The Secrets and techniques of Bruce Lee’s Legendary Exercise

Bruce Lee is a legend.

He revolutionized films and martial arts.

He additionally boasted unimaginable power and all-around physicality.

Lee might place his fist one inch from the chest of a person twice his measurement 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 large, 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 impression it had on their careers.

Co-star and fellow martial artist Chuck Norris described Lee’s ripped physique as “muscle upon muscle.”

A girl 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 power and physique? Was he merely a genetic freak?

Nope. For those who have a look at early photos of the Little Dragon, he was a reasonably scrawny man.

As an alternative of genetics, Lee systematically and relentlessly constructed his physique with bodily coaching.

Because of the meticulous analysis of martial artist and author John Little, we all know precisely what Lee did to attain his outcomes. Little shares the small print of Lee’s health coaching in his 1998 e book Bruce Lee: The Artwork of Expressing the Human Physique. The e book is an absolute gold mine of health historical past and data, and I extremely suggest choosing up a duplicate.

In right now’s article, we check out the rules that knowledgeable Bruce Lee’s coaching and the parts 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 lively. He obtained in bother in school, and his spiritedness drove him to mischief and avenue fights. If Lee had grown up within the twenty first century, he most likely would have been recognized 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 beneath the tutelage of grasp Ip Man. Thus, at age 13, Bruce started the lifelong follow that may 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 may take his bodily coaching to the following degree.

Within the early Nineteen Sixties, Lee lived in Oakland, CA, and had begun educating kung fu. Lee didn’t discriminate in who he took on as a pupil, and in accordance with some accounts, some conventional Chinese language kung fu masters within the space weren’t pleased with him educating the martial artwork to non-Chinese language. So in 1964, they introduced 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 accordance with Bruce, the battle lasted three minutes and primarily concerned him chasing his opponent round a constructing till he compelled him to submit.

Regardless of profitable, Lee was disenchanted with how he carried out. He was sad in regards to the form he was in and had begun to really feel that the parameters of conventional martial arts had been impractical for avenue fights. He concluded that to appreciate his full bodily potential and change into the most effective martial artist on this planet, he’d want to maneuver past kung fu and increase 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 general life philosophy he referred to as Jeet Kune Do or the Method 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 fashion like Tae Kwon Do, Lee meant it to be “the fashion of no fashion” — a martial artwork that transcended formal guidelines and included the most effective concepts from numerous disciplines.

To seek out these concepts, Lee grew to become a loyal pupil of the artwork and science of bodily coaching.

Although Bruce had struggled at school, 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 skilled his thoughts by studying Jap and Western philosophy (Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas; The Ebook of 5 Rings by Miyamoto Musashi), in addition to American self-help (As a Man Thinketh by James Allen; Win Pals and Affect Individuals by Dale Carnegie).

He additionally religiously studied the whole lot he might get his fingers on about coaching the physique.  

Lee thought there was one thing to be realized 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 Nineteen Sixties, bodybuilding magazines had been the first sources of knowledge on power coaching, and Bruce Lee subscribed to all of them. If he discovered an article that contained helpful info, 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 Receive It by bodybuilder and strongman Eugen Sandow and The Software 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 decisions; if a e book or journal had some helpful data in it, he purchased it and browse it.

In addition to magazines and books, Lee would ask his associates and college students for coaching recommendation. Two males who had an enormous affect on Lee’s bodily training had 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 best way of the iron and helped develop his first weightlifting program.

For a fuller checklist of the numerous books in Bruce Lee’s private library, try this text.

The Components of Bruce Lee’s Bodily Coaching

For those who’re speaking about fight — as it’s — effectively then, child, you’d higher practice 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, operating, and stretching.

His follow of those numerous modalities all had a single aim: changing into a greater martial artist.

Whereas Lee solely selected workout routines that may assist him enhance as a fighter, as a result of martial arts require the total spectrum of bodily capabilities (power, energy, velocity, endurance, and adaptability), Lee systematically skilled all these capabilities; he didn’t specialize.

Under, we’ll have a look at the principle parts of his bodily coaching:

Weightlifting

Because of his analysis and his personal expertise, Lee developed a deep appreciation for bodily power and believed it was the inspiration of all different bodily capacities. For those who get stronger, you may transfer sooner, with extra energy, for longer durations of time.

And the simplest and environment friendly strategy to get stronger is thru resistance coaching.

Within the early a part of his coaching profession, Lee used isometrics to construct power. Then he found the effectiveness of barbell coaching and started to pump iron.

