Wanted to start a forum discussion on the fitness of Bruce Lee who had a ridiculous physique for his size and weight (5'7" 130lbs.) Way of the Dragon He had the biggest flap lats I have ever seen on someone and people said his arms were like lead pipes. Bruce Lee believed in studying everything and taking what was useful/best and applying it so he tested so many things. One thing thankfully he never did PED because 1) he was not conerned with bulk and size like a body builder, he wanted strength/power/speed. 2) he was a supplement and healthy eating fanatic but outside of some hash, he hated anything fake/harmful. Been researching him the past year and will share some of his fitness tips/regiments etc. as he was a pioneer for his field in focusing on endurance and weight training.
Not a big fan of KunFu here, almost pissed myself laughing while watching the main Bruce Lee scene in Once upon a Time in Hollywood
Bruce died of a cerebral edema. What caused the edema is a matter of speculation but it is known that he was known to eat hashish and did that day. He was also given a combination of analgesic and tranquilizer the day of his death for a headache. Needless to say, his conditioning work ethic was ferocious.
He spent several years in Hong Kong studying with Wing Chun Master, Ip Man but was not there long enough to learn the entire system. Wing Chun is a very efficient and economical martial system and does not contain the flash Bruce was looking for in his movies so he studied and trained various martial systems and formed an amalgam which he called Jeet Kun Do. It has the variation and spectacular moves he was looking for.
There has been detailed research on this. Many doctors confirmed that Bruce Lee died from heat exhaustion. The U.S. doctors stated at the inquest that the pain killer he took would not produce the symptoms Bruce had if it was an allergic reaction and neither would the hash. It was simply they knew nothing about heat exhaustion like we know now. Bruce was killing himself working long hours on the Enter the Dragon movie in the Hong Kong heat and was eating and drinking very little. During the filming he went from 135lbs. to 120lbs. He was a well known work-aholic and would do long hours at night with very little sleep, was eating very little and barely drinking water. Imagine a football player during pre season camp doing that in the heat. SOme have died from this. In May of the same year he died he had a fainting, seizure attack and was taken to the hospital. Reviewing the medical records after the fact all the symptoms are clear cut heat exhaustion leading to cerebral edema. We know well about it now with athletes dying in summer practices for football but back in 1973, not so much. Bruce was faint, dizzy, vomiting, sweating profusely, working on very little sleep and barely eating or drinking. He was doing voice over work for the movie in the Honk Kong studios with the A/C turned off not to interfere with the recording. Everyone commented on his pale look and he was always sweating. He passed out thankfully with people around him so he was saved at the hospital. In July he was not so lucky. The day he died he was suffering from headaches and was really tired and sweating all day. He laid down and never woke up. Initially HK doctors tried to claim allergic reaction to Hash but Bruce had been taking it for years with no issues. They also tried to pin it on the pain medicine he took but if he did have an allergic reaction it would have shown up in all the medical symptoms after the autopsy. Sadly one of the greatest martial artists of his times died from something simple as heat exhaustion.
Actually, he used Wing Chun as the base but as he fought with different masters he found numerous weaknesses in the style nad look to improve. For example, Wing Chun is more suited for close in style fighting and Bruce learned through several fights that Wing Chun is ineffective when the opponent stays outside his immediate circle. Bruce studied several styles of Chinese kung fu (Northern style, Southern style, Crane, Tai Chi and a few others) as well as getting training on Japanese karate and judo, tae kwon do, boxing, fencing and Filipino stick fighting. His goal was to take the best elements of all styles and incorporate it into a new style he created. His biggest complaint was all the old styles were stuck and focused on forms and showy moves that were ineffective in real fighting (Bruce Lee got into numerous street fights his whole time growing up in HK which is why he was sent to U.S. by his parents). Jeet Kune Do is translated as Way of the Intercepting Fist. He was deeply philosophical and one of his biggest influences was an Indian named Krishnamurti. I coudl fill a whole other forum on Krishna but from him learned that forced forms and styles are like a prison inhibiting growth and he should adapt, refine and improve on all techniques. He truly was ahead of his time in his thinking and I won't bore you with all the details but his studies were not about making him look good for flashy movies. The movies came later on. In fact he was taught about kicking when he studied Tae Kwon Do and also about movie fighting from Steve McQueen and Coburn. His moves were too fast for the camera and did not look good so he worked on adding more kicks for the screen. He first learned this when doing The Green Hornet. The old style of the 70s kung fu movies (36th Chamber of Shaolin, Five Deadly Venoms) by RunRun Shaw were long choreographed fights stemming from Chinese opera backgrounds. Bruce thought that was fake and fights should not last more than a few seconds because that is how he fought. But in The Big Boss he realized he needed to show off and was nicknamed Three Kicks because his first fight scene he takes down 3 guys with 3 kicks to the head in rapid succession.
Well that is not a real story obviously. They made Bruce Lee look stupid. Tarantino said the point was the fictional character of Brad Pitt was so tough he could beat up Bruce Lee but I think the reality is so in contradiction most people could not buy the fiction. In his movies he was often challenged by stuntmen who were kung fu trained troupes and he did not fight them but did demonstrations to prove his skills.
Bruce's speed was actually too fast for cameras at the time. Here is a video he did at an audition just before The Green Hornet. he had to be told to adjust his fight scenes because the camera could not catch it well.
Bruce Lee re introduced isometric training to his regiment and he had amazing results in a few months in strength development and growth in certain muscles. It should be noted he did regular weight training as well as isometrics to vary his workout. He used to do Zlottman curls while watching TV all the time for his arms. Even though the Bruce Lee isometric training workouts are simple, remember to still exert maximum effort during the exercise. You should feel your muscles fatigue with the physical exertion. And don’t overdo it. One rep for eight (8) isometrics exercises is more than enough. Bruce Lee used both ready-made and customized portable isometric training devices, allowing him to push, pull, press and curl against an immovable object. To train with the exact same Bruce Lee isometric workout he did, you’ll need a power belt/band/rack/cage or other similar isometric device. If you don’t have or want any Bruce Lee isometrics equipment, simply use the objects around you. Remember, isometrics simply involves immovable resistance, so in a pinch a wall or creative use of rope should work as well as anything else for certain isometric routines. While Bruce Lee isometrics firms and strengthens muscles rapidly, it makes little contribution to muscular endurance. Therefore, isometric training alone cannot be used as a complete exercise program, but must be combined with aerobics and flexibility training.