How can I become the next Bruce Lee?

Go here http://www.thejkdbrotherhood.com/

join the forum. Theres a few of Bruce Lee’s students on there. Lots of info in the archives from them.

hope you find what your after.

John

Train karate. I suggest karate that comes from China. And train yourself mentally and physically. Be on a healthy diet. Gain some muscles before you try for the next step: Martial Arts training.

You’re wrong. Bruce Lee worked out quite a bit, and did machines, free weights, and all that.

You cant get functional strength and agility to such a high degree by doing push ups and bodyweight squats. You also cannot lay down a foundational strength, which involves strengthening all tendons and muscle groups so that they’re used to the stress of work and wont get injured when you actually start training. That doesn’t even begin to describe the necessary adaptations that occur within the CNS (central nervous system) to increase power output by all number of neurological processes - which is also a prerequisite for any serious endeavor, ESPECIALLY martial arts.

We dont hear a lot about Bruce Lee’s weight training because that was never a sensationalized aspect of his life. What we hear about is the lightening fast kicks, the 1 inch punch, the Jeet Kun Do, simply because these were stylized parts of his image. Remember, he was also an actor, and popularity was important! Which is more exiciting: “Oh wow, Bruce just benched 200 pounds” - or - “HOLY CRAP he kicked that board so fast that his foot actually went backwards in time and broke the board before he touched it!!!”

Hmm… I didn’t think he ever touched weights. Unless you count the “punching the air holding dumbbells” thing which I have seen him do, but would not really consider that to be “lifting.”

Not to doubt your knowledge or whatever, but I’ve been doing martial arts for years (judo + muay thai) now, and I don’t touch weights. I’m not huge cuz I don’t drink protein shakes and do bench presses, but I am I guess “defined.” A friend of mine in my class though has what you would call “beach muscle” (he looks pretty much like Bruce Lee did, only a bit bigger, more ripped I would say) and he doesn’t lift weights. He jumps rope, runs, does push-ups (including T push-ups, spiderman push-ups, japanese push-ups, etc), sit-ups, crunches, squats, tuck jumps, toe-touches, russian twists. But the exercises I just mentioned are pretty much the ONLY ones we do. Martial arts is about working your core, or at least that’s the most important part of martial arts conditioning, I would say. Why do you need huge muscles to know how to hit hard? Most pro thai fighters I see are tall and lanky, like I am. They don’t look like bodybuilders, they look like fighters.

Ya true, his art was sensationalized, and perhaps they didn’t focus on his training cuz they wanted people to think “If you learn this magic, secret martial arts stuff, you’ll be able to kick azz without going to a gym.”

But wasn’t his one-inch punch a big bunch of bullcrap? How can you seriously hurt someone (let alone send them flying through the air) without putting your bodyweight behind a punch (i.e. turning hips, lifting ankles). Granted, no one has ever given me “the deadly one-incher” but I’m sure it does nothing. Just seemed like movie crap to me, kind of like Daniel-San’s undefendable “Crane style” kick in the Karate Kid.

First you have to be able to adapt in a fight.(flexibility)Second you have to over come your fear(Opponent is just an illusion,don’t give it power by believing that it is more powerful than you,so just concentrate on executing the martial art(strike)so it can get rid of the illusion for you)Third your move should be direct and simple.(Not too complexed)Fourth you should not limit yourself(Do whatever you can that can win the fight)It is important that you practise kicking and punching.(Don’t forget running,strength training,and stretching for flexibility)Tips:Side kick is the longest weapon while Muay Thai roundhouse kick is powerful

To be the next Bruce Lee, you’ll need to be abled to launch a target over 200 lbs atleast 15 feet with only an inch of distance from the outside of said target to your hand. Also if you’re talking about what he does in the movies, You’d need to learn a lot of Karate, Tae-kwon-do some basic Jeet Kune Do, I BELIEVE a bit of Kenpo, and most likely a smidge of Capoeira for the balance training. Then you might want to also learn Sambo, Judo, Jiujitsu, Aikido, or Marine-Corps mix for the muscle training to be abled to do the amazing things he does. After that you’ll have to train speed so you’ll need to learn Savate, Silat, more Kenpo, Muay-Thai, Wing Chun and so on and so forth.

