Reading up on Bruce Lee

I’ve always been a big fan of martial arts films whether they be the simple ones where a boy loses an important person in his life whether it be a family member or even his kung fu master and vows revenge or the epic martial arts movies where the film features massive armies and you have a hero or a group of heroes who just overpower these armies in Dynasty Warriors fashion where one swing could send a whole platoon of spearmen flying everywhere.

Been reading up on the one martial artist that I think really took his craft to the highest level, taking his martial arts philosophy and applying it in competition and in film-making. That martial artist is Bruce Lee.

Bruce (Li Xiao Long) lived a short life but while he was here, he contributed so much to his craft and even in other fields. He is admired by a lot of bodybuilders, big bulky men and women who believe that Bruce Lee got it right with his bodybuilding methods. He was also considered someone who could be competitive had he seriously participated in boxing. His own brand of martial arts, Jeet Kune Do, or the Art of the Intercepting Fist, details a training system that puts greater importance in improving the performer than the quality of the moves performed.

What I find quite amazing about Bruce Lee are his documented feats of speed and power. (from Wikipedia)

Lee’s striking speed from three feet with his hands down by his side reached five hundredths of a second.

Lee could spring a 235 lb (107 kg) opponent 15 feet (4.6 metres) away with a 1 inch punch.

Lee’s combat movements were at times too fast to be captured on film at 24fps, so many scenes were shot in 32fps to put Lee in slow motion. Normally martial arts films are sped up.

In a speed demonstration, Lee could snatch a dime off a person’s open palm before they could close it, and leave a penny behind.

Lee could perform push ups using only his thumbs.

Lee would hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.

Lee could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight using chopsticks.

Lee performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger.

Lee performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.

From a standing position, Lee could hold a 125 lb (57 kg) barbell straight out.

Lee could break wooden boards 6 inches (15 cm) thick.

Lee performed a side kick while training with James Coburn and broke a 150-lb (68 kg) punching bag.

Lee could cause a 300-lb (136 kg) bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a side kick.

In a move that has been dubbed “Dragon Flag”, Lee could perform leg lifts with only his shoulder blades resting on the edge of a bench and suspend his legs and torso perfectly horizontal midair.

Lee could thrust his fingers through unopened steel cans of Coca-Cola, at a time before cans were made of the softer aluminum metal.

Lee could use one finger to leave dramatic indentations on pine wood.

This is stuff that you would normally see stunt doubles do with some degree of manipulation on the props and perhaps even using computer graphics to make it look “realistic”. But Bruce could actually do these himself without any aid.

Quite amazing. Ever dreamed of being one of them high-flying martial artists?