However, anyone who has seen the movie starring Bruce Lee and witnessed Bruce Lee's Kung Fu will have a kind of excitement and aftertaste, be impressed by his "wild" talent and be fascinated by his unique charm. Bruce Lee is probably the most outstanding kungfu master in the 20th century. His incredible explosive power has infected hundreds of millions of admirers all over the world, and continues to infect new admirers and amateur martial arts lovers. Even professional boxers, NBA stars and bodybuilders openly admit their admiration for Bruce Lee and his superhuman qualities.
A body as strong as iron
Bruce Lee's strong muscles, formidable lines and incredible explosive power all represent a unique strength and momentum, and his muscle quality is unparalleled in the world. In his kung fu training, he often infiltrates some special strength exercises, such as dumbbell forearm combination exercises, dumbbell jumping over obstacles, stepping on piles, etc., to enhance balance and coordination.
Although Bruce Lee has never participated in any form of bodybuilding competition, many world-famous bodybuilders admire this unique strength exercise and the quality and muscles developed based on it, including Lou Friege, Shawn Ray, Mai Materazzo, Kevin Liveris Felix Weiss, Sharon Bruno, and now Olympia Dorian Yates and Linda Molly. They all published personal opinions and articles, saying that Bruce Lee had a strong influence on their bodybuilding.
Bruce Lee's strength training aims to help every part of the body "work hard". In other words, his muscles should not only be "beautiful", but also be "lethal" enough. He believes that the human body must first have good speed, agility, flexibility and endurance, and then it is the greatest absolute strength. If you don't have these qualities as the basis and pursue "muscle mass" unilaterally, then you are "like a bison fooled by a fighter, or like a broken tractor chasing a rabbit." (Excerpted from Bruce Lee's tao of jeet kune do and O 'Hara Publishing Group's tao of jeet kune do).
Herb Jackson, an old friend and training partner of Bruce Lee, said that Bruce Lee's strength training always pursues a goal and way that others can't imagine.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bruce Lee bought and "created" a large number of fitness equipment. Herb said, 1973, Li has built a "comprehensive training room" in Qihe villa in Hong Kong, and has a controllable "sparring" made of steel frames, steel cables and cotton bags at a high price. It's a pity that Bruce Lee died before this "sparring partner" was born. Later, when talking about the reason for making this "steel sparring", Herb said that the reason is very simple. Li has hit enough sandbags, and no one can hold his fist. He has practiced with a machine. When talking about strength training, Herb said that Bruce Lee loves strength training especially, and its strength is amazing.
Danny Inosanto is another good friend of Bruce Lee, and now he is the only coach authorized by Bruce Lee to teach martial arts. He is a teaching assistant in Bruce Lee, and helped Bruce Lee to establish Jeet Kune Do.
Irushando recalled that Bruce Lee has an extremely fast speed power, which is reflected in various exercises in the gym at ordinary times, and more is a variety of coordinated exercises with or without arms. Although Bruce Lee looks lean, as long as he raises his arms and legs, his lethality is fatal.
Bruce Lee once told him that, for example, a person who can bench press 400 kg may get good results in heavy equipment such as shot put, but he can't coordinate and mobilize all his muscles to show his fighting ability. Bruce Lee's extraordinary strength and speed, coupled with his excellent physical sensitivity and coordination ability, make him the best among many boxers.
Everyone who has come into contact with Bruce Lee, including the karate champion and movie star Chuck Rolex, thinks that Bruce Lee must be one of the fastest runners in the world in terms of weight per pound.
Incredible power
Bruce Lee's strength and quality are excellent. According to Jhoon Rhee, the father of American Taekwondo, he played against Bruce Lee and was deeply conquered by Bruce Lee's martial arts and speed. He said, "Bruce Lee is really a genius. I have never seen such a strong man. He can do push-ups with one hand and one index finger, while I struggle with four fingers. "
Bruce Lee's apprentice, Kareem Kareem Abdul-Jabber, a basketball player with a height of 2.23 meters, recalled that Li was very powerful and capable. He is always very fast and moves as fast as a cat. Li also invented a method to exercise the lower abdominal muscles, which he called the "flag raising method".
