Feed: Bruce Lee's Fitness and Philosophy - AggScore: 52.3

Bruce Lee Wanted To Write A Book

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In 1966 Bruce Lee started work on compiling information about his Jeet Kune Do system of fighting. It was to cover his philosophy, fighting methods and training. At some point Lee decided he did not want to publish this information because he did not want other martial arts instructors to use the information to promote themselves. Supposedly some instructors had already tried to use Bruce's name in order to promote their business.

After Bruce died his widow Linda contacted Mitoshi Uyehara, who was the founder and owner of "Black Belt Magazine" to help in compiling all of Bruce's info into a book. Bruce had contributed some articles to the magazine and he and Uyehara had become friends. Uyehara helped compile all the information Bruce had worked so it could be used for publication.

The book that derived from Lee's info was called "Bruce Lee's Fighting Methods" and was available in 1978. The publication contained 4 volumes; Self-Defense Techniques, Basic Training, Skill in Techniques and Advanced Techniques. It was also available as a hardback book which contained all the volumes together.

In 2003 "Black Belt Magazine" re-released the hardback edition which had not been available since 1981. The book was updated with an introduction by Bruce's daughter Shannon and a new chapter called "Five Ways of Attack" by a first generation student of Bruce Lee named Ted Wong. Wong can be seen in many of the pictures found in "Bruce Lee's Fighting Method" which where taken about the time Bruce was compiling the information.

You can discover how Bruce Lee developed his great physique and strength at Bruce Lee Fitness.

How Did Bruce Lee Get Into martial Arts

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Bruce Lee's entry into martial arts evidently began with his father who taught Bruce the basics of the Wu style of tai Chi. At the age of 13 in 1954, Bruce started learning Wing Chung under Grandmaster Yip Man. After some time, some of Yip Mans other students did not want to train with Lee because he was not of full Chinese heritage.

From that point Lee trained only with Yip Man one on one and with his friend William Cheung outside of the school. Supposedly Bruce would get into street fights and one time an opponent was believed to have mafia background and may have had a hit out on him. His parents decided to pack him up and send him to San Francisco to live with his sister, Bruce was 18 at this time. He eventually wound up in Seattle.

Bruce starting teaching martial arts in 1959 in Seattle teaching what he called Jun Fan Gung Fu or "Bruce Lee's Kung Fu". His first student was Jesse Glover whom Bruce had met at school. Jesse was already a boxer and studied Judo. Jesse was the first to introduce Judo to Lee. Jesse was with Lee for 5 years and was his first teaching assistant.

It was about 1959 that Bruce started his Jeet Kune Do. It was after the match with Wong Jack Man that Bruce realized that traditional martial arts was too restrictive, he needed to develop a style that used only what was useful from different styles and merge them into a new, more flexible way to fight. It was also at this time that Bruce started training to improve his strength and endurance, we know how impressive his physique became from this.

Discover how Bruce Lee developed his incredible fitness and philosophy at Bruce Lee Fitness.

Who Were Bruce Lee's Students

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During Bruce Lee's lift time he came in contact and made friends with many people that spanned from the average guy who may have been a student to popular actors of the time. Bruce's first ever student is Jessie Glover in Seattle, he trained with Lee for about 5 years sometimes more than once a day and is considered an authority on Lee's style of training..

When he began teaching his Jeet Kune Do style of martial arts, Lee only certified 4 people personally as instructors. These 4 are; James Yimm Lee, Ted Wong, Dan Inosanto and Taky Kimura. Dan Inosanto has trained most of the Jeet Kune Do instructors after Bruce Lee's death.

Inosanto certified instructors for over 30 years which gave all of them direct lineage contact with Lee through him. Inosanto and taky Kimura were allowed to teach only small groups of students after Lee's death. Other students of Bruce Lee were Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis and Mike Stone who all where already martial artist.

