Thread: Bruce Lee - Not Massive But Well Defined

Small, it is the same discussion about Brad Pitt. Thery are shredded.

If we agree.. why are we discussing?
Close this thread.

I just love Bruce Lee so I wanted to start a thread.

Let's not fight here, do you see that island over there?...

"Bruce had the unique ability to be able to several things at once. It wasn't all unusual for me to find him watching a boxing match on TV, simultaneously performing a full side splits, while reading a book in one hand and pumping a dumbbell in the other."

Talk about dedication. We will never know what kind of breakthroughs he could have made for bodybuilding. The man was able to analyze workouts and the body in the way Einstein viewed the Universe.

His strength far surpassed his size.

I'm a HUGE Bruce Lee fan, so the last thing I would do is insult him. Having said that, there is NO WAY you can say he wasnt small. Regardless of his reasons for being that size, he was small. Doesnt change the fact that he was bad ass and shredded up.

Originally posted by Var
Having said that, there is NO WAY you can say he wasnt small.

he def. was, but he never had the goal of getting big.

he need to stay small to be as quick and agile as he was.

needless to say, i honestly think he was the toughest man ever. in other words, i think he would beat ANY person in a 1 on 1 fight. they used to have to SLOW down the reel of videotape when recording because he was too fast.

Don´t understand me wrong
I am a fan of Bruce Lee too, specially after I saw a documentary on Hbo that he was not only devoted to martial arts but he had a very nice view on life, he was very optimistic, the good optimistic type.

Originally posted by Flex
he def. was, but he never had the goal of getting big.

he need to stay small to be as quick and agile as he was.

needless to say, i honestly think he was the toughest man ever. in other words, i think he would beat ANY person in a 1 on 1 fight. they used to have to SLOW down the reel of videotape when recording because he was too fast.

I agree completely! Definitely not taking anything away from him, but if the question is whether or not he was small, the answer is yes. He was definitely a bad ass and small because he needed to be.

My goal has always been to have his symmetry/proportions, but more size.

An excerpt from the article on Mike Mentzer's site....

"But there exists another pocket of humanity that sees in Lee something else -- although not entirely unrelated -- the bodybuilders. Bodybuilders, young and old, know from one quick glance at Lee's physique exactly how much labor went into its creation -- and they are, one and all, very impressed.

Ironically, bodybuilding luminaries of no less stature than Flex Wheeler, Shawn Ray, Rachel McClish, Lou Ferrigno, Lee Haney, Lenda Murray and former Mr. Olympia, Dorian Yates -- that is to say, the best in the business - have all spoken on the record regarding the impact the physique of Bruce Lee had on their bodybuilding careers. "How could this be?" I can hear you ask, perhaps somewhat incredulously. After all, Lee was only 5'7" tall and checked in at a weight that fluctuated between 126 to 145 pounds! What could a behemoth like Dorian Yates, for example, see in Bruce Lee's physique that would give him grounds for any form of inspiration? The answer, in a word, would be quality.

There has seldom been seen - this side of a jungle cat -- the incredible sinewy and ripped-to-the-bone quality of muscle displayed by Bruce Lee. He was ripped in places that bodybuilders are just now (28 years later) learning they can train. Every muscle group on his body stood out in bold relief from its neighbor -- not simply for show (unlike many bodybuilders) but for function. Lee was, to quote his first student in the United States, Seattle's Jesse Glover, "above all else, concerned with function." Lee's body was not only a thing of immense grace and beauty to watch in action, but it was supremely functional. Leaping eight feet in the air to kick out a light bulb (as evidenced in Lee's office-wrecking scene in the MGM movie Marlow), landing a punch from five feet away in five-hundredths of a second and catching grains of rice -- that he'd thrown into the air -- with chopsticks were things Lee had trained his body (and reflexes) to accomplish. In fact, during his famous "Lost Interview" Lee referred to his approach to training as "the art of expressing the human body." Indeed, perhaps never before has there been such an incredible confluence of physical attributes brought together in the form of one human being -- lightening fast reflexes, supreme flexibility, awesome power, feline grace and muscularity combined in one total -- and very lethal -- package.

Furthermore, the Lee physique was balanced and symmetrical and, while not everyone can be said to admire the massive musculature of our Olympians, everyone -- or so it would seem (including the world's greatest bodybuilders) admire the "total package" that was Bruce Lee.

All of the aforementioned champion bodybuilders have indicated that Bruce Lee was a major influence on their bodybuilding careers, which is no small accomplishment when one considers the fact that Lee never entered a physique contest in his life. Ironically, despite his influence being, felt by the hardest of hard-core bodybuilders, Lee himself was never interested in developing a massive musculature. One of Lee's closest friends and an instructor in Lee's art of Jeet Kune Do, Ted Wong, recalls that "Bruce trained primarily for strength and speed." The physique -- while certainly appreciated by Lee -- came almost as a by-product of such training."