Joe Lewis was an advocate of American free fighting in the 1970s, and he used to learn from Bruce Lee. Joe recalled that according to Li's figure and weight, he had incredible strength. He can horizontally extend and retract the straight arm of the barbell weighing 34 kilograms, and then stretch the static "lock" control for 20 seconds! This is incredible for a person weighing 62 kilograms, even a person weighing 90 kilograms may not be able to do it.
What Irushando said is more "mysterious" than this. He said that he had witnessed Li lift the 56 kg barbell horizontally forward and stay for one minute. Jesse Glover, Bruce Lee's first apprentice in the United States, also recalled that the master often did such an exercise: holding a 32kg dumbbell horizontally, then holding it sideways to shoulder level for a few seconds. At this weight, it is difficult for ordinary people to lift the pendulum, let alone act.
Besides, Bruce Lee has many "small stunts", such as easily inserting his finger into an unopened can of Coca-Cola, or cracking a 45kg sandbag with a side kick. Welly Jay, a famous American jujitsu master, recalled that the last time he saw Bruce Lee was when Bruce Lee lived in Hollywood. "At that time, Li just moved his family from Carver City to Bell Airport in Los Angeles. In the yard of Bruce Lee's new home, there are two heavy sandbags, weighing about135kg. I could hardly move them, but Li said to me,' Hey, Willie, look!' Then he flew, kicked it high, almost hit the ceiling, and then bounced back. Bruce Lee's strength is unbelievable. "
Bruce Lee's unique skill is his "one-inch fist". His "inch strength" can hit people who weigh more than 45 kilograms at a considerable distance. Pan-American judo champion Nishioka Hayward once tasted this kind of boxing. Whenever he mentioned it, he said sadly, I didn't expect Li's boxing to be so powerful. At that time, he hugged Li from behind, thinking that Li could not move. Unexpectedly, Li just twisted his body and hit back with one punch. Xiao Ben only felt that he flew for a while and then hit the wall and fell to the ground. It took him a long time to recover from the blow.
When it comes to Li, Bruce Lee's contemporary martial arts masters all have a sense of fear, especially the speed of Bruce Lee. They * * * have the same feeling. They find that Bruce Lee is surprisingly fast, and they can detect the opponent's intentions in advance, even if they attack with their opponents at the same time, and Li Xian hits each other. Another disciple of Bruce Lee, Doung Palmer, commented on his master in this way: "In his heyday, Bruce Lee ruled his own field like Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. It was not that others could not do it, but that he was really excellent."
The first step of Iron Man Bruce Lee's plan.
Although Bruce Lee has extraordinary qualities and talents, he still admires players with similar superior qualities. He once wrote: "Training can not only improve physical fitness, but also cultivate spirit and emotion. It requires a high degree of intelligence and talent to achieve perfection. " (Excerpted from Bruce Lee's posthumous work tao of jeet kune do) From the physiological point of view, powerful strength comes from the thickening of muscle fibers and the high perfection of nervous system.
Bruce Lee's wife, Linda, said that Bruce Lee had a hobby of collecting pictures and information about bodybuilders, including Larry Scott, David Lei Bai and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the latter was unknown at that time.
In the process of collection, Bruce Lee "cut" the training contents and plans suitable for these famous players and pasted them into a special notebook. Irushando recalled: "Every time Bruce went back to the martial arts school in China City, he would bring back a bunch of bodybuilding magazines bought from outside and choose from them. After that, he said to me,' Dan, these three people say this is the best way to improve the clarity of muscle lines. It's really great.' Then he will experience it for himself. "
This is the state of Bruce Lee 1969, but how did he become interested in bodybuilding and strength training? One theory may be that he and Yan Jinghai (English name James Yimm Lee) were seriously influenced after they met in Oakland, California. Yan Jinghai has many "backgrounds" and "relationships". Long-term training with famous bodybuilders Steve Reeves, Dick Qian Lan Ross, Jack Lalan and famous Japanese weightlifter and Olympic champion Tommy Kataoka has accumulated rich training methods. Shortly after Bruce Lee and Linda got married, they moved from Seattle to Oakland to live with the Yan Jinghai family, so Bruce Lee had the opportunity to practice with Yan Jinghai.
