the battle went down exist, in keeping with Bruce, the battle lasted three minutes and primarily concerned him chasing his opponent round a constructing till he pressured him to submit.
Regardless of successful, Lee was disillusioned with how he carried out. He was sad concerning the form he was in and had begun to really feel that the parameters of conventional martial arts have been impractical for road fights. He concluded that to comprehend his full bodily potential and turn out to be the most effective martial artist on the earth, he’d want to maneuver past kung fu and develop his repertoire of bodily modalities.
This second of discontent not solely impressed Bruce Lee to get critical about his bodily health, however birthed a martial artwork and total life philosophy he referred to as Jeet Kune Do or the Manner of the Intercepting Fist.
The Sources of Bruce Lee’s Bodily Coaching Philosophy
In shifting ahead from the battle, Lee sought to develop a bodily coaching system that emphasised “practicality, flexibility, velocity, and effectivity” and drew from a variety of coaching strategies.
Whereas Jeet Kune Do seems like a proper martial artwork model like Tae Kwon Do, Lee supposed it to be “the model of no model” — a martial artwork that transcended formal guidelines and included the most effective concepts from numerous disciplines.
To search out these concepts, Lee grew to become a faithful pupil of the artwork and science of bodily coaching.
Although Bruce had struggled in class, he had a robust dedication to steady studying and was a voracious reader all through his maturity. Over his life, he amassed an enormous private library of over 2,500 titles.
He educated his thoughts by studying Jap and Western philosophy (Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas; The E-book of 5 Rings by Miyamoto Musashi), in addition to American self-help (As a Man Thinketh by James Allen; Tips on how to Win Mates and Affect Individuals by Dale Carnegie).
He additionally religiously studied all the pieces he might get his palms on about coaching the physique.
Lee thought there was one thing to be discovered from all combatives and browse books about boxing by Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, and Rocky Marciano, texts on karate and aikido, and over sixty volumes on fencing.
Within the Sixties, bodybuilding magazines have been the first sources of data on energy coaching, and Bruce Lee subscribed to all of them. If he discovered an article that contained helpful data, he’d clip it and put it in his submitting system.
Lee additionally browsed used bookstores and purchased copies of well being and health books from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, together with Power and Tips on how to Acquire It by bodybuilder and strongman Eugen Sandow and The Utility of Measurement to Well being and Bodily Schooling written in 1945 by H. Harrison Clarke.
Lee continued so as to add health books to his intensive library all through his life and by no means let a set lens contort his studying selections; if a e-book or journal had some helpful data in it, he purchased it and browse it.
Apart from magazines and books, Lee would ask his pals and college students for coaching recommendation. Two males who had an enormous affect on Lee’s bodily training have been James Yimm Lee and Allen Joe. James Lee (no relation to Bruce Lee) was an Oakland-based martial artist and weightlifter, and Allen Joe was the primary Chinese language-American bodybuilding champion. Each males launched Lee to the way in which of the iron and helped develop his first weightlifting program.
For a fuller listing of the numerous books in Bruce Lee’s private library, take a look at this text.
The Parts of Bruce Lee’s Bodily Coaching
In the event you’re speaking about fight — as it’s — properly then, child, you’d higher prepare EVERY a part of your physique.
— Bruce Lee
Lee’s research of all elements of bodily coaching led him to experiment with completely different health modalities, together with barbell coaching, isometrics, plyometrics, circuit coaching, working, and stretching.
His apply of those various modalities all had a single purpose: changing into a greater martial artist.
Whereas Lee solely selected workout routines that will assist him enhance as a fighter, as a result of martial arts require the total spectrum of bodily capabilities (energy, energy, velocity, endurance, and adaptability), Lee systematically educated all these capabilities; he didn’t specialize.
Under, we’ll take a look at the principle elements of his bodily coaching:
Weightlifting
Due to his analysis and his personal expertise, Lee developed a deep appreciation for bodily energy and believed it was the muse of all different bodily capacities. In the event you get stronger, you’ll be able to transfer sooner, with extra energy, for longer durations of time.
And the simplest and environment friendly solution to get stronger is thru resistance coaching.
Within the early a part of his coaching profession, Lee used isometrics to construct energy. Then he found the effectiveness of barbell coaching and started to pump iron.
Whereas Lee’s weightlifting programming advanced all through his life, in the event you take a look at his programming as a complete, 5 key parts emerge:
Compound Actions: One of many ideas of Jeet Kune Do was financial system of movement — utilizing the shortest and most direct path to realize the specified final result and minimizing wasted motion and power.