We all know about Chuck Norris being Lee's opponent in the movie Return of the Dragon in the famous coliseum fight. Norris was already an accomplished martial artist when he met Lee, having learned Tang Soo Do in Korea while in the Air Force and competing and teaching back in the U.S.A.

The actor James Coburn could be found hanging out with Lee and was one of his students. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a basketball star in the A.B.A and the N.B.A. was a student and was in Bruce Lee's Game of Death as the last of the characters that Lee fought while going up the pagoda. Steve McQueen brought his son to Bruce for martial arts instruction. Chuck Norris had also instructed his son.

Discover how Bruce Lee developed his incredible fitness and philosophy at Bruce Lee Fitness.

Speed Training Bruce Lee Style

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Bruce Lee is known for his ability to punch and kick with a lot of speed. What did Lee do in his training to increase the speed of his punches and kicks? He felt it very important to have fast hands and to be able to punch without telegraphing your intentions.
Being able to punch or kick before your opponent can react gives you an edge in a fight and Bruce Lee sought to be the fastest, as in all his training he pursued it seriously. There are some techniques Lee used and suggested to help improve speed.

One of the key things he believed was not the punch or kicks itself but your state of mind. He said it is important to stay relaxed, do not tense up or worry. Being relaxed would allow you to transfer your energy into your actions much faster. Being tensed or worried would block your ability to be fast.

Some of the techniques Lee used were simple but effective. To help increase speed you need to improve the fast twitch muscles. Improving your strength would be a start and doing specific drills will help you produce more speed.

As found in Bruce lee’s writings, he suggested using paper to punch into. You could hang it at shoulder level a punch it like a target. You could punch through it or focus on just hitting the surface of it.

Lee suggested using a candle to practice your back hand. You could execute the back hand at the flame and try to extinguish it with your speed. Evidently he also played the slapping game where you hold your hand out and tried to pull it away before your opponent could slap it. This will help sharpen your reflexes and leave you with a sore hand.

Discover how Bruce Lee developed his incredible fitness and philosophy at Bruce Lee Fitness. Tim Archbold's lifelong interests are fitness training and health.

The Many Awards Honored to Bruce Lee

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Bruce Lee has become very influential in many parts of the world, even today so many years after his death. Bruce has been awarded many honors and tributes in his life time and beyond. Some of the more recent honors are listed below.

1. A popular Hip Hop group in China released a tribute song to Lee in 2001.

2. U.F.C. president Dana White has been quoted as calling Bruce Lee the "father of mixed martial arts".

3. In 2005, a city in Bosnia erected a statue of Lee in his honor. After years of war in Bosnia, the statue of Bruce Lee was to represent his bridging the culture gaps of the world.

4. In 2005, a statue was erected for Lee's 65th birthday. The statue honored Lee as Chinese film's Bright Star of the Century.

5. In 2007 a Japanese national survey named Lee as one of histories most influential people. Even today he is also still considered by many to be the greatest martial artist of all time.

6. Time Magazine named Bruce as among the 100 Most Important People of the Century.

7. In 2004 Bruce was honored with the Ethnic Multicultural Academy Legend Award in London. This award has also been given to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

8. Plans are being made to convert Bruce Lee's Hong Kong home into a museum. It is now a Love Hotel and a competition has been started for the best design to convert it into a museum honoring Bruce.

9. In Bruce's ancestral town, a street was named after him and the home is open to visitors.

10. Approximately 11 films and documentaries have been made about Bruce Lee. The most recent was a 50 part series on Lee filmed in China; it was supposed to show in 2008. More recently was the announcement of a 3 part film about Lee that is to be made with the support his family.

There are probably more honors and awards out there but these are the more notable. We can expect to see more books, documentaries and there me be a musical about Bruce lee coming to Broadway. Bruce Lee's legend continues to live on.

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Bruce Lee as a Child Actor

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As we all know Bruce Lee made some good martial arts movies in his adult life, but how many of you know of his childhood acting career in Hong Kong? Bruce Lee was born in 1940 and because of his parents' connections, grew up around the movie and theater industry.