However, George Tyne, the author of Bruce Lee Biography from new york, said that when Bruce Lee met Yan Jinghai in Hongkong a few years ago, he had strength training records and photos of bare upper body muscles. According to Tyne's information, Bruce Lee's elder sister Phoebe Lee once brought her boyfriend Robert Chen home. Chen is a bodybuilder with a strong body. Although Bruce Lee will soon return to the United States, where he was born, he told Chen to arrange training with him when he returned to Hongkong.
No matter who is the first bodybuilder in Bruce Lee, all biographers in Bruce Lee agree that Bruce Lee seldom practiced strength before 1965, when he mainly practiced traditional China kungfu such as Wing Chun. Jesse Glover recalled that Bruce arrived in Seattle at the age of 18, and his training was just hitting the "imitation target" made of teak, some horizontal and parallel bars exercises, aerobic exercise and flexibility exercises. But before long, Bruce had some strength exercises, such as pulling a load pulley and "twisting his wrist" with a 30 kg dumbbell tied with a short stick rope. Glover also added that Bruce pays special attention to joint strength training, because he thinks that to exert strength, we must first make the joints strong and transmit the powerful power of generate when hitting the ball.
turning point
These seemingly simple but effective strength exercises, together with martial arts training, made Bruce Lee famous in the early 1960s. But it was not until 1964 that he realized strength and other qualities more deeply, because he had been teaching martial arts in the "martial arts school" in San Francisco, and in the second half of 1964, he was involuntarily involved in a "big contest" that had a strong shock to his body and mind.
Just as Bruce Lee was preparing to give a class to the students, the door was suddenly kicked open by a group of people, and several China martial arts masters came in. They were "representatives" of the local Chinese community. According to Linda, she happened to be there at that time and was pregnant with their child Brandon Lee, who was eight months pregnant. These "representatives" walked up to Bruce Lee and gave him the last message: "Either stop spreading martial arts to non-Orientals or compete with us!"
"I will teach whoever wants to learn!" Bruce Lee replied: "I don't care about their skin color, as long as they are sincere, I will teach!" " (It's true, because Glover himself is African-American. He said that Bruce's students include people from countries outside the United Nations, including people of different races and beliefs in the world. )
However, in China 1964, in the local Chinese Wushu Association, it is considered a betrayal to teach the secrets of China Wushu to westerners. The attitudes of both sides naturally triggered a "contest." Before the competition began, these China martial arts masters said that Li had better close this "museum", otherwise. ...
According to people who know Bruce Lee and have trained with him, Bruce Lee is notoriously short-tempered. He has never been "challenged" or "fooled", just slowly put on gloves to control his emotions. After a fierce fight, he beat the "Kung Fu Master" who was fighting with him away.
Although Bruce Lee conquered the challenger, he consumed a lot of energy in this contest. Linda recalled that Bruce was really tired. He believes that this "contest" should not last so long, because he is not "lethal" enough. He was really having a hard time.
Through this struggle, Bruce Lee realized that the real "martial arts" is not only a move and a potential fist, but also must have superhuman physical fitness and strength. He took this as a starting point and has been trying to collect and practice since then, which is the turning point of Bruce Lee's understanding of strength practice.
A thirst for knowledge
Bruce Lee immediately subscribed to all the health and bodybuilding magazines he could find, including Joe Wade's Mr. America and Muscle Maker/Strength. He cut out the valuable parts of this magazine and put them in order. When he was in Los Angeles, he went to various bookstores to find bodybuilding magazines whenever he had time. He was afraid of all kinds of strength training magazines and books from the beginning of this century to the 1960 s, and his desire for this knowledge was almost crazy.
