He's one of the most Iconic symbols of strength and power at just 135 Pounds.
Today we're going to take a look at the legend Bruce Lee.
And more importantly I'm going to show you guys how to start training like this guy.
What's up guys, Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM
Look I don't care who you are or what kind of facebook page you have, if you put a picture
of Bruce Lee up with one of his famous quotes,
you're damn near assured to get a lot of likes and shares out of that.
Why?
One word guys, it's Respect.
Bruce Lee is one of the most Iconic athletes of all time.
And I say athlete, this is a guy that basically represented all that there is that's athletic.
He had strength, he had power, he had agility, he had quickness, right.
And he did this all with a body weight of just 135 pounds.
And was able to achieve some feats of strength that guys twice his size, cannot.
So what I thought guys, was why don't we dig into Bruce Lee's training a bit to look at
some of his major principles.
Because there's really no singular workout around of Bruce Lee's because it's all sort
of shrouded in mystery.
There's a lot of pieces, but nothing that spells it all out.
that I believe is accurate.
I think a lot of that stuff you see out there is not accurate.
It's just a sort of people anecdotally putting up blogs and videos.
So what I want to do is look at his training principles.
Because that's what he even said himself that he relied on, so we can get some really solid
foundational things for you guys to start focusing on,
to see what it's like to start training like an athlete.
To start training like Bruce Lee.
Ok, so let's get that kick started right now.
Ok, so let's get the first principle here underway and that is Using Tension to Your
Advantage.
Bruce Lee used to say that Tension Creates Control it Doesn't Prevent It.
Now guys, if you remember the videos that I've showed you here about our energy leaks.
And how important it is to plug those energy leaks when we're trying to generate strength
and power.
Then you'll know exactly what he was talking about.
Watch me do this clip here of a pushup, standard pushup, right.
The key here of being able to have more strength in the pushup is to plug the energy leaks.
Meaning you have to make sure that all of your muscles are engaged, that there is tension
throughout all of your muscles.
People think that tension is a bad thing because they look at it in that negative sense of
the word but in weight training, tension is a great thing.
You want to tighten up your glutes.
You want to tighten up your shoulders.
You want to tighten up your low back.
You want to tighten up your quads by straightening your knees.
That allows you to do some pretty amazing things.
As a matter of fact, Bruce Lee was known for his finger and thumb pushups.
So even if I tighten everything up here, now I'm going to have a shot at being able to
do those.
Not as good as Bruce Lee of course but I've got a shot because I've got much more efficient
energy transfer from my toes all the way to my fingertips by plugging up those leaks.
Making sure my whole body is tense and therefore making the power transfer up and down throughout
my entire body without any loss.
That's the key guys.
Next up, we've got to look at the ISO Tension Principle.
This is something that Bruce Lee used to incorporate after exercises to do a few different things.
As guys who watch our stuff here at ATHLEANX, we know some of the values of time under tension,
right.
Extending sets, adding length of time that the muscles are under tension is one of the
best ways to make them grow.
Bruce Lee knew that by incorporating extended tension in the form of ISO Tension, is a great
way to get those muscles to respond.
You can see what I'm doing here, this would be the exact move that he would do following
his pushups.
So basically as he used to note in his journals, he would find some way to engage, not just
the chest, that's the key guys, because it takes it to another level here.
Again another principle of ATHLEANX, maximus muscle interaction.
Getting muscles that prefer to work together to work together.
So in this drill here, I'm engaging chest, triceps, shoulders, Isometrically.
Contracting as hard as I could.
To not only creates more time under tension but to also make those muscles work together.
But also to create a very important mind muscle connection.
Alright reinforcing your control over your muscles was key to Bruce Lee's training.
And it's key to whatever you're doing guys.
If you're trying to be an athlete, you can obviously see how important that's going to
be.
But even if you're not, it's going to be very important for the ultimate development of
your muscles.
Number three, this is a great one guys. because it underscores one of my biggest pet peeves.
One of Bruce Lee's as well, he said, Never Lift a Weight you Actually Can't Lift.
Now this goes guys, back to his principle of Tension.
And wanting to have to muscles, be Tense, right.
And most of the time guys will make a mistake of saying I want to get that weight from point
A to point B. And not care how that weight gets there.
And that's a big big problem.
Especially if you're trying to develop muscularity..
See what Bruce Lee used to do is he used to enforce the fact that he was in control of
the weight by adding certain things to his exercises.
He had a particular exercise that's called the Barbell Launch Curl that you can see me
demonstrating here.
Where he would basically curl this weight up to the top and then launch his arms straight
out in front of him.
Now guys, I think I've read where he's been doing that or was doing that with over 110
pounds, 120 pounds.
That is absolutely insane.
That's something that I am not going to be demonstrating for you today.
Because I can't do it.
But the fact of the matter is, he was in control of that weight and he wanted to prove it.
If he wanted to curl it, he could curl it.
If he wanted to launch it out, he could launch it out.
If he wanted to hold it out there, he could hold it out there.
If he wanted to bring it back in, he'd bring it back in.
The fact is guys, his muscles were in control of every single thing he did.
And that's something you should start to learn from.
Make sure that you're not just letting your ego push the weights and drive the weights
that you're using.
Let your muscles do the talking, alright.
Lift that weight up using the contraction, the muscles you are intending to use.
And again, bring the ones in together that like to work together..
Chest, shoulders, triceps, bring them in and let them work together.
But make sure they're doing the work and you're eliminating the momentum.