Bruce was a popular child actor in the 1950's in Hong Kong and was in demand by the studios. He was typically cast as the poor kid or orphan that usually tried to do the right thing but he occasionally played the kid that got into a gang. His first film was actually in 1941 when he was a baby of three months as a stand in for another baby.

In the earlier films he played in a minor or supporting role but later he became the leading character in the films. His first major part was in 1950 in a movie called "the Kid". The movies director played the part of a gangster who gets lee into the gangster life. Bruce Lee's father was also in this movie as a rich guy. Bruce's father played in almost one hundred films during his life.

In 1960 Bruce played his last role as a child actor. The movie is called "The Orphan" and starred Lee as an orphan that gets forced into a life of crime. It was after this film that Bruce Lee left Hong Kong for the United States. In all Bruce was in about 20 films as a child actor.

Discover how Bruce Lee developed his unique strength and his philosophy at Bruce Lee Training.

Bruce Lee and his Incredible Abs

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Spectacular abdominal muscle development was one of Bruce Lee's most note worthy body parts. His body fat level was low and he had a thin waist which helped bring out the definition of the muscles. One of the things that was very important to Bruce was a healthy diet which really helped.

In the beginning, Bruce Lee initially studied how bodybuilders trained and learned the techniques they used to develop their abs. He became a believer of how important the abs are in providing balance and stability for the whole body. They are involved in virtually every move that we make.

Proper technique and form were important to Bruce and he tried not to cheat his movements. Although he sometimes would shorten the movements when he was unable to do the full repetition so he could get more out of a particular exercise.

Bruce was big on cardio fitness, he did lots of bicycling, running and rope skipping to help his cardio vascular training and it burned a lot of calories. He was always doing crunches, leg lifts, body twists and all the other general abdominal exercises that everyone used but he pushed it even further.

He was innovative with his training and devised some of his own exercises for his abdominal training. He was famous for what was called the "Flag" exercise. He would lie on a bench and grasp supports close to his head with his hands and lift his body off the bench. With only his shoulders supporting him, he would then do leg lifts. This movement is what the name "flags" comes from.

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Bruce Lee's One Inch Punch

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Bruce Lee was big on developing his forearm strength. It may be in part because of the style of martial art he was brought up on called Wing Chun. This style is a more close quarters style of fighting and believes the shortest distance between two points is a straight line so it may be more beneficial to have a strong arm to deliver a strong blow from close in.

In Wing Chun, the attack is taken through the shortest path along the center line. The punch begins from the fighters chest area and delivered into the opponents core or chest. Wing Chun fighters have a good understanding of balance and control of their energy to simultaneously block and deliver a punch with the same hand. When the punch is thrown, it starts from in front of the chest in most cases so the energy needed to deliver it must start immediately from that point.

What all this leads me to is that Bruce Lee may have been using this concept that he trained with in his younger years to deliver what was called his One Inch Punch. Bruce first demonstrated this punch at a Karate tournament in 1964. It was a very focused punch from one inch distance from the volunteers chest and would send him stumbling backwards into a chair that Lee had placed some six feet behind.

There are more fundamentals to the technique in that Bruce used his whole body in such a way that he was able to transfer more energy into the punch. He would use his feet and rear leg to help snap the punch outward. A close in punch with that kind of power could really have the ability to throw off an opponent.

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How Did Bruce Lee Eat

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Bruce Lee was known to eat a lot of healthy foods as he believed a good diet was an important keys to successful physical fitness. He was not one to eat junk food because there was no nutritional value in it. Early on he started taking nutrition serious and used health foods, protein shakes and lots of fruit. He even used vitamin and mineral supplements.

Lee would make his own juice using various vegetables and fruit that he would mix in a blender. Chinese and Asian food were his preference as he felt they were more healthy and flavorful and American food was too bland. Bruce believed in extra protein for muscle growth and made protein shakes with milk, but this may be the only time he used a milk product and he may have used powdered milk.