From then until the death of 1973, Bruce Lee accumulated a large number of books on philosophy and martial arts, including about 400 books on fitness, bodybuilding, sports training, nutrition and afternoon exercise. He studied them carefully, underlined the valuable parts and marked them in the blanks.
training plan
After studying a large number of data and materials, Bruce Lee sorted out a set of training plan that suits him and can maximize his strength without gaining weight. Including training content, recovery means, nutrition three times a week, especially the organic combination of quality practice and martial arts practice, which makes its already profound martial arts sublimate to almost perfect level.
Facts have proved that the effect of doing so is amazing. Bruce Lee's training model includes three core principles required by human body quality-stretching exercises to develop flexibility, weight-bearing equipment exercises to develop strength, and aerobic training to develop circulatory and respiratory system. His training plan is almost perfect.
Herb Jackson said that Li never practiced in the gym, and Li thought he could concentrate more when practicing in his own world. His fitness equipment is the latest. Bruce Lee arranged a large proportion of strength training, as if to make up for lost time and change his previous view on strength training.
In fact, he benefited a lot from it and taught this plan to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is one of the students who come to the library for training most frequently. Jabbar told the reporter of Muscle and Bodybuilding magazine: "Bruce asked me to do strength training in the summer of 1970. That's a plan three times a week, and most of the content is often practiced by Bruce. Although I could only do 12 times in each group at that time, it really worked! "
Bruce Lee's strength training is simply "crazy". According to Irushando's memory, in addition to strength training three times a week, Li also infiltrated many similar exercises into his martial arts practice. He said: "When Bruce Lee is practicing martial arts, he often holds dumbbells for boxing practice. He does 12 groups every time, each group 100 times. He holds 65,438+0, 2,3,4, 5,6,7 and 65,438+00-pound dumbbells in his hand, taking six groups as' pyramid' increments, and then reducing the weight in turn. Li once asked me to practice with him once. Wow, my deltoid muscles and arms are so sour! "
But that's not all. Bruce Lee will use dumbbells to "vent" excess energy during those three days of strength training and when he is not practicing without load. "He is the dumbbell." Linda said. He is never idle. When there is a boxing match on TV, he often imitates it while watching it. Even when reading, he holds a book in one hand and practices dumbbells in the other. It's incredible.
Extremely powerful forearm
Bruce Lee pays special attention to forearm training, strengthening grip strength and fist strength. His wife Linda said that he was almost "fascinated" by forearm exercises. As long as anyone adopts any new forearm exercise method, he must work hard to get it. He even asked his old friend Li Hongxin (English name george lee) in San Francisco to make some grip exercisers for him.
Li Hongxin said, "Xiaolong often designs sketches for me, and then asks me to complete them according to the requirements and specifications. Of course, I am not stupid. " He smiled and then said, "I know these instruments designed by Xiaolong are very effective for muscle training, so I often give him one and keep one at home to practice by myself."
Bob Wall is another friend of Bruce Lee's. He also played roles in three films, such as The Raptor Crossing the River, enter the dragon and The Game of Death starring Bruce Lee. He said that Bruce Lee's powerful forearms played a prominent role in his kung fu. He said: "Bruce's forearm and body ratio is the largest I have ever seen." Not only is his forearm extremely developed, but he also has a pair of iron fists and ten steel fingers. It's terrible. "
Dorian Yates, a bodybuilder in Olympia, commented on Bruce Lee: "Every muscle in his body is so strong, and his strength is so terrible. He is an incredible person. " Bruce Lee's fist is very powerful. He once smashed a helmet made of steel into a "pit", and this helmet actually withstood several blows!
