Even today, when Hollywood stars
have the best personal trainers and personal nutritionists, film actor and fighter of the early 1970s Bruce Lee remains an example of inimitable physical strength, beauty and grace. “Bruce Lee had an exceptionally sculpted physique,” said Arnold Schwarzenegger. “He had less body fat than any athlete I know.”
IN OTHER WORDS, YOU ARE TRAINED TO DO THE ACTIVITY THAT IS REQUIRED OF YOU AND NOT MORE.
But it is possible to change the shape.
Muscles can be strengthened by strength training. The heart can work more efficiently through endurance exercise, and joint mobility can be improved with a well-thought-out flexibility program. But if you decide to improve in any of these areas, you will have to follow the principle of overload, changing your daily habits and adding more and more new exercises!
CARDIO FOR EVERYTHING HEAD
The main reason a fighter loses is lack of stamina. A healthy and trained cardiovascular system is much more often needed in life than the ability to lift weights. “If you go into a three-minute round of Muay Thai – I don’t care what muscles you have – and you don’t have enough stamina, in 45 seconds you’ll be a dead man, and I’ll still be fighting. When you're over 30, bulging biceps and powerful chest may boost your ego, but your life and health depend on the health of your heart and lungs."
Bruce's favorite form of cardio was running.
Running does not require investment or special equipment and is accessible to everyone. Bruce ran every day, regardless of the weather or time of day. “You have to run through I can’t,” said Bruce, “that’s the only way you can increase your endurance. But if, on the contrary, every time you limit your capabilities, physical and not only, this will gradually spread to everything else: work, morality, everything that you are.”
Bruce Lee's diet, what the martial artist ate
Bruce Lee, a master of martial arts and the brightest movie star, did not have a single gram of excess fat. Bruce ate right, and not only pumped up his muscles and showed breathtaking stunts in fights. He followed the diet all his life, unfortunately short, but so worthy, bright and interesting that it allowed Bruce to become a role model for millions of people. Of course, without a sufficient amount of the “correct” kilocalories, he would not be able to perform complex exercises and rehearse film stunts.
Bruce Lee “collected” his ideal diet from several directions. This is special food for bodybuilders, the most popular and healthy dishes from Chinese cuisine, as well as recipes that the kung fu master independently developed for himself.
By starting to adhere to the same diet as the legendary Bruce, you can quickly “throw off” interfering fat deposits from your body, and in addition “start muscle growth. In general, improve your figure and improve your health. To follow the Bruce Lee diet you need to follow eight rules:
First rule: no flour dishes
Of course, even Bruce Lee tried buns and pies, but not every day at tea, as many of us are used to, but occasionally, when visiting, so as not to offend the hostess. The master of Chinese martial arts did not have baked goods in his daily diet; he rightly believed that “empty” calories do not benefit the body.
Second rule: discover Chinese cuisine
Bruce Lee was very fond of his native Chinese cuisine. His "food favorites" were beef seasoned with oyster sauce and tofu made from soy. The master of tricks sometimes ate other meat dishes - steaks, liver, etc., but considered them too fatty and unhealthy.
Third rule: no milk
Bruce Lee did not drink milk or milk-based products, consuming milk only in dry form.
Rule four: Frequent meals + small portions
The golden rule of any diet is not to overeat, so that the body does not store energy reserves in adipose tissue. So Bruce Lee ate little by little 5 times a day.
Fifth rule: don't give up protein shakes
Bruce Lee drank drinks that served as an additional source of protein every day. Typically they consisted of eggs, milk powder, lecithin, peanut butter and bananas mixed in a blender.
Rule six: mandatory intake of nutritional supplements
The actor took vitamins and mineral nutritional supplements. These are vitamins C, E, group B, rosehip syrup and pollen.
Rule seven: juices and purees are a source of carbohydrates
Bruce Lee knew that during active training, the human body needs carbohydrates. Therefore, the actor prepared drinks from celery, apples, bananas and carrots in a blender.
Eighth rule: honey and ginseng as a source of vitamins and energy
Bruce Lee regained his strength by preparing drinks with ginseng and honey. In this way he received the necessary amino acids.
One day from Bruce Lee's diet
For breakfast - muesli with nuts and dried fruits, tea or juice. For second breakfast - a cocktail or juice. For lunch: rice, vegetables, meat. Tea. For an afternoon snack: juice or nutritious shake. For dinner: noodles, chicken or seafood, lettuce, vegetables. Tea.
Pros of the diet
All products are familiar, not very expensive, and are sold everywhere. You won't have to feel hungry.
Cons of the diet
Nutritional supplements are expensive, and it’s hard to give up baked goods.
IF IT IS STRONGER THAN YOU, IT WILL KILL YOU. A PERSON SHOULD STRIVE TO INCREASE HIS LEVEL ALL THE TIME.