Thus when Lee selected an train for a exercise, he regarded for ones that would give him essentially the most bang for his buck, like compound lifts, which work a number of muscle teams concurrently, selling total energy and energy. Lee was a fan of squats, clear and presses, bench presses, and rows, feeling that these actions not solely had excessive ROI for constructing energy, but additionally achieved the concord between muscle teams that was important for optimum energy technology in martial arts.
Low Quantity: Whereas many sources declare that Lee used extraordinarily excessive repetitions, John Little’s intensive evaluate of Lee’s exercise information confirmed that he usually employed a reasonable rep vary of 8-12 reps per set for many workout routines. The exception was leg coaching, the place he did favor increased repetitions and aimed for 12-20 reps per set.
Lee additionally saved the quantity of his exercises low, doing solely 1-2 units per train. Lee was doing Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Obligation program earlier than Mike Mentzer.
Progressive Overload: Lee firmly believed within the overload precept and constantly strove to extend the calls for on his physique for steady enchancment. Relying on his health targets on the time, he’d attempt to obtain progressive overload by including weight, rising repetitions, or decreasing his exercise time.
Concentrate on Velocity: Lee prioritized velocity and energy as a result of they usually distinguished an awesome fighter from a mean one. He understood that energy is the flexibility to specific energy shortly. To that finish, he usually included velocity work into his weight coaching. As an alternative of utilizing gradual, managed actions, Lee would make the concentric a part of the raise fast and explosive.
Minimalist Method: One other precept of Jeet Kune Do was simplicity, and this was mirrored in Lee’s continuous refinement of his weightlifting packages; he labored to remove pointless workout routines to optimize outcomes from minimal work. In the event you take a look at the evolution of Lee’s weightlifting exercises, they received shorter and shorter; he went from doing hour-and-a-half lengthy exercises with a bunch of workout routines to a exercise with only a few actions that may very well be performed in lower than half-hour. By specializing in an efficient collection of compound lifts, performed at low quantity, he received the outcomes he wished in brief, intense exercises.
Whereas Lee’s barbell-training exercises advanced over time, he ultimately settled on a program wherein he did a 20-minute session 3X every week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) that usually regarded like this:
- Clear and press: 2 units of 8 reps
- Squat: 2 units of 12 reps
- Barbell pullover: 2 units of 8 reps
- Bench press: 2 units of 6 reps
- Good mornings: 2 units of 8 reps
- Barbell curl: 2 units of 8 reps
Along with basic weight coaching, one space of his physique that Bruce Lee took time to do particular workout routines for was his forearms; we’ll be dedicating a complete publish to his forearm-training routine down the highway.
Cardio
Lee caught the jogging bug within the Seventies. He thought working was an efficient and protected manner to enhance his stamina and endurance. He’d jog two to 6 miles on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and would at all times have a pair of sneakers with him so he might get a run in even when he was away from house.
Lee included the progressive overload precept into his working by rising his velocity or distance. He was additionally an early practitioner of the “heavy palms” methodology of cardio exercise and would maintain gentle dumbbells or put on ankle weights whereas working.
Lee would generally complement the working he did for cardiovascular well being by biking or leaping rope on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Stretching
You’ve seemingly seen photos of Lee displaying his phenomenal flexibility with certainly one of his excessive kicks. That flexibility got here from his dedication to day by day stretching. Upon rising and earlier than he received away from bed, he would do his “Wake-Up Routine” — a set of six stretches and physique activation workout routines:
- Full-body stretch: 5 occasions, sustaining stretch 3 seconds, relaxation 2 seconds
- Arch again: 5 occasions
- Leg tensing: 12 occasions, 3 seconds tensing, 2 seconds relaxation
- Belly tensing: 10 occasions, 3 seconds tensing, 2 seconds relaxation
- Sit-up, contact toes: 5 occasions
- Bent-leg raises: 5 occasions
Later within the morning, Lee would spend 15 to twenty minutes on a full stretching routine. He even created particular gear that will enable him to progressively overload his stretches.
Right here’s an instance of what certainly one of his stretching classes would appear like:
- Seated straight leg stretch
- Aspect stretch
- Hurdle stretch
- Seated groin stretch/butterfly stretch
- Thigh stretch/standing quad stretch
- Entrance pulley stretch. This stretch required a pulley and twine set-up. Whereas standing, Lee would place one foot in a strap linked to a rope after which pull on the rope, which might elevate the leg right into a stretched place.)
- Aspect pulley stretch. Similar as entrance pulley stretch however the leg was positioned in a aspect kick place.)
Apart from his devoted stretching classes, Lee would stretch all through the day. Whereas he was studying, he usually propped his leg up on a desk or desk so he might get in some stretching whereas he developed his thoughts.