He did not eat large meals, he would eat four or five smaller meals and some snacks of fruit. This is a common way to eat these days for bodybuilders. It keeps you from overloading on too much food at once with a large meal and smaller frequent meals keeps supplying fuel to the muscles throughout the day.

Back in Bruce Lee's time there was not as good of protein powder as is available today. What was available was protein tablets and such and this is what he may have used. Also popular at this time was Desiccated liver tablets which was used for some protein and minerals. Other items he used were Bee pollen, Royal Jelly, Wheat Germ and Vitamin C among others things. Following a diet similar to Bruce Lee's may be a good way for all of us to try to better our health.

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Bruce Lee the prophet

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Some wonder if Bruce Lee might be called a prophet. It's true that Lee was a student of philosophy and studied it profusely as he did martial arts. He trained and studied how to improve himself physically so he could be in the best fighting condition he could possibly be in. It is my humble opinion that Bruce Lee was the real deal.

In many ways Bruce Lee was ahead of his time. His idea of mixing different styles of martial arts together or using the blocks, punches or kicks from the styles that works best for you are only now common place. Did he introduce the concept of whole body workouts? Lee would combine different types of workouts to push his body further; he was always after that extra edge.

He did things during his martial arts training that were not being done by any others during his time. He used no fixed or robotic style defense, his students trained for many different possibilities.

Bruce Lee's study of philosophy opened his mind to accept anything, he was able to look at all things and take the best from them. He was always quoting one philosophical thing or another, you can easily find long lists of Lee's quotes in books and online. One can only wonder what Bruce Lee may have accomplished if he was still with us today.

What influences would he have continued to contribute to the martial arts community? Was he a prophet? I would like to think that yes he was in some sort of way but not in the religious sense.

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Bruce Lee's Fitness Program

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Weight lifting was one of the key points of Bruce Lee's workout methods. As is well known, Bruce had a very strong urge to be as physically fit as possible. He was always working out some body part or doing cardio work by running, skipping rope or riding an exercise bike. He was really way ahead of the times with some of the things he was doing that concerned obtaining functional strength or doing whole body workouts.

Bruce had always worked out with weights, but one period of his life he concentrated more on this. He normally believed in lifting heavy weight, but not to the point of over exertion. With the help of two body building friends, he worked out a three days a week program and used simple exercises like squats, dead lifts, curls and bench press. He used the other days to do workouts that were not overly strenuous. Using this program his body weight went from 130 pounds to about 160 pounds.

Having gained this extra body mass, Bruce felt it was too restricting to his style. It was too much bulk for the speed of movement that he needed, so eventually the weight came down. He continued working out with weights but changed his routine. He also used weights during his martial arts training. For example he would hold small weights in his hands while practicing punches. He could even be found using a dumb bell at any time, even while doing other things like watching T.V. or playing with his son Brandon.

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Bruce Lee's "Tao of Jeet Kune Do'

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It was in 1971 that the idea for "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do" came about. Bruce Lee had injured his back and was instructed by doctors to refrain from any exercise and lay on his back for six months so he could recover. I could only imagine how Bruce must have hated this in light of his constant workouts and training that he loved to do.

It was during this time when he could only lie down, that he started to put his ideas and thoughts about his martial art style Jeet Kune Do into writing. These notes that were compiled while recovering were intended to be put together as a book at some point. Bruce Lee also had compiled a lot of notes that he kept from his training, research and philosophy for his Jeet Kun Do. Bruce was somewhat hesitant to get a book published because he did not want his info used as a how-to book but more like conveying his way of thinking.

It was Bruces Lee's thought to publish his book in 1971 using all these notes that he had compiled. But his film making and the other projects he was involved in prevented him from completing it.

