Bruce Lee's method. Own system of diverse training. Looking for the best workout

In the first part of the article about Bruce Lee, we talked a little about his biography and told some reliable eyewitness stories. In the second, as I promised, we will look at how Bruce Lee trained.

Bruce Lee and training

And again bodybuilding

After Bruce Lee decided it was time to supplement his training with weights, he immediately subscribed to every bodybuilding magazine published in the United States, including Joe Weider's. Then they were called “Mr. Olympia” and “Bodybuilder and Strength”. From these magazines he extracted newest ways training and tested them on myself, testing the methods with my own sports experience.

When Bruce Lee moved to the capital of the American film industry, Los Angeles, Linda recalls that he spent hours wandering through bookstores, looking for works on bodybuilding, athlete nutrition, and recovery methods among old books. During one of these trips, Lee acquired a true rarity - a book by the author, not reprinted since the beginning of the century, whose sculptural image is held in the hands of the Olympia winners. It was called “Power and How to Find It.”

When Bruce Lee died tragically in 1973, his son inherited a huge library and thus he inherited Bruce Lee's training system, where, along with books on martial arts, there were 140 scientific works devoted exclusively to bodybuilding!

Having creatively processed colossal amounts of information, Bruce Lee compiled a special program for himself, which was supposed to develop the missing strength endurance.

Bruce Lee's training from eyewitnesses

Bruce Lee's training methods are the subject of much conversation. But what do eyewitnesses say?

“He never trained in an athletic club,” says Herb Jackson, “only at home. He liked to compare training to playing the violin. Imagine, he told me, fifty people are packed into the hall, each with their own instrument. Everyone is working on something special, and in this nightmare you need to be able to concentrate!..”

Training and nutrition Bruce Lee

At home, Bruce Lee had a set of dumbbells weighing about 50 kg, an Olympic barbell, bench press racks and several heavy dumbbells.

Bruce Lee trained according to the schedule, which consisted of 3 classes per week. It was purely strength training.

Over time, having become convinced of the effectiveness of the technique, Bruce Lee even included weights in his professional training. As Inosanto says, Bruce brought light dumbbells different weights to my school and started doing katas according to the principle of progressive training! Punch training included 12 series of 100 punches each. Bruce used the “pyramid” principle here: he performed the first series with 0.5 kg dumbbells, the second with 1 kg. This was followed by 1.5 kg, 2.5 kg, 3.5 kg and 5 kg. He performed the remaining six series in the reverse order: with weights of 5, 3.5, 2.5, 1.5 and 0.5 kg. He made another series with “zero” weight.

Linda says that Bruce Lee did not forget the dumbbells even on rest days: “At first I was very surprised that Bruce did several things at the same time. Imagine him standing in the middle of the room in front of a working TV showing his favorite boxing matches. With his feet he performs some unimaginable blows in the air. At the same time, he holds an open book in his left hand and turns to it when what is happening on the screen ceases to interest him. Well, in right hand he holds a dumbbell and does a “bicep curl!” with it.

The importance of forearm strength and love for the abs

Since the strength of the forearms plays a special role in the art of kung fu, Bruce Lee directed all his creative genius towards the development of this particular muscle group. He found a source of inspiration in bodybuilding manuals. From there he extracted not only the technique of “pumping up” the forearms, but also descriptions of the design of special simulators. He even contracted his close friend George Lee to produce similar simulators and those modifications that he himself came up with.

George Lee says: “Bruce usually sent me sketches of such devices, and I had to develop a drawing and build the simulator itself from it. I was not a fool and understood that if Bruce ordered something, then, apparently, it was very effective. Therefore, I made the first simulator for myself and hid it at home, but I brought the second copy to him ... "

The result of such targeted training was forearms of amazing strength. “They felt hard, like a baseball bat,” says Van Williams, a US wrestling champion. “Bruce once invited me to fight him. I sat down at the table with the idea of ​​playing along with him as a friend. I weighed 112 kg at that time. How could I compete with Bruce seriously! However, it turned out that I did not have enough strength to overcome the resistance of his hand! Moreover, I couldn’t move his hand even a millimeter!”

In a conversation with Herb Jackson, Lee jokingly said that he could become a world champion in wrestling.

Another equally important point in the life of Bruce Lee was abdominal training. Linda says: “Bruce was obsessed with his abs. He did endless torso raises, leg raises on the floor and hanging, torso raises on a “Roman chair” ... "

When performing sit-ups from a prone position, Bruce Lee strictly followed the optimal bodybuilding technique. “The body needs to be rolled up, as if a piece of paper is rolled up into a tube,” he said. “First you need to lift your head off the floor, then your shoulders, then your middle area and finally your lower back...”

You can see the description of the abdominal muscles program in the photo taken from Bruce Lee's training diary.

