About Bruce Lee's conditioning

[Cain]

Hello, I am Cain from India, I am a really big fan of Bruce Lee, however I have a question about his training-

From what I know Bruce used to do a lot of weight training, but still he managed to keep himself perfectly built and without looking like a mountain of meat, now my question is how did he manage to achieve this? Did he do isometric exercises [or polymetrics] OR did he handled the weights differently? If yes then how? :( :eek:
:confused:

[TkdWarrior]

hi chain it's TkdWarrior from Delhi :D howdy buddy?Welcome here...
chain u answered ur question urself... yup most of his excercises were based on plyometrics and one thing was he was always changing his ways of excercising techniques(acc to Linda lee)...if u need help with excercises then say so... sayin how he handled weights would be little tough...:D
-TkdWarrior-

[YODA]

Hi

Bruce Lee used regular weight training routines by today's standards. Nothing out of the ordinary - I have a lot of them written down. You must remember 2 key points....

1. Just because "Bruce Lee did it" doesn't make it valid 30+ years later. Things progress - and he put himself in hospital with a back injury by doing weight training wrong

2. The results of his weight training that you speak of i.e lack of bulk, where a result if his genetics.

The biggest lesson you can learn from Bruce Lee, and one I strive for as a JKD instructor, is to do what he did - ie. find YOUR path - don't just blindly follow his or anyone elses - or you will trap yourself in the very things he was aiming to free us from.

[wayofthedragon]

Hi Cain, and welome to the forums. I am also a die hard Bruce Lee fan:D TKD and Yoda, thanx for answering his question. I never thougt in depth about Bruce's weight training methods, but the input you guys gave was nice, and also something that I may be able to look into. Thanx for this thread;)

[Cain]

Thanx for the reply guys, I guess I should take yoda's suggestion seriously to be 'myself' rather than 'to be like' Bruce Lee. As for his weight training I have one more question, for which is more effective for strength? Holding
a dumbell in a flexed position or doin' reps with it? will alternate dumbell exercisesbuild muscle mass or strength? Also can you help me with some plyometrics exercises for kicking? I would really appreciate it. :) and thanx again for the reply

:)

[khafra]

From what I've read, Bruce Lee considered himself scrawny and was always trying to get more massive.

But from today's weight training knowledge, do sets of 2-6 reps with as much weight as you can handle (with a good spotter, and after you've gotten used to weights with 10-14 rep sets) to build strength. To build mass, 8-10 rep sets, and focus on your negatives-the eccentric portion of the movement is where you can break down the most muscle. For speed, as you seem to know, plyometrics are good. Also, there's a novel approach to radically increasing your percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibers in an article on avantlabs.com http://www.mindandmuscle.net/magazine/i2strength.html

Really great, check it out.

[MATT_LIQUID]

guys it was jus his genetics period. He was more than likly an ectomorph like me. I have a question how tall was he and how much did he weigh?

[Cain]

Wow thanx guys I thought this thead was dead :( thanx for bringing it back to the living guys. I checked out the link and all I could say was Wow!

Hmm...Matt, Bruce Lee's height was 'bout 5'7 and he weighed 'bout 140 pounds [I think :D ]
|Cain|

[LilBunnyRabbit]

And when he died he had three percent bodyfat, which is one of the factors blamed in his death, although little publicised.

[Cain]

hmm...ckdstudent I am not a scientist or anything but how does one die with only three percent on fat in his body?
|Cain|

[binski20]

When bodybuilding there are many different factors which yield different results.
As far as my knowledge goes, there was a time when Lee had bulked up, and was disatisfied with it. ( This may be totally false)
Genetics is a big part, but so is the way you work out.
If you lift a lighter wieght for higher reps, you will get higher endurance muscle without gaining alot of size.
To buld for size, you lift a heavier weight for fewer reps.
Bodybuilding is an art and science in itself.
I believe all martial artists should take part in it.

[LilBunnyRabbit]

hmm...ckdstudent I am not a scientist or anything but how does one die with only three percent on fat in his body?

Bodyfat is several things, insulation, spare mass, and energy store. With only 3% body fat you've got nearly no energy store, and nearly no insulation. It would also mean that he had very little mass to dilute anything toxic to him.