He was one of the biggest inspirations for me to begin lifting weight.

Great read!

There's is a very interesting (but somewhat misleading) sport science article. It will bring about much pain and argument, though...I warned everyone already.

I'll post it later when I find it.

I went to that site and read almost all of it

Bruce lee ownz

Originally posted by asicx
There's is a very interesting (but somewhat misleading) sport science article. It will bring about much pain and argument, though...I warned everyone already.

I'll post it later when I find it.

You lost me.

Here's the site:

http://www.myodynamics.com/articles/bruce.html

Any thoughts?

Originally posted by asicx
Here's the site:

http://www.myodynamics.com/articles/bruce.html

Any thoughts?

Thats from a BB perspective.. You dont need tree trunk legs, to kick someones head off.

Of course I dont know if its true or not, but it was reported he was up to 165 after discovering weights.

Search up on WONG JACK MAN, he teaches in my area. The writings do make me feel that Bruce was really nothing but a stuck up trouble maker, talented but not really a nice guy. He was repeatedly in trouble for fighting as a youngster and I think he brought that with him to the states.

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...=wong+jack+man

Thanks Mudge- Killer read
http://martialarts.about.com/gi/dyna.../brucelee.html

Originally posted by Flex
they used to have to SLOW down the reel of videotape when recording because he was too fast.

think they had to do the same for S. Segal..

Originally posted by Burner02
think they had to do the same for S. Segal..

Now thats a joke folks

Regardless of whether Bruce was just a younggun shotmouth, a cocky disrespectful trouble maker, or a rude natured young man, he was still one hell of a specimen.

No one knows the truth, it's a he-said-she-said controversy. But I'll tell you this: in some ways, he's so philosophical, always referring to Tao te Ching (which IMO, is the most thoughtful), it's hard to believe the stories. Stories such as:

-him and his friend would mess with white-European sailors harboring in Hong Kong just to test out his fighting skills

-one on occasion, asked a karate master (of old age) to withstand his punch, and totally knocked him down, showing that he doesn't push his opponent, he punches through

Any thoughts?

Originally posted by Mudge
Now thats a joke folks

you didn't watch that biography on him? The director (forget name) said they had to slow down the movements

Bruce Lee could not have been as good as he was if he had been massive. Different objectives.

Being huge is not everyone's desire, and nor is it beneficial to everyone.

If you think this whole "had to slow down camera" thing is fake, here's an interesting question:

In Enter the Dragon, during the fight against Bob Wall, when did he grab Bob's hand? and if you are wondering "WTF...?" then you oughta watch the whole Bruce VS Bob Wall fight scene in slow-mo......very interesting......it's not a trick question either, he DOES grab it, very specifically and intentionally.

And he had to slow down for those scenes....imagine if someone came at you like that full speed, full power!

Originally posted by Burner02
you didn't watch that biography on him? The director (forget name) said they had to slow down the movements

I dont have a lot of respect for Segal, besides the "joke" that he is fast - because he is slow and fat (he runs like a girl), he was a wifebeater. The stories of his sexism and womanizing are far and wide.

F#ck 'im.

Segal got choked out by an old man "Judo" Gene Label, dont mention it in his presence. I enjoy most of his movies, I just think the man is a dick.

he does run like a girl!

Originally posted by asicx
If you think this whole "had to slow down camera" thing is fake, here's an interesting question:

In Enter the Dragon, during the fight against Bob Wall, when did he grab Bob's hand? and if you are wondering "WTF...?" then you oughta watch the whole Bruce VS Bob Wall fight scene in slow-mo......very interesting......it's not a trick question either, he DOES grab it, very specifically and intentionally.

And he had to slow down for those scenes....imagine if someone came at you like that full speed, full power!

those punches are so fast!!! I remember watching it a while back and I was doing Wing Chun at the time... the moves i used were very similar to the ones he uses in that sequence

YES he dose grab the guys hand!

he was the closest thing on this earth to fighting perfection, his body was a highly trained leathal weapon, damm i need to start doing kung fu again!

peace

Originally posted by Mudge
I dont have a lot of respect for Segal, besides the "joke" that he is fast - because he is slow and fat (he runs like a girl), he was a wifebeater. The stories of his sexism and womanizing are far and wide.

F#ck 'im.

Segal got choked out by an old man "Judo" Gene Label, dont mention it in his presence. I enjoy most of his movies, I just think the man is a dick.

I read that he's a coke head and almost strangled his wife to death in a restaurant. Thats not a real man IMO!