The importance of aerobic exercise in Bruce Lee's training

From special literature on bodybuilding, Bruce Lee learned that fat deposits are the worst enemy of energy. An extra hundred or two grams of fat, penetrated by the finest blood capillaries, places a huge burden on the heart. When the heart has to push blood through the capillaries of muscle tissue, the muscle itself helps it through its contraction. It is clear that in the case of fat, the entire load falls on the heart. Since endurance is directly related to the potential of the cardiorespiratory system, Bruce Lee included aerobic exercise in his training program. In particular, he supplemented strength training with jogging of 4-9 km.

According to Bruce Lee's training partner Bob Wall, Lee's constitution was ideal for running. long distances. However, Lee literally tortured himself with sprint bursts, running the first one and a half to two kilometers, then he walked the same distance at a fast pace, then the grueling run began again...

From time to time, Lee replaced road runs with a bicycle ergometer. The “trip” lasted 45 minutes and covered a distance of 20 km.

Peak of knowledge and form

Bruce Lee regularly read bodybuilding magazines in search of new drugs to help athletes fight subcutaneous fat. Every new drug he definitely bought it and tried it for himself. If the drug worked, Lee did not stop experimenting. It was as if he was constantly in search. By the early 70s, he had finally formulated his own method of approach to training, which coincided letter by letter with Joe Weider's Principle of Instinctive Training: “Learn from your experience, remember what is useful, discard what is unnecessary and try to find your own way...”

By this time, bodybuilding had finally turned from a temporary panacea into a part of sports destiny Bruce Lee. Bob Wall, who visited Lee in Hong Kong, was amazed at the amount of sports equipment in his apartment. Lee's car was always parked outside because the garage was filled with exercise equipment. They weren't except in the kitchen. Everywhere Lee stayed for more than half an hour, including in his office, there were dumbbells and barbells. As Bob says, Lee, in fact, did not have a life in the usual sense of the word. His life was one continuous training session!

As for Bruce Lee’s nutrition, it was completely based on Chinese cuisine, since it contains a lot of fats and proteins that are good for growth and very few carbohydrates. Lee almost never allowed himself extra calories, which is evident from his lean body.

Bruce Lee and training have become one!

He continued to train regularly, finding the schedule that was most beneficial from the standpoint of individual recovery mechanisms: two days of training - two days of rest. Changed and general scheme training. Each exercise was performed in 3 sets, 15 repetitions each. Of Wider's Principles, the priority ones were the Principle of Variety, when each workout included its own types of exercise, never repeated, and the Hard/Easy Principle. For example, Lee did bench presses with a weight of 80 kg for 3 sets of 10 repetitions, then dropped the weight to 45 kg and did the same number of sets with 20-30 repetitions.

Bruce Lee listened sensitively to even the most elusive trends in bodybuilding, and, perhaps, was the first to regularly practice the so-called. "partial repetitions" He performed exercises only in that area of ​​amplitude that provided the muscle with the maximum degree of contraction. For example, in the bench press, he removed a heavy barbell from the racks and repeatedly lowered it no more than 6-10 cm. Bruce Lee said that this form of exercise perfectly develops “explosive” strength.

According to Linda Lee, by the summer of 1964, thanks to bodybuilding, Bruce had reached an unprecedented peak in athletic form. Enormous physical strength, combined with unique fighting skill and amazing reaction (an electronic timer showed that Bruce Lee moved a distance of about a meter in two hundredths of a second!), made Bruce Lee practically invincible in the world of martial arts. He had no equal and could not have had one, if only because none of the great karate authorities decided to creatively violate age-old traditions. They habitually looked for the source of strength in karate itself. Bruce Lee's worldview horizons turned out to be wider than the medieval framework of combat exercises. He allowed himself to doubt the truths that are unshakable for a karateka, and discovered the only true source of strength - progressive training. As a result, he really turned out to be close to what he himself called “power over the world.” He achieved amazing power. And he did this by combining with the ease of a genius things that seemed incompatible: karate and bodybuilding.

For two decades this amazing find was a secret. Now we know her...

Based on materials from the magazine Strength and Beauty for October 1994

This is Bruce Lee, with his fanatical approach to training. Let us in the hall show at least some of the will to improve that Bruce showed. Let's bring the words training and our name closer so that they are as inseparable as training and Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee and training. Patience and willpower to us! See you again!

Almost every person has their own idol; some want to not only imitate him, but even surpass him in something. If we talk about athletes, then in this case such positive example simply necessary for everyone. Some people strive to play football like Maradona, others want to play basketball like Michael Jordan, and others repeat the training of Bruce Lee in order to become strong and strong like him. It is worth immediately noting that in the latter case, only by overcoming pain and your capabilities can you achieve at least some more or less decent success.