And I'm telling you, not only would Bruce be happy but I would be too.
No discussion of Bruce Lee's training would be complete without addressing his Ab Training.
As a matter of fact, this is a guy who is known for having one of the most incredibly
powerful and carved out mid sections.
And it's because of the high priority he placed on them.
Matter of fact he said, that you have no business sparring unless you have Abs of steel.
So this is another reflection guys, of what we do here at ATHLEANX.
I place an incredibly high importance on Ab training.
Realizing that the core is literally at the core of everything we do.
So much so that the guys that have our program can tell you, when you get it you get an ability
to create a new Ab workout every single day at the touch of a button, through our Six
Pack Promise.
Because I believe in frequent Ab training and it's importance just as Bruce Lee did
through his daily Ab workouts.
Yes Daily.
He used to pay attention to some aspect of his training for his Abs every single day.
Whether it be just through standard sit ups or the more difficult version that I'm showing
you here now.
The Dragon Flag is no doubt one of the most Iconic exercise examples of Bruce Lee's Ab
training.
Alright but it's also one of the hardest.
So how are you going to get yourself from doing whatever the level of exercise you're
doing now to this?
You're going to have to train.
You're going to have to train frequently.
Because these Abs and core muscles are Postural Muscles.
They're used to training and firing all day long to keep you upright.
Right, they're involved in everything we do, rotation, antirotation, controlling rotation,
decelerating rotation.
We want to make sure that we have these muscles as strong as possible.
And we're going to get there guys by starting to incorporate a more frequent attack plan
on them.
Again with the Dragon Flag though here is you can see how it underscores yet again his
importance he plays on controlling total body tension.
No matter what exercise he was doing.
And in this exercise with the weight of gravity forcing your legs down and
you having to counteract that every inch and every step of the way to prevent your low
back from going into extension,
that is a damn demanding exercise but another example of just how powerful this guy was.
But an inspiration for you guys on how powerful you can be.
If you start attacking your ab training the right way.
Finally one of the most overlooked aspects of any training program but one that Bruce
Lee did not,
and that is the importance of recovery.
Guys you know where I stand on this.
Getting away from the gym can sometimes be the best thing for your muscles because that
is where repair and muscle growth occur.
Here we break it down, away from the gym we repair.
Matter of fact, Bruce Lee knew this as he said, If you're going to make great demands
on your muscles then you better be able to repay that
through proper nutrition, supplementation, sleep and rest days.
Notice rest days, meaning he would get away from the gym.
Now we talked about his dedication to Ab work, but beyond that guys he was making sure that
he was spending time away to allow his muscles to recover.
Another thing he did was focus on supplementation and prioritize it.
It showed in his journals how he used to focus on protein supplementation,
high quality protein supplementation to be an adjunct to his proper diet and nutrition.
And I say that to you guys all the time as well.
Don't think that you're going to go take supplements and you can go have a bad diet or nutrition
approach and think you're going to get great results.
Right, supplements when you have a great nutrition plan can really help to accelerate your results
because you're putting in place those final pieces,
that really can take you, it's an exponential leap that you can take from here to here when
you have everything else in place.
That's something that he did, that's something recommend to you guys, explore if you feel
you're there.
Secondly, cross training, right.
He made sure that he wasn't always pounding away at strength training, but he was doing
conditioning.
And then strength training, and then swimming and then jumping rope, and then his Ab work
again, right.
He would have a multi disciplinary approach to his training.
And that's another thing that I really reinforce here with ATHLEANX guys,
that you can start to see that we sort of like to train like athletes, right.
And that's what we say that Bruce Lee was.
We have the same approach.
We mix in our conditioning with our strength training in such a way that we can maximize
our volumes without leading to over training.
Where we can build muscle and burn fat at the same time without over training.
Or we can follow a sensible eating plan that you can actually follow.
These are the important concepts.
These are the things that he believed in.
Finally he was a student guys.
He thoroughly researched his own training and nutrition effects.
So as he would implement something, he would learn from that.
And I try to institute that guys with you, each and every week with these videos.
I try to give you examples of things that you can incorporate and see your own results.
Ok, I'm not trying to force down your throat, things that I don't think work, guys.
Everything I ever suggest to you,
I suggest to you based on my experience using it with other guys,.And making sure that it's
safe and effective.
And that's again guys, leads us all back into, all the way that Bruce Lee trains.
Like an athlete.
What I always preach every week .
And that is, let's get you guys doing the same exact thing.
If you want a step by step plan to do it,
then head on over the ATHLEANX.COM right now guys and grab my 90 day training program.
All this stuff is covered, right.
All these ideas and concepts that we went through here with Bruce Lee are basically
spelled out day by day in that program right there.
Because again, Bruce Lee was an athlete.
I have a high respect for athletes and all the demands that are placed on them to get
to that next level.
And that's what I've always wanted to do for you guys as well.
Get you guys to that next level, no matter what it is.
Wherever you stand right now, I'm going to get you to that next level by being your coach
through my program.
Through the nutrition, through the supplementation, through the core work, through the strength
training, through the conditioning to get you guys to that next level.
So if you haven't already guys, head over there, grab that program.
And in the meantime, leave your comments below.
I'm sure much respect for Bruce Lee, let's all hear it, right.
The guy deserves it, he's been gone for a long time.
But like I said, guarantee thumbs up and likes on this guy anywhere on facebook because he
earned his respect.
Alright be back here soon with another video.