Yea, I’m only a sports doctor and kinesiology specialist with 6 years of medical study and practice under my belt. What do -I- know? ;)

Hey now don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying “free weights are crap”

I’m telling this dude not to do free weights cuz he asked how to emulate Bruce Lee.

and Bruce Lee never touched weights!

correct me if i’m wrong

Bruce Lee really was not that great, as far as martial artists go. Search for “Rob Kayman” on youtube if you want to see a real badazz

But if you want to be like Bruce Lee, then study his styles: Wing Chun, Western Boxing and Jeet Kune Do. Read his books. Learn what he learned.

Don’t listen to the dude above me telling you to do free weights, because Bruce Lee NEVER LIFTED WEIGHTS. He just did isolation stuff, push-ups, squats, etc

You’ll also need to establish very strong foundational strength. This means extensive multi-joint free weight exercises such as squats, bench press, overhead press, pull ups, etc - and you’ll need to do this for at least 12 weeks. If not, you’re very likely to constantly get hurt in learning a martial art, or have lots of performance issues.

We’re kind of getting off topic now, but I’ll answer your concerns.

Lifting weights creates many metabolic changes in the body, which can be beneficial to your martial arts training. Lifting heavy weights increases the size and strength of type IIa and type IIb muscle fibers. These are called “fast twitch” fibers. Naturally, by stimulating their growth, you’re increasing the amount of force you can generate in an all out effort. You’re also increasing the tensile strength of the contractile elements of the muscle, which lays the foundation needed for plyometric training (which trains the stretch-shortening cycle of muscle fibers, which is EXTREMELY important if you want to increase your speed).

Why do you need big muscles to punch hard? Well you dont. But big muscles WILL punch hard-ER. With more muscle fibers, and the ability to activate all of them instantaneously (starting strength - plyometric training) and keep them turned on (explosive strength - heavy weight training) the kinetic energy and destructive potential of a given strike increases. Simply put, a stronger guy can lift more, throw out more power (force = time/distance), and hit harder than a weaker guy.

Now there are some who would say that “big muscles slow you down”. This is utter nonsense. FAST twitch muscle fibers make you move FASTER. The best way to train these is to lift in the 3 to 4 rep range. Bigger fighters get slower through unbalanced training. The antagonist of a muscle has to be relative in strength to the prime mover, or the brain will inhibit the neuro-impulse of the movement, preventing it from taking place. In other words - imagine you’re throwing a punch in the air. What stops the arm from slaming against the elbow joint? The bicep does. It contracts for a split second at the end of the range of motion to prevent an elbow injury. If the brain detects that the bicep is not strong enough to perform this function, it can and WILL inhibit the maximum amount of speed allowed for your tricep - and boom, you’re slower. Notice how boxers always have well developed back and biceps, even though these muscles aren’t used in punching.

Your martial arts only stand to benefit from adding explosive, strength building moves like heavy squats, deadlifts, bench press, and cleans. These moves are also the best for core training for reasons related to the above explanation. If the core is the weak link in your max squat, and you keep squating heavy, the core will strengthen as a law of physiological adaptation. Of course you need to periodize your training to include directly related core work (such as russian twists and what not) on occasion.

As for the one inch punch, no, its real. Its used by developing starting and explosive strength, and taking advantage of an overwhelming amount of stretch reflex ability. You know how rear your hand back real quick to get extra “power” in a punch? Thats basically what stretch reflex is - you’re building kinetic force that you’ll have to ‘push off’ of once you reverse the motion. This process causes the muscles involved to momentarily stretch and strain against the opposing force (the backward movement), where they generate the force to move forward at a greater speed.

Now lets say you developed nonstop over years of training. Finally, instead of rearing your hand BACK, you can now generate the same force by moving your body FORWARD and keeping your hand stationary in the air. The forward jerk of your body is fast enough to cause the same stretch-reflex phenomenon, and presto - you have the kinetic potential to knock someone back using just that 1 inch of room!

Is this practical for martial arts? Somewhat - first, no one’s going to stand still while you 1 inch punch him in a fight. But the strength and speed you built that allowed you to do that can still be used.

As for Daniel-San’s crane kick… ok, yea, that one’s crap. So is most of the things shown in the movie. Practicing katas on the beach is a superior form of training compared to explosive, sports specific training??? Oh well. I still liked the soundtrack.

You need to learn his martial art… Jeet Kun Do