Of course, Bruce Lee is an outstanding athlete and unsurpassed martial artist. Despite the fact that this man is known not only as a wrestler, but also as a writer, teacher and even a thinker, this time a topic related specifically to his achievements in sports will be touched upon.

Why him

No one will doubt that Bruce Lee's training became the basis of his phenomenal physical fitness. He had no equal in martial arts precisely because of his daily grueling exercise and improvement of his body.

Thus, for several decades now, many of his followers have been unsuccessfully trying to reach exactly the same heights as their idol. Failures are due to the fact that in the pursuit of perfection they put the physical component first, but forget about preparing the mental body and the necessary knowledge of methods and techniques for performing exercises.

Bruce Lee: training (photo, description of the technique)

In any sport, technique is important. Bruce Lee's training method is not aimed at increasing muscle size; in principle, this is noticeable from the athlete himself. Instead of big muscles, he preferred more durable and strong ones. Bruce Lee's training technique is based on the complete dedication of all free time and energy. Only in this case can you achieve results that will become an example for all followers.

The main emphasis was placed specifically on training the abdominal muscles, running and isometric work; naturally, we must not forget about some classic bodybuilding exercises. However, Bruce Lee's strength training is based on higher repetitions in order to increase endurance.

The abdominal muscles for Bruce Lee were the most important of all. He believed that without a strong and durable muscular corset, an athlete would not be able to withstand a long and intense battle.

Due to the fact that Bruce constantly experimented with his body during training and worked to the limit, his muscles were nicknamed “marble”. This became possible thanks to the precise technique of isometric exercises. Their meaning is quite simple and lies in the maximum possible muscle tension over a certain period of time. As for Bruce himself, this interval reached 12 seconds.

Isometric exercises

In fact, these are very simple exercises in essence, but surprisingly effective in their effect. The most important thing is that you can do them absolutely without any additional equipment, but if you have them, they will be even more successful.

These exercises can be done anywhere and anytime. For example, if you are traveling somewhere to public transport, then you can do your training right there. Instead of just holding on to the handrail and getting bored, you can try to push it up and, at the peak of muscle tension, fix them in this position for the maximum possible time.

Isometric exercise can be done both at home and in the gym. For example, if you hang a huge number of plates on a barbell so that it is impossible to lift them off the floor, try to do this, but do not overdo it, and freeze for 5-12 seconds at the peak of tension.

It is thanks to such exercises that you can significantly improve the condition of your muscles. Ideally, it would be nice to have a crossbar with the ability to change the height of the projectile, but even if you don’t have one, using your ingenuity, you can find a replacement for it.

Strength exercises

Bruce Lee's strength training consisted mainly of working with free weights, these were:

• press;
• squats;
• turns with a barbell on your shoulders;
• biceps curls.

Also, don’t forget Bruce Lee’s favorite exercises: jumping rope, swimming and long-distance running.

Bruce Lee's training program

The biographical literature of this athlete, among other things, left after his death a lot of interesting information regarding the performance of exercises. Bruce Lee's training program was as follows:

• sparring;
• alternating training;
• "perpetual motion machine";
• discipline.

As for running, it is known for certain that the athlete paid special attention to it, like all similar cardio training. During the week, Bruce Lee was scheduled to do 6 runs.

After a run and a short warm-up, it came to sparring. In order to avoid injury, Bruce used protective equipment, and this is quite natural. First, the strikes were practiced on a special wooden dummy, as well as bags filled with beans. Only after this did it come to free sparring. Bruce Lee believed that this was the only way to achieve perfection in his punches and technique.

Constantly alternating your workouts is the path to success. That is why it is necessary to pay attention not only to sparring or strength training, but also to work with your body comprehensively, jointly developing both agility and flexibility. Every day he devoted two hours to practicing various strikes until they became honed to a phenomenal degree.

You need to constantly move forward. Bruce Lee never stopped there and constantly improved, not only physically, but also intellectually. Among his daily training, he found time to read various interesting books regarding self-development of the mind and soul.

There must be discipline in everything, especially when it comes to sports. This means not only the obligatory implementation of the training schedule, but also those cases when the necessary apparatus or equipment is not nearby, it is necessary to replace it with something at hand. Thus, Bruce himself sometimes spent several hours trying to move a tree from its place, performing the same isometric exercises.

Power training

Now it is necessary to move from theory to practice and specific exercises, thanks to which he achieved in his years what no one else can repeat. Bruce Lee's training with a barbell is included in the complex of strength exercises:

• standing barbell press - 8 repetitions of 2 sets;
• biceps press - 8 repetitions, 2 sets;
• squats with load - 12 repetitions of 2 sets;
• Bent-overs with a barbell - 8 repetitions of 2 sets;
• bench press - 6 repetitions of 2 sets;
• lifting the bar behind the head in a lying position - 8 repetitions of 2 sets.