Whereas Lee’s weightlifting programming developed all through his life, when you have a look at his programming as an entire, 5 key parts emerge:

Compound Actions: One of many rules of Jeet Kune Do was economic system of movement — utilizing the shortest and most direct path to attain the specified final result and minimizing wasted motion and power.

Thus when Lee selected an train for a exercise, he seemed for ones that would give him probably the most bang for his buck, like compound lifts, which work a number of muscle teams concurrently, selling general power 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 power, but in addition 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 data confirmed that he sometimes employed a average rep vary of 8-12 reps per set for many workout routines. The exception was leg coaching, the place he did favor greater repetitions and aimed for 12-20 reps per set.

Lee additionally stored the amount of his exercises low, doing solely 1-2 units per train. Lee was doing Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Responsibility program earlier than Mike Mentzer.

Progressive Overload: Lee firmly believed within the overload precept and persistently strove to extend the calls for on his physique for steady enchancment. Relying on his health objectives 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 excellent fighter from a mean one. He understood that energy is the flexibility to precise power 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 Strategy: 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. For those who have a look at the evolution of Lee’s weightlifting exercises, they obtained 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 number of compound lifts, performed at low quantity, he obtained the outcomes he needed briefly, intense exercises.

Whereas Lee’s barbell-training exercises developed over time, he finally settled on a program by which he did a 20-minute session 3X per week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) that always seemed 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 an entire publish to his forearm-training routine down the street.

Cardio

Lee caught the jogging bug within the Nineteen Seventies. He thought operating was an efficient and secure manner to enhance his stamina and endurance. He’d jog two to 6 miles on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and would all the time 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 operating by rising his velocity or distance. He was additionally an early practitioner of the “heavy fingers” methodology of cardio exercise and would maintain gentle dumbbells or put on ankle weights whereas operating.

Lee would typically complement the operating he did for cardiovascular well being by biking or leaping rope on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Stretching

You’ve doubtless 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 obtained away from bed, he would do his “Wake-Up Routine” — a set of six stretches and physique activation workout routines:

• Full-body stretch: 5 instances, sustaining stretch 3 seconds, relaxation 2 seconds
• Arch again: 5 instances
• Leg tensing: 12 instances, 3 seconds tensing, 2 seconds relaxation
• Stomach tensing: 10 instances, 3 seconds tensing, 2 seconds relaxation
• Sit-up, contact toes: 5 instances
• Bent-leg raises: 5 instances

Later within the morning, Lee would spend 15 to twenty minutes on a full stretching routine. He even created particular gear that may 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
• Facet 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 increase the leg right into a stretched place.)
• Facet pulley stretch. Identical as entrance pulley stretch however the leg was positioned in a aspect kick place.)

In addition to 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 elements and contributes to each punching and kicking energy. Consequently, Lee skilled his abs day by day. The end result was a strong core and a good, 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
• Facet bend: 4 units of 15 to twenty. Lee would maintain dumbbells in his fingers 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 carry 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 give attention to arms and fingers. He usually aimed to do 500 punches a day and threw a few of these punches whereas holding gentle weights. He’d give attention to velocity and endurance along with his kicking and punching classes, however would additionally practice energy by incorporating work with a heavy bag.

Under is a kicking and punching routine that Lee utilized in 1970:

Kicking

• Facet 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 skilled all through the day, almost day by day. He did a number of hours of day by day train, scheduled into morning, afternoon, and night classes that had been every targeted on coaching a specific modality.

What he did throughout these classes developed over time, in accordance with what he had realized in his research, the actual film he was subsequent to star in, and his private objectives.

However to offer you an concept 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 Approach to Bodily Health: Self-Expression

 Take up what is beneficial; reject what’s ineffective, and add what’s particularly your personal.

—Bruce Lee

Maybe an important 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 fashion” inside its framework. For Lee, each preventing particularly, and bodily coaching typically, was not some rote behavior you went via the motions with and rotely checked off your to-do checklist 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 succeed in the heights of his potential, Lee created ever-changing coaching protocols that had been suited to him and his private objectives. He didn’t comply with cookie cutter packages. He didn’t comply with precisely what the specialists advised him he was presupposed to do.

He experimented. He acted. He felt into his coaching till he had found his private coaching fashion — his strategy to “absolutely categorical the human physique.”

---

Supply:

Bruce Lee: The Artwork of Expressing the Human Physique by John Little