It was in 1975 that Bruce's widow Linda went on to finish what Bruce had began and hired some editors to complete the book. They took all of Bruce Lee's notes and put them into a logical sequence. The editors also used Linda and many of his former students to help them understand Bruce and Jeet Kune Do well enough to put together this book.

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What Were Bruce Lee's Workouts Like

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Bruce Lee was fanatical or almost so about his training. Even early on in his martial arts he believed in the significance of physical conditioning. Apparently after the challenge fight with another Chinese martial artists in Washington, he realized even with all the training he had done, he was not physically prepared to really fight.

It was at this time that he started doing more serious training so he could be the best prepared that he could be. He read everything he could find about fitness and training and tried most of them looking for that edge. He aquired many different types of exercise equipment and had some made special for him to train on.

He worked out night and day; he could be sitting in front of the TV with his son Brandon and still be doing some form of work out. It is said that he was constantly trying things. During one stage of his life he was working out with weights a lot and his body weight had gone up to about 160lbs. That was much bigger than his normal size and he was not comfortable with it.

He eventually got his weight back down to his normal 136lbs to 138lbs range. Bruce's wife Linda claims his waist measured between 26 and 28 inches. After losing this weight his perfect physique was really noticeable. He would train night and day including running, cycling and all the other things he did. With all the training he did, he has been known to say how important it is to let the body recover so it may heal and grow.

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The Philosophy of Bruce Lee

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Bruce Lee was really into studying philosophies, just like his physical training he was always trying to expand his mind. He researched both western and eastern philosophies because he found importance in both. Remember he was a philosophy major at the University of Washington.

Bruce once quoted in an interview "All knowledge ultimately means self knowledge." Like his thoughts on taking all the best from different forms of martial art styles and using them to perfect his own style, he would study all forms of thinking to better his own mental capability to expand his mind. He felt opening the mind would make you accepting to all possibilities, having a closed mind would keep you from learning.

Throughout Bruce's adult life, he stated and wrote many quotes that he learned during his studies or he conceived from his own personal feelings. He really believed in these, philosophy helped shape his life and helped guide him to his great success.

If you have seen the TV show "Longstreet" which starred James Franciscus that ran 1970 -1971, you will have seen Bruce make several appearances. He always had a bit of philosophy that he would quote while he was teaching Franciscus's character martial arts. During his interview for the part of Kato, Bruce is seen giving the interviewer bits of his philosophy.

Bruce lived and breathed expanding the mind and body. He believed it and was always on the lookout for more information to pour over to help better himself. Early in his life he set a goal for his future, he knew what he wanted and wasn't going to let anything stop him.

Discover how Bruce Lee developed his incredible fitness and philosophy at Bruce Lee‘s Training Style.

Bruce Lee's Unique Style of Training

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Bruce Lee was always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his physical conditioning. He wanted to be in the best state of conditioning that was possible and would try any and everything looking for that edge. He accumulated a lot of exercise equipment in the process and made use of it all.

Lee had equipment custom made for him that would try to simulate certain conditions. His friend Herb Jackson was going to build a dummy that could move with cables and pulleys for Bruce. The idea was for Bruce to use it to simulate fighting. Bruce passed away before they got a chance to build it.

Bruce started using the cross training style of workouts and believed he needed to combine the elements of cardio, stretching and strength building. He would do 5 mile runs but never ran them the same each time. Some days he ran them as interval training and some days just ran fast, always trying something different.

Lee thought that the abs and forearms were two of the more important body parts to concentrate on. He had been quoted as saying no one should begin sparring until they had sufficiently developed their abs. Strong forearms were needed for punching and Bruce spent a lot of time developing his. His wife Linda had said he was always trying out any new forearm program that came out.

Bruce Lee believed that the abdominal area was important to help coordinate the rest of the body by providing strength and balance and he spent a lot of time improving his mid section as is evidenced by the photos of him. In many ways it seemed as if Bruce Lee was ahead of his time when it came to physical training.

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