Barbell

Standing Barbell Press

Before performing each exercise, you must first warm up all the muscles. After preparation, you need to squat in front of the barbell, spread your arms shoulder-width apart and grab it. Next, press the barbell onto your chest with one jerk, while straightening your knees, ending up in a standing position. As soon as you are level, immediately push it up to your outstretched arms. After fixing the weight above your head, you need to do all the movements in the reverse order and return to the starting position.

Biceps press

The exercises are aimed at developing the biceps muscles, thanks to which Bruce had phenomenal hand strength and speed, which was demonstrated every time during the fight. The bar must be clasped with your hands shoulder-width apart, palms forward. Using only the biceps, you need to squeeze the barbell to the upper edge of your chest, fix the weight, and then return to the starting position. Respites between approaches should be minimal.

Loaded squats

During strength training, squats played a special role for Bruce. Among all types, the most popular are the classical exercises when performed correctly. The barbell must be held behind your shoulders while standing, with your feet shoulder-width apart. In this position, you need to slowly lower down and immediately rise up. Without stopping and lifting your feet off the floor.

Bent-overs with a barbell

Before describing the exercise, it is worth noting the most important point. During such training, Bruce Lee himself was once injured. This situation occurred in 1970, when he took a weight equal to his own and began to do this exercise, after which he damaged the fourth sacral nerve and experienced severe back pain. As Bruce himself later said, the mistake occurred due to lack of warming up before training.

The barbell must be held behind your shoulders in a standing position, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Slowly lean forward to an angle of 90 degrees, then return to the starting position.

Bench press

Bruce had amazingly developed pectoral muscles, but all his records mentioned only the classic bench press. In this case, everything is simple: exhale with effort.

Lifting the barbell behind your head while lying down

While lying down on a training bench, grab the barbell with your hands shoulder-width apart and push it up. Let's fix this position. Next, you need to carefully lower it behind your head until it reaches the floor. In order not to injure the tendons, it is necessary to keep your elbows bent. Then we return the bar to its original position.

Iron press

Bruce Lee had some of the strongest abdominal muscles. Ab training has always been a staple for him. Even though this exercise is quite simple, it is very effective.

You need to lie down on an inclined bench and tense all your muscles. Then you need to lift your body until it is in a vertical position, and it is not recommended to place your feet on the floor; it is best for them to remain slightly elevated. Thus, it will look like a boat. You can increase the load by lifting your body at a different angle. By the way, using the same method you can pump up both the upper and lower abs. Bruce Lee's workouts are based on multiple repetitions and minimal rest between sets, no more than what the body needs.

Nutrition

Indeed, everyone was amazed by the physical form that Bruce Lee possessed. Training and nutrition are closely interconnected, and in order to achieve results, you need to choose the right products. Only thanks to the most severe diet, the athlete did not have a drop of excess fat. At the same time, Bruce Lee's training was very exhausting. In order for them to benefit and to have strength for them, it was necessary to constantly nourish the body. Surprisingly, with a height of 171 cm, the athlete weighed only 61 kilograms, of which there was not a single gram of excess fat. This is all thanks to some rules that he adhered to.

The Laws of Nutrition from Bruce Lee

No empty calories

This expression refers to those foods that do not provide any benefit to the body, but only calories: flour and confectionery products, etc. Instead, Bruce suggested eating wild rice and oatmeal.

There is little, but often

The total amount of food intended for the whole day must be divided into several minimal meals.

Honey and ginseng

Bruce constantly prepared himself energy drinks based on them. This is also confirmed by his film colleagues.

Like many people from the East, Bruce loved tea and drank it constantly, using different varieties.

Balanced diet

Of course, without proper diet there would be no such result. It is necessary to constantly maintain the stability of the following proportions:

• carbohydrates - 50-60%;
• proteins - 20-30%;
• fats - 10-20%.

This combination will be optimal not only for health, but also for gaining muscle mass.

Sports supplements

Naturally, during Bruce Lee’s life there were no ready-made sports supplements, but nevertheless, people who understood such subtle things were able to create something similar. It is known for certain that Bruce himself (who, by the way, lived in California) created special homemade protein shakes for himself, which included powdered milk and brewer's yeast. At the same time, they say that he did not disdain the first supplements at that time, in particular minerals and multivitamins.

Only by working comprehensively on yourself can you achieve high results. All in your hands.

Hello dear readers. I think any of you have at least once watched a film with Bruce Lee and involuntarily admired his unique skill and body relief. And, probably, many asked themselves the question: could I do the same? Well, today I will talk about what Bruce Lee's training looked like and how the exercises he used are applicable to people with less physical fitness.

