Bruce Lee was a trend setter in many ways. He was the first celebrity to really bring the idea of martial arts fitness training into the lime light. Even today people want to know how he managed to develop a body that was almost perfect. His book, The Art of Expressing The Human Body, tells this story.
Beyond his martial arts and acting abilities, Bruce Lee’s physical appearance and strength were truly astounding. He achieved this through an intensive and ever-evolving conditioning regime that is being revealed for the first time in this book.
If you want to look like Bruce Lee, the Bruce Lee’s The Art of Expressing The Human Body is ideal as it details many of his training methods and his diet and nutrition rules. Much of what we know about Bruce Lee is found in this one book.
In this book we can learn about the various methods Bruce Lee used throughout his career. He changed his methods as his body developed. He moved from traditional kung-fu training drills to incorporate more functional strength training. We can also learn about his diet, with insights from Linda Lee on what he liked to eat, the supplements he took, even the home made juice blends that he drank.
One of the most inspirational things about this book is that it shows his actually training logs. Bruce Lee was a great believer in documenting all his training. He believed that only by keeping a log of his workouts was he able to progress and improve.
Strength training is a key feature of the book. Bruce loved isometric exercises, and the book explains how they provide the raw strength required for martial arts. And he developed isometric exercise far beyond the basic horse stance.
Obviously the book documents his famous 1 inch punch, and goes some way to explain how he trained his body and his mind to enable him to accomplish such feats. Part of his success was trying new techniques, even having fitness equipment custom made to meet his requirements, to strive to improve his physical self.
There are whole workouts dedicated to wrist and forearm strength (essential for martial artists and grapplers). Plus his back exercise routines are simply awesome. He provides details on stretching too.
The Art of Expressing the Human Body is still as relevant today as it was when Bruce Lee started penning his notes in the early 1970’s. Modern day martial arts classes would not be as dynamic today if it were not for Bruce Lee, and what he taught to others through his classes, and through his books. Every serious martial artist should read this book.
“The Art of Expressing the Human Body” by Bruce Lee (available from Amazon.com)