- We get into a fight, I accidentally kill you.
(70s funk action music)
- Hey, guys, my name is Mike Moh and I'm playing Bruce Lee
in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming movie
Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.
(loud banging)
So when I first got the call to audition for Bruce,
number one I was excited, but I also said,
"Wow, this is the time, it's go time.
"I've gotta get really deep in not only to who Bruce was,
"but how he ate, how he trained."
Here are a few things that I did
over the three-month prep period that got me ready to play
the Little Dragon himself, Bruce Lee.
(upbeat music)
So I've been doing martial arts for over two decades,
so the thing that I like to do to warm up is jump rope.
Bruce was a big fan of boxing himself,
so jumping rope is gonna get your nerves
and your joints and your muscles warmed up.
It's also gonna help you with your timing and your footwork.
So we're gonna do three sets of pushups.
We're gonna start off
with the trustworthy standard variation.
I'm gonna start with 30 reps.
Keep the eyes forward, back straight,
and the elbows are gonna pinch towards your ribs.
(slow music)
(upbeat music)
Okay, cool.
So after you do your first set of pushups, 30,
on either your palms or the knuckles,
now I'm gonna move to set number two,
so we're gonna go to the archer.
Fingers are gonna face outside.
Nice straight back.
And this is all about time under tension on these.
So I'm gonna do 20 of these reps.
Okay, set two complete.
So now we're gonna get into the air.
We're gonna really work on these fast twitch muscle fibers
and get to some Superman pushups.
Since this is the most advanced, we're gonna start with 10.
(upbeat music)
So now that we're done with our pushups
we're gonna take it to the ab workout now.
We're gonna start with a hanging leg raise.
Bruce was famous for his famous V-sits
and this is a great way to develop that strength
and stability in your core.
We're gonna start with 20 reps.
Squeezing at the top.
So now that we've hit the center of our abs,
we're gonna make sure we can work the obliques as well.
So we're gonna do some twists.
Okay.
We're ready to hit the bags.
Let's get into our martial arts-themed part of our workout.
(dramatic music)
- I said, "Empty your mind.
"Be formless.
"Shapeless.
Like water."
- So I like to hit the gloves on this bag.
Three rounds for three minutes.
If you guys don't have gloves,
or access to a heavy bag, same idea.
(exhaling rapidly)
Shadowboxing with that same intensity.
(exhaling rapidly)
(grunting)
Okay, people, the gloves are literally off.
So now we're gonna go to my bread and butter, kicks.
So we're gonna start with the round kick.
It's a basic technique
that anybody can learn properly and safely.
For filming we had to make sure
that I was not only looking powerful
and fast like Bruce himself,
but I had to make sure that my kicks were 100% controlled.
Because the last thing I wanted to do
was break Mister Pitt's ribs.
- Anybody accidentally kills anybody in a fight,
they go to jail.
It's called manslaughter.
- So, knee comes up, twist the hips,
extend, retract, and back down.
As you get more comfortable with that,
it's all one rolling motion through the target.
The most important part being getting your hips rolled over,
keeping your hands protecting your body and head
at all times.
(grunting)
Bruce was the master of incorporating
all different styles of striking,
like these TaeKwonDo round kicks into his training.
What I did was 30 different repetitions of variations
of that round kick I showed on both legs.
That'll get your legs nice and warmed up.
And we can finish with our burpees.
(upbeat music)
(shouting)
We're done with our striking portion of our workout
and we're gonna finish strong with burpees.
So I'll do three sets of one-minute burnout burpees.
If I'm feeling great after those,
I'll add in one more set of these variation burpees.
(upbeat music)
So that's it, guys.
Hope you guys had fun joining me
on my workout to become Bruce Lee.
Make sure you guys check out Once Upon a Time In Hollywood
coming to theaters this summer.
And until then, be water, my friend.