What do we know about this person? Interestingly, the moment of his birth - between 6 and 8 am on November 27, 1940 - fell on the Year of the Dragon and the Hour of the Dragon in accordance with the Chinese time system. So the popular nickname “Dragon” and the frequent appearance of this word in the titles of the actor’s films is not accidental. By the way, Bruce's childhood name was Li Xiaolong, that is, Li Little Dragon.

The parents were Chinese-born Lee Hoi Chen and Eurasian (half German) Grace Lee. Actually, the fact of birth took place in San Francisco, where at that moment his father, an actor-comedian of the Cantonese Chinese opera, was on tour with his wife.

As an actor, Bruce Lee began his career at the age of three months, he was cast as a baby girl in the film Golden Gate Girl. The next filming took place at the age of six, in the film “The Origin of Humanity.”

Despite his excellent body physics in adulthood, Lee was not very well developed physically as a child and teenager. On the contrary, he was considered frail and weak. He tried to train since childhood, but did not have much success. Active studies began only in 1954, but he became interested not in martial arts, but... in dancing. Yes, yes, he was an excellent cha-cha dancer. He even won the Hong Kong championship in this type of dance at the age of 18. At the same time, he took up boxing, which led to victory in competitions between schools. It was after this that he became interested in kung fu.

Martial arts classes began with the study of Tai Chi Chuan, then Bruce studied the style of Wing Chun (Wing Chun) from the famous Ip Man, mastered the techniques of judo, jiu-jitsu, and boxing. He mainly focused on fighting without weapons, although he also owned them. She worked especially impressively – and effectively – with nunchucks.

Bruce Lee's family and civil life developed quite smoothly. In 1959, he moved to the States to confirm his citizenship by birth. Lived in San Francisco, then in Seattle. He graduated from the Seattle Technical School and entered the University of Washington to study philosophy (not bad, right?) Faculty. It was there that he met his future wife, Linda. They got married in 1964, their son Brandon was born in 1965, and their daughter Shannon was born in 1969.

In the USA, the actor starred in TV series, but not in leading roles, and to ensure financial independence he gave private martial arts lessons. Among his students there were many famous people, including basketball player Kerim-Abdul Jabar, with whom Lee later staged an interesting fight scene in the film “Game of Death.”

In 1971, Bruce moved to Hong Kong, where his career as an action star began. The shooting of the first film from the Golden Harvest studio, “Big Boss,” where the actor himself choreographed the action scenes, brought resounding success, cemented by the more budget-friendly “Fist of Fury” and “Return of the Dragon.” During his career, Bruce starred in 36 films, but only in the last five did he play the lead role.

The actor’s death occurred in 1973, he was 33 years old... This happened during the filming of the film “Tower of Death.” Under the new title “Game of Death,” this picture was completed five years after Lee’s death, where two doubles were used instead of him.

Achievements of Bruce Lee

As already mentioned, Lee’s main successes as an actor include fame and solid earnings. At the same time, his films, unique for those times, served to actively popularize martial arts. It was then that he gained a huge number of followers around the world.

The Jeet Kune Do system (“Way of the Leading Fist”), developed by Bruce Lee, based on the principle of outrunning the enemy’s blows, is still considered one of the most promising and effective schools of martial art.

As an athlete and fighter, Lee has achieved impressive success. Among his records:

• Highest impact speed. It was not possible to film them at normal speed (24 frames per second); for battle scenes, technology with 32 frames per second was used. A movement of one meter was recorded in 0.02 seconds.
• Unique endurance. He could hold his legs in a “corner” position on his hands for more than half an hour, and held a 34-kilogram weight in one hand for several seconds.
• Incredible precision of movements - the fighter managed to catch thrown grains of rice with chopsticks;
• The force of the impact - Lee punched his fingers through sealed steel cans of Cola.
• Incomparable strength of the hands and forearms - the actor did push-ups on two fingers and pull-ups on the little finger of one hand.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. The training consisted of isometric and static exercises, aerobic exercise and vocational training - striking techniques.
4. 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 them 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 exercise equipment for him, reported that wooden crafts crashed instantly, and only those reinforced with metal had a chance to survive at least a few training sessions.

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.

Technique and types of exercises

Reconstructing diary entries, eyewitness accounts and photos of Bruce Lee, experts came to the conclusion that he worked using the following physical training techniques:

• Basic exercises in three sets with 15...30 approaches depending on the weight.
• Alternate exercises, they change in each workout.
• Constantly increasing load.

One of the programs for training the abs and leg muscles is shown in the photo.

The table below summarizes the basic principles of operation.

Workouts by day

Another photo from his personal notes:

Regarding combat techniques specifically, I managed to find the following program:

• Punching on Monday/Wednesday/Friday - jab, cross, hook, cross from below, speed training, series. All exercises, except speed ones, are done on a pneumatic bag, punching bag, regular bag and wall pad; speed exercises are done only on a pneumatic bag in the gym or at home.
• Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday kicks - side, side hooks, twist, heel, straight and back.