ACCESS TO SUPERPOWER
Bruce Lee's favorite endurance activity was interval training. The principle is simple: intense work is replaced by relaxation, then intense work again and relaxation again. For example, you need to run one and a half kilometers: you run 400 meters, trying to do it in a minute, then take a break, say 5 minutes of jogging, then again 400 meters at a good pace and slow down for 5 minutes, and so on. After all intervals, be sure to breathe deeply and deeply.
Combine in one complex
cardio, strength training and flexibility exercises. Circuit training is usually five or six different exercises, each working a different part of the body. The basic principle is to never load the same muscle group twice during the same session.
Film career
But it was not only thanks to his sporting achievements that Bruce Lee became a world legend. He managed to completely change the idea of combat fights in cinema and bring them to a different quality level. If earlier on-screen fights had to be sped up to make them more spectacular, Bruce’s fights, on the contrary, were slowed down so that the audience could fully enjoy his magnificent technique.
Bruce Lee managed to completely change the idea of fighting in cinema
During his short life, the actor managed to star in 36 films, many of which became cinema classics.
Bruce Lee in the series "The Green Hornet"
Despite the fact that numerous episodic works in childhood and adolescence did not bring him widespread popularity, Bruce gained invaluable experience, which was useful to him in the future. Having moved to the USA, the young man continued to act in TV series, but never received any serious roles.
Having learned that a new film studio, Golden Harvest, had opened in Hong Kong, he decided to return to his homeland, and in 1971 he left America. Bruce managed to persuade the studio director not only to entrust him with the main role in the film “Big Boss” (1971), but also to allow him to stage all the action scenes. The success of the film exceeded all expectations, and Lee received a unique opportunity not only to demonstrate his acting and sports skills, but also to directly participate in the creation of the following films.
Bruce Lee in the film "Big Boss"
In 1972, Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon were released, which became real bestsellers and made Bruce a star. The premiere of Enter the Dragon (1973), which took place a week after Lee's unexpected death, was a resounding success. This film became a worthy requiem for the great actor and athlete, and the final fight with Chuck Norris is considered the best in the history of world cinema. Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris (excerpt from the film “Enter the Dragon”) The last film to be released with the participation of Bruce Lee was the action movie “Game of Death” (1978), which had to be completed without him, resorting to the help of a stunt double. The film includes documentary footage from the actor’s funeral.
Still from the film “Game of Death”
In 1993, his name star was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Personal life
In 1964, Bruce Lee married Linda Emery. He met his future wife during his own lectures - a 17-year-old student attended kung fu classes. The couple had two children in their marriage. In 1965, Linda gave Bruce a son, who was named Brandon, and four years later the couple had a daughter, Shannon.
Bruce Lee with his family
Unfortunately, the fate of Bruce Lee's son was tragic. Brandon Lee followed in his father's footsteps and became an actor and martial artist. In 1993, he died right on the set - the pistol from which they shot at the actor in the frame accidentally turned out to be loaded with a live cartridge.
Basic Workouts
— It’s not difficult to notice that Bruce Lee paid great attention to the abdominal muscles; he considered this a kind of basis for the speed of combat. In each of his films, the athlete impressed us primarily with his abs. Bruce Lee’s favorite exercise for developing the abdominal muscles is the “Dragon Flag”; you could also see this type of abdominal exercise performed by Sylvester Stallone in the “Rocky” films.
To perform this workout, you will need a bench on which you need to lie with your back and grab the back of it with your hands. Next, slowly lift almost your entire body up, tensing your abdominal muscles. Your shoulders serve as support. Then slowly lower your body back down. This exercise is still considered one of the most effective for the abdominal muscles.
— A significant part of Bruce Lee’s time was spent training with his own weight. With a height of 171 cm, he weighed at different times from 60 to 70 kg. He just fanatically trained push-ups and pull-ups. He could do pull-ups on one hand without any problems (he did this about 50 times), and do push-ups not just on one hand, but on two fingers of one hand!
— Bruce Lee always kept a detailed diary of his training, especially his fighting ones. For example, you can take his records for January 1968. Over the course of a month, Bruce Lee completed: 15 workouts for punching and stretching, 12 workouts for developing speed, 121 sets of crunches, 129 sets of hanging leg raises, 19 workouts for leg muscles, about 10 hours of running, some of which were sprints. . Considering that this is not all the records for the month, it can easily be assumed that Bruce Lee really trained every day.
— If we talk about strength training, we can assume that Bruce Lee’s favorite equipment was the barbell. He often used exercises such as the classic bench press, biceps curls, and standing barbell presses. Bruce began to perform the last exercise from a squatting position, taking the barbell with a shoulder-width grip, he lifted the barbell with a jerk to his chest and smoothly rose, and at the end raised the projectile above his head. So he did 2 sets of 8 repetitions. In general, Bruce followed the rule of 3 strength training sessions per week. All other days were completely scheduled for speed and endurance classes.
