Quick question on Bruce Lee's training

I asked you guys since a fair few of you have strong knowledge of JKD. Bruce Lee achieved Martial mastery but unlike many traditional martial artists he was highly scientific (in terms of western medicine), He preached quality over quantity!

My question is simply on average how many hours a day is he likely to have trained?

I mean he was very busy with his films especially later on when he seemed to really accelerate as a martial artist, i have the book Art of expressing the human body and there is information there however its clear his training, his routine changed over the years due to the changes in his life and during certain periods his routines arnt in the book. I don't know how right i am but i assume he didnt spend 8 or 9 hours training, he trained 4 to 5 hours a day in terms of actual concentrated training and then whenever he had 5 or 10 mins throught the day he would be practicing one thing or another whether it be a physical or technical excercise. Would you say that is accurate?

The only reason i ask is because many masters who have achieved a top level tend to spend around 8 or more hours training, they train very very hard however Bruce Lee achieved a similar level of mastery yet seemed to train for far less time which seems quite impressive. Thats pretty much the reason i asked, essentially is quality better than quantity - i.e 5 hours of concentrated effort is sufficient to attain a high level, i mean you always hear repitition is power but then you also hear less is more or to make the excercise harder instead of longer. Which applied to Mr. Lee and which applies to you?

sorry for the long post which could have been cut down no doubt, stilll though your views on the matter will be greatly appreciated!!

 

IMO the only thing that can get practiced for 5-8 hrs a day is very long forms and practicing absoultely everything you have learnt, it beggars belief that some one could train for that long and not be burnt out after 4 years! training attributes like strength and stamina could take up most of 45mins of concentrated effort ie weights.... technical devlopment on bag work or mook jong can be done in half hour- 1 hour sessions after this you would just go stale and bored. dont get me wrong I love martial arts training and try to train all aspects of strength, stamina and flexibility but I couldn't manage 8 hours training even when I was teaching professionally

G

 

Thai Boxers in Thailand do 6 hours a day training,Fedor Emilienko 8 hours a day,many people have very physical jobs and work 8 hours a day or more,its all a matter of focus or needs must,Bruce Lee did 18 hours of training a day(as I heard from a very reliable close source many years ago) most days and had some very radical training methods for body and mind especially for those days(and some of them even now).

 

Any need for that response? 18 hours a day... what is a 'Bruce Lee day' the equivalent to 3 Normal 24 hour days?

No worries anyway, i was just curious.

 

Look for expression of the human body in stores. its a book that close friends and students of bruce lee made that has is work out journal with hit daily routine and work outs all though out the book. as well as pictures before and after he started a weight routine. bruce never train all day but he did make the most of it. given the fact that he had dojos then switch to being a action star his job was martial arts training so to act for a time frame is impossible. for someone with a 9-5 is more like 1hr 30 min in the morning and 3 hours after work. but thats an idea not a fact so if you want to train like bruce i say use your time and training wisely

 

Ooops sorry bro didnt realise my post may of sounded a bit blunt,didnt mean it like that,just saying that people do train many hours per day,and I was told Bruce trained fanatically and constantly,hence he got so good.

 

Knickers=Twist??

 

bruce trained innovatively , he was always doing 3 or 4 things at the same time, for instance he may be lying on his floor and catching a grain of rice with his chopsticks, while curling a dumbell in the other hand in a crunch position, with his son on his lap, true situation, he would train threw the day, standing on one foot, retracting his legs, constantly doing 90 degree rotating leg lifts ,great for kicking control i might add and of course his hardcore training which hours were devoted too and the qigong, zen meditation also!

 

BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Frickin CLASSIC!!

Never let it be said you don't have a sense of humor chof.

 

WrooONNNGGG

 

I havent heard the chopsticks one bedfore Chof but Bruce Lee could definately multi task,for example he could read a book,have a convesation and watch a tv show at the same time,and follow all the storys so to speak,the guy was something else because his training methods (like the ones above) took him to that level,hence none of his students(that I know of) can operate at the same physical or mental level.

 

"he could read a book,have a convesation and watch a tv show at the same time,and follow all the storys"

he was a cross-eyed schizofrenic?

 

He could also throw fireballs from his hands and levitate....

 

yea what he did with the chopsticks, he threw the grain of rice up in the air with the chopsticks and caught it with the same hand, the question was on his training like you said, use to do many things at once and he did train threw the day off and on, mentaly and physicaly

 

this thread is pretty entertaining, i must say.

 

Good post, FC - with the exception of the chopsticks story, that has all been verified by people like Linda Lee, Dan Inosanto, Ted Wong and several other people who regularly spent time with him.

There were various routines - one was was watching tv, leg extensions, barbell curl, book in lap, carry a converstaion with whomever was present.

Point was to work on focus as well as maximize training time. Producers of Enter the Drafon later said they had never met anyone with his ability to shut things out/focus where he wanted to.

Nothing mystical about any of this - the man was simply obsessed with developing whatever abilities would result in a greater fighting edge. Towards that end, he left no stone unturned.

 

Wasn't Bruce one of the few who could catch a fly using chopsticks? :evil:

 

Thanks JeetKuneDero,

If my memory serves me right it was Dan Inosanto that I heard that from.

Personally I really belive no body in JKD has come close to Bruce Lees level of development,I remember Jesse Glover(in his book "beetween Wing Chun and JKD) saying Bruce was as strong as a Olympic Gymnast,as fast as a World lightweight Boxing champion and as Powerfull as a heavyweight world boxing champion.

Do you (or anyone else )remember how Bruce was supposedly working on tendon strength and loosing weight in order to prove(to himself most likely) that weight and Muscle Mass were not the keys to hitting hard,tendon strength(and timing/accuracy/deception etc ) was?.

 

He should have been Batman... :yeleyes:

 

Well I have to admit he as always been my Super Hero