Records (not complete) for January 1968 report that the following training sessions took place per month: 15 for stretching and punching, 12 for speed, 121 and 129 for twisting (including lifting the torso) and hanging leg raises. , for legs (squats and others) 19, running (including sprints) - 10 hours.

Almost all the exercises were performed at home - sports equipment for this occupied the entire actor’s house, and there were even exercise machines in the garage. Eyewitnesses report that dumbbells and a barbell were available everywhere he spent at least half an hour - even in the office.

How Bruce Lee ate: a balanced diet

All his life, Lee preferred Chinese cuisine, preferring protein dishes, including soy-based ones. Relatives claimed that he avoided flour - he ate only out of politeness, when visiting. Focus on protein products expressed himself in a large number of protein shakes, the actor drank them every day: with powdered milk, eggs, bananas, peanut butter, wheat germ, brewer's yeast and lecithin. The composition was constantly changing.

Lee adhered to the principle fractional meals– in small portions five to six times a day. The diet was accompanied energy drinks based on ginseng and honey, vitamins and nutritional supplements.

What supplements did Bruce Lee use?

According to his wife and other eyewitnesses, he actively experimented with all synthetic vitamins, mainly groups B, E, C, and constantly consumed rosehip syrup and bee pollen. As mentioned above, ginseng was on the menu every day in the form of drinks, like honey.

Conclusion

It's hard to stop because there is so much information about Bruce Lee, and so much benefit can come from using his methods and principles of life to improve our own lives. I will be very glad if you find something new and useful for yourself in this article, please share useful tips in social networks!

In contact with

During training, many men set themselves the goal of pumping up a beautiful body, developing strength, striking speed and endurance. Their role model is Bruce Lee. Despite his small height and weight, he managed to achieve unique results, achieve success in sports, conquer Hollywood and master martial arts to perfection. Bruce Lee was the first to master the martial art of Wing Chun. Then other types.

Extraordinary physical abilities were the basis, but he achieved unprecedented results thanks to exhausting work and systematic exercises. He developed his own training program, which is often used by modern athletes.

For example, little Rusei Imai constantly uses the methods of Bruce Lee, the famous “dragon,” thanks to which the six-year-old boy became famous throughout the world.

Basic principles of training

Bruce Lee's training is not aimed at increasing muscle mass, but at creating a strong body and hardy muscles that will withstand long-term stress. The course of exercises was focused on:

• pumping the press;
• conducting sparring;
• alternating workouts.

The athlete's weekly schedule was carefully thought out. He exercised every day. At the beginning of each training there was running, namely sprinting over long distances. Having warmed up his muscles, joints and ligaments, Bruce Lee always devoted time to abdominal exercises. Strength training was of secondary importance to him. However, while working out with a barbell, he managed to draw each muscle group, emphasizing their beauty and elegance.

He preferred to train for striking speed in the form of sparring. He believed that this was the way to improve his technique and methodology. Bruce Lee loved training fights because they help not only for strength, but also improve flexibility, increase speed and flexibility, and make the training “alive.”

The athlete always emphasized that it is necessary to train not only the body, but also the spirit, take a comprehensive approach to studying the capabilities of your body, develop dexterity and hone your movements. He never stopped improving and did not stop there. This is the main secret of his success.

Types and features of classes

Bruce Lee's training was never monotonous. He gave preference to certain exercises, but skillfully combined them, swapped them, supplemented them and complicated them. If you want to practice the dragon technique, you must be prepared to work at the limit of your capabilities. In order to prepare the muscles, the athlete and actor used isometric exercises. Their meaning boils down to the fact that at the peak of the load, muscle tension must be maintained for as long as possible. His personal best was 12 seconds.

His training system did not exclude strength exercises. The athlete, who conquered more than one martial art, preferred to work with free weights. He practiced:

• - 2 sets of 12 repetitions;
• turns and bends with a barbell on the shoulders - 2 sets of 8 times;
• biceps curls - 2 sets of 8 reps;
• bench press - 2 sets of 6 reps.

For iron abs, he used the Dragon Flag exercise. To perform this, you need to lie down on a bench and grab it with your hands at head level. Using your abdominal muscles, lift your entire body slowly up. At the maximum point, the emphasis is on the shoulders. As you exhale, gently lower your body to the starting position. Bruce Lee's training system necessarily included jumping rope, swimming, push-ups, pull-ups and static movements.

What is wing chun

In the films where Bruce Lee starred, you can see very rare footage of the “inch blow”. This is a special technique of brush behavior. A person strikes with his fingers from a short distance, putting into it the strength of all possible muscles. With this technique, with minimal effort and little physical contact, you can throw your opponent several meters to the side.