Core Work
Lee believed that the stomach was the “heart or generator” of the physique as a result of it was the place within the physique that coordinates all its components and contributes to each punching and kicking energy. Consequently, Lee educated his abs each day. The consequence was a robust core and a decent, trim, 26-inch waist.
Along with the well-known dragon flag train, which Lee popularized, he did quite a few different workout routines for his abdomen and waist. Right here’s an instance of one of many day by day ab routines Lee did:
- Sit-ups: 4 units of 20
- Aspect bend: 4 units of 15 to twenty. Lee would maintain dumbbells in his palms to extend the depth of this motion.
- Leg raises: 4 units of 20
- Twists: 4 units of fifty. To carry out this motion, Lee would maintain a stick throughout his shoulders, bend ahead on the hips and twist proper, aiming the left stick finish towards his proper foot. After returning to the upright place, he would then twist left to deliver the appropriate stick finish towards his left foot.
- Frog kicks: 4 units of 20. Lee carried out this train by hanging from a pull-up bar and elevating his knees as much as contact his chest.
Punching and Kicking
After all, martial arts coaching was a part of Lee’s bodily routine. He’d alternate days the place he’d work on combative leg strikes with days he’d concentrate on arms and palms. He usually aimed to do 500 punches a day and threw a few of these punches whereas holding gentle weights. He’d concentrate on velocity and endurance along with his kicking and punching classes, however would additionally prepare energy by incorporating work with a heavy bag.
Under is a kicking and punching routine that Lee utilized in 1970:
Kicking
- Aspect kick: left and proper
- Hook kick: left and proper
- Spin kick: left and proper
- Rear entrance thrust: left and proper
- Heel kick: left and proper
Punching
- Jab: velocity bag, foam pad, prime and backside bag
- Cross: velocity bag, foam pad, prime and backside bag
- Hook: velocity bag, foam pad, prime and backside bag
- Overhand cross: velocity bag, foam pad, heavy bag
- Mixtures: heavy bag, prime and backside velocity bag
An Instance of Bruce Lee’s Coaching Routine
Lee educated all through the day, practically each day. He did a number of hours of day by day train, scheduled into morning, afternoon, and night classes that have been every centered on coaching a selected modality.
What he did throughout these classes advanced over time, in keeping with what he had discovered in his research, the actual film he was subsequent to star in, and his private targets.
However to provide you an thought of how he introduced collectively the above parts and included them into his day by day routine, right here is an instance of certainly one of his coaching schedules from 1970:
Monday
- 7 AM to eight AM: Ab work and Flexibility
- 12 PM to 1 PM: Run
- 5:30 PM to six:30 PM: Punching
Tuesday
- 7 AM to eight AM: Ab work and Flexibility
- 12 PM to 1 PM: Resistance Coaching
- 5:30 PM to six:30 PM: Kicking
Wednesday
- 7 AM to eight AM: Ab work and Flexibility
- 12 PM to 1 PM: Run
- 5:30 PM to six:30 PM: Punching
Thursday
- 7 AM to eight AM: Ab work and Flexibility
- 12 PM to 1 PM: Resistance Coaching
- 5:30 PM to six:30 PM: Kicking
Friday
- 7 AM to eight AM: Ab work and Flexibility
- 12 PM to 1 PM: Run
- 5:30 PM to six:30 PM: Punching
Saturday
- 7 AM to eight AM: Ab work and Flexibility
- 12 PM to 1 PM: Resistance Coaching
- 5:30 PM to six:30 PM: Kicking
Sunday
The Overarching Secret of the Jeet Kune Do Method to Bodily Health: Self-Expression
Take in what is beneficial; reject what’s ineffective, and add what’s particularly your personal.
—Bruce Lee
Maybe a very powerful part of Bruce Lee’s strategy to bodily coaching is that he made it uniquely his personal.
Every practitioner of Jeet Kune Do is inspired to develop his personal “private model” inside its framework. For Lee, each combating particularly, and bodily coaching typically, was not some rote behavior you went by way of the motions with and rotely checked off your to-do listing every day. As an alternative, motion was one thing you set “emotional content material” and “passionate that means” into. For Lee, physicality was existential.
To achieve the heights of his potential, Lee created ever-changing coaching protocols that have been suited to him and his private targets. He didn’t observe cookie cutter packages. He didn’t observe precisely what the specialists instructed him he was purported to do.
He experimented. He acted. He felt into his coaching till he had found his private coaching model — his solution to “totally specific the human physique.”
Supply:
Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body by John Little
