Bruce Lee is an icon.
He revolutionized martial arts and movies.
His strength and physicality were also impressive.
Lee could strike a man of twice his size with a cobra-like attack by placing his fist just an inch away from his chest.
Lee was able to perform push-ups with just two fingers on one hand.
Lee was not huge, but his lean physique, which was chiseled and defined, was greatly admired. Bodybuilders such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno acknowledged its impact on their careers.
Chuck Norris, Lee's co-star and martial artist, described Lee's ripped body as "muscle on muscle."
The woman who asked to touch Bruce Lee's flexed arm (a request he often appreciated) described it as a "warm marble."
How did Lee build his strength and physique? Was he a genetic freak or something else?
Nope. You can see that the Little Dragon was quite scrawny in early photos.
Lee built his body through physical training, not genetics.
John Little's meticulous research has revealed the exact steps Lee took to achieve his success. Little's 1998 book Bruce Lee - The Art of Expressioning the Human Body reveals the specifics of Lee’s fitness training. This book is a goldmine of information and history on fitness. I recommend it highly.
Today's article will examine the training principles that Bruce Lee used and the elements of his program that made him a legend.
Bruce Lee's Physical Training: The Moment He Got Serious
Lee was extremely active throughout his childhood. His spiritedness led him to fights and mischief on the street. He also got into trouble at school. Lee would probably have been diagnosed as ADHD if he had grown up today. His family called him "never sitting still" because of his hyperactivity.
Lee's father enrolled him in kung-fu instruction with master Ip Man to channel his energy into more constructive activities. Bruce Lee began his lifelong training at the age of thirteen.
Lee, in his 20s, had the physical fitness to be a great martial artist. However, he remained skinny.
There was a moment when his physical training would be taken to the next stage.
Lee began teaching kung-fu in the early 1960s when he lived in Oakland, CA. Lee did not discriminate when it came to who he accepted as a student. According to some reports, traditional Chinese kung-fu masters in the region were unhappy that he was teaching martial arts to non Chinese. In 1964, they gave Lee an ultimatum: he must fight their best kung-fu fighter in a kung-fu battle. If he lost, Lee would have to close his kung-fu class.
Bruce says that while there are many different versions about how the fight played out, it lasted for three minutes, and involved Bruce chasing his opponent through a building, until he finally forced him to submit.
Lee was not happy with his performance, despite winning. He felt that traditional martial arts are not practical for street fighting. He realized that in order to reach his full potential as a martial artist and to become the best in the world, it was necessary to expand his physical repertoire.
Bruce Lee's moment of discontent inspired him to take his fitness seriously. It also spawned an entire industry.
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