1965 When Bruce Lee played Kato, the second leading role in the CBS TV series The Green Hornet, he became good friends with the actor of The Green Hornet and Hollywood movie star Van Williams. They all have strong forearms, but they get them in different ways. Li got it through purposeful training, and the latter was obtained through years of "riding bison" competitive performances and cross-country motorcycles. This man, who was 0.86 meters (6 feet 1 inch) tall and weighed 95 kilograms (2 10 pounds), was the only one who could wrestle with Bruce Lee at that time. Now that he thinks about these things, he is embarrassed to say, "He (Li) is incredible. We are not on the same level. I am in front of him. "
Bruce Lee always wins the "arm-wrestling" competition. According to Herb Jackson, Li joked that he would become "the world champion of this project". Taky kimura, another good friend of Li's, said that if you hold Li's forearm, it feels like you are holding a solid baseball bat. Bruce Lee insists on practicing forearms every day. He believes that the forearm is dense and must be stimulated every day to be strong.
Van Williams recalled, "Bruce always drove Linda and Brandon (Brandon Lee) to my house for the weekend. Even when he comes to my house, he never forgets to practice. He always practices with his gadgets. He never touches alcohol or cigarettes. He is a very good person who lives an honest and clean life. When I met them a month before his death, he looked fine. His body is as hard as a rock. " He said, "Bruce respects me very much. As long as we are together, the atmosphere will come alive immediately. He often jokes. Once, he put a sticker on the back window of my car, which read' Green Hornet protects this car' ".
When the TV series "The Green Hornet" was broadcast, Bruce Lee became famous. He trained harder and revised some plans, increased the weight of the equipment and reduced the number of times, and accordingly added two groups of exercises in each exercise.
Dragon's abdominal muscles
Of all the muscles in Bruce Lee's body, the abdominal muscles are the strongest and the lines are the clearest.
Meto Uyehara, the manager of Black Belt magazine, recalled that Bruce Lee paid special attention to abdominal strength training. He said that without strong abdominal muscles, everything is "impossible". Linda said that Li practiced his abdominal muscles to the degree of "ecstasy"-sit-ups, Roman chairs, hanging legs, hanging upside down ... Chuck Rolex said that once he went to the Li family, he saw his only son practicing leg lifts on his legs and expanding his chest with his hands holding dumbbells.
Herb Jackson said that Li also told him that the correct way to stand upside down is not only to "curl up", but also to twist when reaching the top, which can deeply stimulate the abdominal muscles and abdominal oblique muscles. In addition, Bruce Lee himself created a very difficult abdominal muscle exercise method, which he called "flag raising". When he was lying on the bench, his hands held the fixture on his head, his shoulders supported the bench surface, and his waist, abdomen and lower limbs hung straight. Even so, he can still do leg lifts.
Yang Si, an actor in the movie "enter the dragon", recalled that he witnessed Bruce's unique flag-raising skills during filming, and he was really shocked. He said that Li can hang his body and lower limbs straight in the air and lift his legs. It's incredible! He said that there would never be such a capable person in the world again.
Aerobic training program
Bruce Lee's superhuman talent is obvious. His physique can be envied by any bodybuilder. All his plans are aimed at improving muscle lines. Bruce Lee believes that long-term training of the largest muscle group in the body combined with aerobic exercise can achieve the maximum fat consumption.
Bruce Lee is an active advocate of aerobic exercise. Before the fitness industry realized the benefits of aerobic exercise, he was already familiar with it and actively adopted it. Sometimes he does aerobic exercise after strength training. At that time, he used more plans to run 3 ~ 10 km in 5 ~ 45 minutes.
Bob Wall recalled: "Bruce ran 8 kilometers very well, sometimes he gave himself a problem, and sometimes he ran backwards;" Sometimes I run on windy days; Sometimes run a kilometer, walk for a while, and then run another kilometer. " Bob said, "Every time you run with me and him, it's a torment. Bruce is an all-around athlete. It's easy to practice with him. He is so powerful in any practice. "
Another person who has done aerobic training with Bruce Lee is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The former NBA superstar recalled: "1When we were training together in the summer of 1970, we often ran in the streets of Rosemond, L.A. Bell Airport near Bruce Lee's home. Sometimes I also run mountain roads and then do bodybuilding. Sometimes he will ride a bicycle for 45 minutes until he sweats. "
Herb Jackson recalled that Bruce would wear a Wade belt (similar to a sauna belt) when riding a stationary bike. He said, "That's a black belt made of neoprene. He tied it to his waist before practice, and soon after practice, he began to pressurize, only to see sweat flowing down like a stream. Li thinks this kind of belt is very effective in reducing waist and abdomen fat. Whether his method is really effective or not, he really has no advantage. Another sport Bruce likes is skipping rope. "
Dan Irushando also said: "Bruce likes reading bodybuilding magazines very much. In addition to collecting bodybuilding plans, he is constantly looking for sports nutrition products that suit him. If he finds a new variety, he will buy it immediately and try to see if it works. If it doesn't suit him, he will choose another variety at once. He will always experiment. "
Instinctive coach
All Bruce Lee's training methods are obtained through his own practice. He once said, "It is my unique training method to reflect on my own experience, absorb the essence and discard the dross."
