Comments on: Bruce Lee Workout

By: MotleyHealth

MotleyHealth — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:38:31 +0000

These exercises performed by Bruce Lee are still very relevant and effective today. Basically you want to do compound movements (big moves that utilize more than one muscle at a time) and lift a heavier weight (fewer reps per set, more weight) to build more athletic muscle.

By: brutilist

brutilist — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:34:41 +0000

hey i have just started practicing traditional martial arts (hwarangdo) i do not use weights but what would be some good exercises other than the basics- push ups, pull ups,squats,crunches to gain functional muscle in my lower and upper body and strenght ?? i couldnt think of any better place to post my question than an article posted on bruce lee =) thanks.

By: MotleyHealth

MotleyHealth — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 11:06:56 +0000

These exercises were the ones done by Bruce according to The Art of Expressing the Human Body. Bruce favored compound exercises over an isolation, and the weight training did indeed only compliment his other martial arts training. Concentration on isolation exercises would risk overtraining. He used to also perform thousands of punches everyday!

By: DirgeofGabriel

DirgeofGabriel — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:42:55 +0000

Hello, in regards to this workout, what about isolation of shoulders and triceps? I know you can get some shoulder workout from the clean and PRESS (which ends in a military press), and the bench uses triceps, but what about shoulder presses or skull crushers or even dips? I find it odd there are mo specific exercises for these muscle groups.

I’ve heard boxers don’t do many shoulder exercises because they get good shoulder strength from constant punching, so they don’t overtrain, but I’m talking here just straight weight/strength and not necessarily what other exercises you do outside the weights room.

I would assume a lot of punching power comes from shoulders/triceps, where you’d use your biceps for trapping/grappling etc?

Also, I agree swapping the good mornings for the deadlift. It’s a lot safer and in the long run you can lift a lot more.

By: cristian

cristian — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:34:34 +0000

this workouts r da best!!!!!R.I.P Bruce Lee

By: Edy

Edy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:35:53 +0000

I’m actully training with free weights, and I have already 2 years. I read a lot of bodybuilding and martial arts. A LOT. To prevent overtraining and training with maximum effort and better well to train clever.
I train with kung fu, traditional. I train with the “12 animals” system, wing chung, xing yi, and a bit of bagua & chang chuan.

I always changing my rep range. I shouldn’t get bulk because my martial arts. But I can get in shape and stronger with free weights. One week I train with reps between 4-6. And the next week I might be training with 10-20.

By: MartialMadness

MartialMadness — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:45:39 +0000

and also, my cardio is about 10min skipping warm up, and 15min punch bag warm down…although this needs to be improved on..any ideas for this would be execllent…cheers

By: MartialMadness

MartialMadness — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:42:44 +0000

i forgot to add…2-3 sets on the weights…

By: MartialMadness

MartialMadness — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:42:09 +0000

DeathinShadows. I am Currently doing a modern martial art, which is basically a mixture of Karate, Kickboxing And JU-Jitsu at a local club not far from me, i use free weights that i have at home and are currently doing about10 reps at a time for bench, curls etc. but for rows, squats and deadlifts i am doing 12, my strenght has increased already and i have gained a few pounds. my diet is a well balanced diet not to much of one thing, but i like to eat a lot of rice to help with the weight, but high protein is also included to keep my strenght up. i want functional strenght and not to be big a bulky like a steroid head, i want quick powerful movements, i try to use speed training alot, but need advice on how to do this, as i only have a punch bad and sparring mitts that i can use with my bro who is a thai boxer. your help is much appreciated.

By: DeathinShadows

DeathinShadows — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:24:00 +0000

Martialmadness. I would like to assist but it’s difficult without having your goals. Are you a martial artist or are you only after the “look”? DO you want functional strength or simply to build some muscle and again look good? If you are a martial artist which martial art are you doing? Traditional or Modern? Reason I ask these questions is that I’ve been doing traditional martial arts for 20 years and there are certain aspects that shouldn’t and can’t be ignored when training the way you do. You say you want to be fast, but weight training is not speed training. You need to train for explosive speed which cant be done with free weights. You can only accomplish that much and then you hit a ceiling. I will be glad to assist you just give a more detailed breakdown what you do in terms of martial arts, your bodybuilding reps, your cardio workouts and if you can the basic outline of your diet as well.
Other than that training takes a long time. There are NO quick fixes no matter what you do. You need to start thinking in terms of years and not months or weeks. Look forward to hear from you. Cheers