Bruce Lee practiced the "inch punch" all his life. The technique of fighting comes down to the fact that each subsequent attack follows from the previous one, and the distance to the enemy is gradually reduced. It is necessary to put weight into the blow and “reduce force”, so it will not be possible to perform it correctly without coordinated muscle work. Perfecting the “inch punch” takes time. It’s easy to quickly grasp the basics, but without practice you won’t be able to learn how to conquer an enemy from a short distance.

Dragon diet

If you look at Bruce Lee's physique, the first thing that catches your eye is the lack of fat. He managed to achieve ideal physical shape thanks to the fact that he skillfully combined training and principles proper nutrition. The food of the famous athlete and actor was nutritious and healthy, because he needed strength and energy to exercise. At the same time, food should not be deposited as a layer of fat. Bruce Lee's main nutritional rules are:

• You need to eat in small portions, but often. During the day you need to eat 5-6 times.
• Drinking ginseng tea. A drink that gives energy and strength is easy to make. To do this you will need honey, tea (for the base) and ginseng.
• Using homemade protein shakes. It's not as difficult to do as it might seem. Suitable ingredients are bananas, eggs, milk, wheat germ.
• Introduce dietary supplements into your diet. Every day the body should receive vitamins and microelements. Dietary supplements and multivitamin complexes can replenish the required amount of nutrients.
• Less fatty foods. As for meat, you should give preference to beef. It has a delicate taste and provides the body with the necessary protein that is needed to restore muscle fibers.

This video contains unique footage:

Bruce Lee will forever remain an example of hard work and dedication. Using his training and main rules, you can achieve excellent results, become stronger, faster and learn unique technology blows. The main thing is to devote maximum time and effort to training, and to do it in a good mood.

40 years ago, young athletes drew inspiration from the inimitable physical strength, speed and flexibility of Bruce Lee. Not much has changed since then. Take out the heavy bag and adopt the training principles of the great master!

Openness and flexibility are two character traits Bruce Lee's approach to physical training

“Absorb what’s useful. Cut off the useless." These legendary words are often attributed to Bruce Lee, and although it is not known for certain whether he actually spoke them, there is no doubt that this principle underlay the philosophy of his martial art. The legendary and eclectic martial arts style of Jeet Kune Do, the “Way of the Leading Fist,” is based on striking at the moment the opponent’s attack begins, when any external influence slows down the opponent and leads to a fatal outcome. Thanks to this, Bruce Lee was unpredictable, and his fights were spectacular!

Openness and flexibility are two characteristic features of Bruce Lee's approach to physical training. While his colleagues and their mentors were wasting precious time on empty debates about traditions and futile searches for one-sided, technically and functionally oriented training systems, Lee absorbed the best that various schools had to offer. He took what he needed from martial arts, bodybuilding and other training styles. Lee was loyal to his barbell and his kettlebells, but also loved circuit training; I practiced kicking and punching every day with complete dedication, but also ran, rode a bike and jumped rope.

In short, he was a well-rounded athlete with a body that Joe Weider described as the most ripped he had ever seen. 40 years after tragic death Bruce continues to inspire people with his unique blend of speed, strength and flexibility. New photos of Bruce Lee without a T-shirt still appear on magazine covers today and become main theme numbers.

Of course, Lee never trained just to look good. The main goal was to create a perfectly functioning body, and appearance was just a byproduct of his training. According to Bruce, training is “the art of self-expression of the human body.” We'll tell you how he did it and how you can replicate it.

Train to fight

Lee belonged to the sport's elite: since the late 50s, he was a mentor and fighter, capable of incredible feats of strength such as two-finger push-ups and the "inch punch" that sent opponents flying. However, he revised all training methods after an event that occurred in 1964. That year, Bruce Lee was challenged by Won Jae Man, a representative of the orthodox branch of Chinese martial arts. According to sources, the reason for the disagreement was Bruce Lee's willingness to teach traditional Chinese martial arts to everyone - even Europeans. According to this version of events, if Lee had lost, he would have been forced to close his thriving martial arts school.

Soon Bruce Lee won and retained the right to teach anyone, anything. However, Lee later admitted that although the fight lasted only three minutes and ended with him running after Meng around the pavilion, the fight took much longer than expected and required more effort than Lee expected. Angry with himself, Lee decided to overhaul his training program and began searching for what his wife Linda called “more sophisticated and grueling training methods.”

Very soon, Lee switched to an intensive program of strength development and general functional training, which he adhered to until his death in 1973. He constantly changed the content of his training and always recorded it on video. This means that while we can't recreate Bruce Lee's exact "workout routine," we can piece together his favorite exercises and routines. In short, if you want to leave behind a “muscle treasure map” for future generations, or simply want to draw one for yourself, follow the example of Bruce Lee and take as many travel notes as possible.