In the late 1960s, he initially formed his own training system, which laid the foundation for his profound knowledge in the future. So in the early 1970s, he was already an "instinctive trainer". As Joe Wade said: "A person instinctively feels what he should practice and what his body needs at a training stage or training day, and his body and mind reach an introductory level, which is a perfect start."
Bruce Lee's training in the early 1970s was completely an "instinctive" training. After Bruce Lee died, Bob Wall went to Li's home in Hongkong several times. He said, "Li has several kinds of fitness equipment in every room. He will exercise several times when he is free. His garage, by the way, he has never parked in the garage because there are fitness equipment, barbells and dumbbells everywhere, and he has been practicing. "
Wall said that at that time, Li adopted the method of "two exercises and two breaks", but sometimes his plans changed. Generally speaking, exercise for 3~6 groups at a time, each group is about 15 times. During this period, he practiced a lot of rope looping, and each practice included rope looping from various angles. He has been exploring different methods.
Ted Wang (Ted Huang), who studied martial arts with Bruce Lee, recalled that Li often practiced abdominal muscles and upper limb strength from different angles. His bench press exercises and Wade's application of "light and heavy training principle" are very similar to three groups with a weight of 72kg, each group has 10 bench presses, then 20-30 bench presses with a weight of 45kg, and then bench presses rise or fall, and practice at different angles.
Joe Bodner also added that Li also has a unique "short-distance power-exerting method", such as bending his arm only 8 cm in bench press, then straightening it, and sometimes doing some isometric contraction exercises.
Unfortunately, although Bruce Lee's instinctive training plan and experience are really valuable, the existing records are pitiful, and most of the information and records are limited to a few years before his death.
Linda Lee said that Bruce's physique reached its best in the second half of 197 1. She said that Bruce Lee had less training time since 1972 because of other things in Dachuan. She thought for a moment and then said that during that time, one movie after another, especially after returning to Hong Kong, greatly affected his bodybuilding exercise.
Flexibility-A Necessary Warm-up Training for Wushu Athletes
Another basic element of Bruce Lee's fitness program is flexibility exercise. Li firmly believes that warm-up and flexibility exercises before training are the most important parts of the whole plan, and his flexibility exercises have been carried out from beginning to end. This exercise started when he was young and achieved good results.
However, an accident later made him remember that lesson forever, which was at 1970. On one occasion, he tried to be "lazy" and practiced barbells without any preparation and exhibition activities, which resulted in the injury of the fourth lumbar vertebra and nerve compression, which was the most serious sports injury suffered by Bruce Lee in his life.
This lesson is profound for Bruce Lee. He has been in the hospital for three months. To make matters worse, the doctor told him that he could no longer play and practice. Although Bruce Lee later denied the doctor's "judgment" through practice, he would never ignore the importance of preparatory activities.
A generation of eternal kung fu legends
Although people are always used to taking muscular development as the standard when evaluating physical fitness, no one can deny Bruce Lee's lean and developed body and superb martial arts. He is worthy of being a generation of "martial arts legend". Although he died young, his fairy tale will live forever.
Seneca, an ancient Roman philosopher, said: "Life, if you know how to spend her precious time, will be eternal." Bruce Lee has left us a precious legacy of professionalism. His hard-working life is short, but full. He left a lot to future generations. ...