How Bruce Lee trained
Nowadays the network contains a huge number of scattered and sometimes contradictory materials about the actor’s training methods. Having collected and analyzed the main sources, I identified the following main points.
- It’s wrong to think that Bruce Lee only practiced martial arts. Bodybuilding, fitness, special nutrition systems - all this was in his career as an athlete.
- At the peak of his form, the athlete worked out with a load equal to or greater than his own weight. At the same time, he preferred to practice bodybuilding at home rather than in the gym, having all the necessary arsenal of tools for pumping.
- The training consisted of isometric and static exercises, aerobic exercise and professional training - striking techniques.
- Even on rest days, Lee did not stop exercising, doing strength, speed, and flexibility exercises while reading and watching TV.
Training principles and methods: thoughtful and grueling
Personal notes and videos, photographs taken at different moments in Bruce Lee’s life, his communication with other athletes and journalists allow us to draw conclusions about what the principles and methods of his training were.
- Absorb what is useful and cut off what is useless. These words are attributed to Lee, and although it is unknown whether he actually said this, his style of fighting and training fully supports the phrase. This style can be described as "instinctive".
- Train to fight. Absolutely all of the actor’s activities were aimed at making the body the most perfect, ideally functioning mechanism. Strength training provided the necessary endurance and energy, aerobic training helped improve blood circulation and reaction, combat training helped to hone technique.
- Training every day. As you know, Bruce Lee performed sets and repetitions for speed and flexibility every day, and worked with heavy iron at least three times a week.
- Practicing strikes cannot be impersonal. Lee recommended imagining the most hated person in the place of the punching bag or exercise machine and putting emotions into every blow.
- The training must be progressive.
What colleagues and eyewitnesses say
The person closest to the actor, his wife Linda, claimed that she was amazed by her husband’s ability to perform many activities at the same time (watch boxing, read in between interesting moments and simultaneously perform kicks and pump his biceps with a dumbbell). His fanatical attitude to training, daily “torture” of his body, bringing it to unimaginable perfection was the most significant part of their family life. She reported in her memoirs that Bruce devoted a lot of time to searching for information about new possibilities for improving the body and developing his own training systems, including meditation.
The US wrestling champion noted that Lee, who weighed 40 kilograms less than him, managed to defeat him in arm wrestling, and without visible strain. Bruce's incredible physical strength is also noted by his colleagues John Lewis and John Rea. Herb Jackson, who designed new simulators for him, reported that wooden products broke instantly, and only those reinforced with metal had a chance to last at least a few workouts.
Interestingly, Chuck Norris claimed that Lee did not use kicks above the waist, considering them impractical in martial arts. However, Norris managed to convince him of the effectiveness of such techniques on the screen, after which Lee mastered a full arsenal of high kicks within six months.
Sport
As a teenager, Bruce Lee decided to master kung fu - he needed these skills to fend for himself in street fights. The parents approved of their son’s choice and sent him to master Ip Man to study the art of Wing Chun. Thanks to dancing, the guy had excellent coordination of movements, which helped him quickly master the basics of the Taijixuan technique. From that time on, Bruce Lee never stopped training. The style Bruce studied involved fighting without weapons, although he later mastered them too - the athlete was best with the nunchaku.
Bruce Lee and his teacher Ip Man
Lee later mastered judo, jiu-jitsu and boxing. In addition, he contributed to martial arts by developing a new style of kung fu called Jeet Kune Do. By the way, he taught this style at his own martial arts school, which he opened in 1961 while living in the States. The lessons were not cheap ($275 per hour), but Bruce Lee's school had one fundamental difference from similar educational institutions - it taught everyone, regardless of nationality, while other masters undertook to teach only Asians.
Bruce Lee taught kung fu
As a teacher, Bruce himself never stopped improving his kung fu skills, bringing every move to perfection. He even created his own nutrition system; later his training methods were published, which gained popularity all over the world.
Physicality as a challenge
Bruce Lee was born in 1940 in the American city of San Francisco. His father was an artist, a comedian of Chinese opera. Therefore, it is not surprising that the boy acted in films almost from birth. But due to his frail physique, he most often played the roles of negative characters. It was precisely because Bruce Lee was dissatisfied with his physical characteristics (even by the end of his life the film actor weighed only 65 kilograms and his height was 171 centimeters), he first took up dancing, and then martial arts. At least this is what the author of the publication “World History in Persons”, Vladimir Fortunatov, claims.
Bruce Lee's only official mentor was the famous Chinese master Ip Man, who trained more than one celebrity. Bruce, as his brother Peter recalled, turned into a real fanatic. As Phil Exposito writes in his book Bruce Lee's School of Street Fighting, Ip Man's students were unhappy with Lee because he learned everything too quickly and ridiculed them. However, according to Exposito, Bruce Lee's success was due to the fact that he trained virtually constantly, reinforcing techniques at every opportunity. If the mother saw Bruce motionless for even one moment, she believed that he was sick.