Train hard, hit hard

Any conversation about Bruce Lee's training principles must begin with his signature martial art style. Bruce began mastering martial arts under the guidance of the great master Ip Man, the patriarch of the Wing Chun school (Kung Fu style). Having learned the basics, Lee continued to develop and over time created his own style - Jeet Kune Do. Unlike traditional schools, Jeet Kune Do is not tied to any fixed tenets. According to Lee, it is “style without style,” a free-flying martial arts that embraces whatever works.

But does this mean that Bruce did not need to carefully practice his technique? On the contrary, he had to keep his entire arsenal of techniques in full combat readiness, and therefore he devoted the lion's share of his free time to training. Here is a typical list of kicks and punches that Lee practiced.

Punching the punching bag

Punching: Monday/Wednesday/Friday

• Jab – pneumatic bag, wall pad, punching bag and floor bag
• Cross – wall pad, heavy punching bag, punching bag and floor bag
• Hook – heavy punching bag, wall pad, punching bag and floor bag
• Cross from top to bottom – pillow, heavy punching bag
• Series – heavy punching bag, punching bag and floor bag
• Speed ​​training with a pneumatic bag on a platform

Kicks: Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday

• Side impact
• Side leg hook
• Turning kick
• Front and back kick
• Heel strike

Lee often said that a punching bag cannot be punched automatically, without emotion. Imagine that the bag is yours worst enemy, and hit him heartily. He also emphasized how important it is to remain invulnerable during an attack - even in training. Lee constantly moved, made distracting maneuvers, feinted punches and stepped aside even while working with a boxing bag, thereby simulating a real fight. He firmly believed that a fighter who does not take training seriously will never be able to apply his skills in a stressful situation.

Rod path

Even before the fight with Won Jae Man, Lee understood that no fighter could do without proper strength training. However, it was precisely this battle, which coincided with the beginning of television and cinematic activity, that became the beginning Serious relationships Bruce Lee with heavy iron.

dragon flag

Lee started by spending his days doing reverse-grip curls to tone up his forearm muscles. Having experienced the full benefits of strength training, he moved on to comprehensive strength training. On an ongoing basis, Bruce used two alternative training programs to develop incredible strength:

Alternate workouts A and B every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

Workout A

Workout B

In his ability to simultaneously work on muscle development and functional training, Bruce Lee was ahead of his time. Hungry for knowledge, he looked for evidence of the effectiveness of each technique and made his choice consciously, based on the results of research and experiments. As a result, he managed to transform himself from a skinny 50-pound guy into a 65-pound warrior who strikes with the force of a jackhammer.

At the intersection of meditation and functional training

Lee did not neglect endurance training. He understood that strength training was of little use without adequate endurance, so he used a variety of techniques to achieve amazing functional fitness.

Lee had someone throw a medicine ball onto his stomach while he lay on the floor and tensed his abs.

Run. For Lee, running has always been not only a way of general physical training, but also a unique form of meditation, because at this time he was alone with his thoughts. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday he started by running a few kilometers. 6 kilometers was his favorite distance, which he ran in about 20-25 minutes, varying his running pace. After a stretch of calm, steady running, he would sprint for a short distance and then return to a moderate pace—much like what we call high-intensity interval training today.

Jumping rope. The jump rope not only helped Lee develop endurance and leg muscle strength, but also allowed him to flit easily during sparring and fights. As a rule, Lee worked out with a jump rope on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, devoting about 30 minutes to this exercise.

A ride on the bicycle. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, Lee completed his jump rope workout with a spin on the exercise bike, which required even more endurance and finally finished off his leg muscles. He raced on his trainer at high speed for 45 minutes.

Lee's famous shield

Bruce Lee, as well as other outstanding representatives of martial arts, needed abdominals not only for beauty. It was a real shield, capable of repelling any blow. To specifically target his abs, Lee would often have someone throw a medicine ball onto his stomach while he lay on the floor and tensed his abs.

However, traditional abdominal exercises such as sit-ups, leg raises and side crunches were also part of his training program. Here is one of the workouts that he did on a daily basis:

Bruce Lee Abs Workout

Feed the dragon

No athlete will jump from 50 to 65 kilograms without an adequate nutrition program. Like us, Lee had a penchant for protein drinks and made his own from powdered milk and some ingredients like root and royal jelly, with powerful doses of vitamins added.

He was very careful about his diet and never used foods that could harm the body or negatively affect performance. Coffee was blacklisted, but Bruce loved tea. At the same time, Lee was an ardent admirer of traditional Chinese cuisine. In his view, Chinese cuisine was built around quality plant-based carbohydrates from rice and vegetables, in contrast to Western cuisine, which was overzealous in its use of proteins and fats. It was carbohydrates that Bruce considered an essential nutrient for people with high level physical activity, and he distributed carbohydrates evenly between 4-5 meals.