Jeff: What's up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere Athleanx.com. Today I stand next to greatness,
the legendary Bruce Lee. And today you are going to learn from him because we're going to cover
the most effective training principles of his time that still apply today.
Jesse: Hiya! Jeff: Oh, my Lord.
What are you doing? What are you wearing? Jesse: I'm wearing my Game of Death replica
outfit because I love Bruce Lee, and we're doing a Bruce Lee video today.
Speaking of which, Bruce Lee, Master, can I challenge you to a kung fu fight? Because I would
be honored to display my skills against you. Jeff: You, you realize he's a
cardboard cutout, right? Jesse: Jesse, are you saying
he can't defend himself? Jeff: No, I would never
say that about Bruce Lee, but Jesse: So, let me go prepare for my kung fu
match with the great legendary Bruce Lee. Hiya! Jeff: I got nothing to say. Now, I think it's
important to point out that while Bruce Lee was certainly a fitness icon, it wasn't necessarily
the size of his muscles that commanded attention with forearms at 11 to 12 inches or even biceps
at just 13 to 14 and wrists that were very, very tiny at just over 6 inches and thighs that even
measured at just 21 to 22 inches. There wasn't a single measurement that would define him as
a very muscular guy. Though some would argue that his 44-inch chest measurement was pretty
damn impressive considering especially the fact that it wasn't coming from his chest development,
but more so the wrap around measurement effect that had to go all the way around those Cobra
lats. But what is important is that it was the accumulation of all of those measurements that
created one iconic physique. And one that not only looked good, but most importantly, could perform
at the highest of levels. Talk about getting every single ounce out of one's body, that's exactly
what Bruce Lee did. Now, when it comes to his workout, there's actually not that much that is
specifically known about what it entailed. As a matter of fact, a lot of it is shrouded
in mystery, like the man himself. There is one particular workout card that makes the rounds that
people feel is the official workout of Bruce Lee, however, there is even some debate about this.
But what I want you to notice is that the weight totals here are not incredibly high,
and that is because what's most important about knowing specifically what exercises he did is
more about knowing the principles of how he trained. And that brings us to the first one,
Lift What Can Be Lifted? It wasn't about the weight, it was about being able to command that
weight from point A to point Z, which is something we talk about here all the time. And one of the
ways he did this is by incorporating additional range of motion or more time under tension. And
one of the famous ways for doing this was a Launch Curl. So not just curling the weight up, but then
having to extend the arms out that demanded that the weight that he curled could be controlled at
this longer moment arm. That means he might have to drop the weight just a little bit, but in
return get much better contractions and focused intention with every single rep that he did.
One of the techniques that I talked about on this channel was being able to stop a weight in motion
at any point in motion because that displays total command of the weight that you're lifting. We
can take something like a Front Shoulder Raise. Yeah, you might be able to swing the weight up,
but could you stop them at any point on the way up or on the way down? The next time you
do a Lat Pull Down, don't just swing the weight down to your chest and pray for a safe return,
try to actually stop the weight and control it at any point in time. Even just to prove
to yourself that you're using a weight that allows you to lift what can be lifted.
One of my favorite ways to do this is just to incorporate a couple sets of this on a Dumbbell
Bench Press. Yeah, you could do your straight sets, but why not incorporate at least one
set where you can prove to yourself that you're commanding that weight at every single portion of
every single repetition? Challenge yourself and your ability to command a weight through space,
and I promise you, you may have to lower the weight just a little bit,
but the levels of muscularity that you will see from this will go up in return.
The next thing that doesn't show up on a workout card are the principles that Bruce Lee employed
during the exercises that you're reading. So, on those Pushups or on those Bicep Curls,
where's it mentioned the use of ISO Tension as a way to amplify the effects of those exercises?
This was a technique used by the legend because he knew that contraction could create command.
If you took a simple push up and performed your repetitions to failure but instead of resting
in between sets, just simply got into a kneeling position and added to the contraction by crossing
your arms over each other into abduction and increase that my muscle development that might
be lacking. Because every set of pushups that you do where you allow either the shoulders or
the triceps to take over, is one set that you're taking away from the work capacity of the chest.
And with each one of those, you're taking away from the potential development of that muscle.
By simply incorporating these additional low level, low intensity contractions in between sets,
you're neurologically grooving that ability to create a better contraction out of a muscle.
And we can modernize this, it doesn't have to just occur on, let's say, a pushup. After the
set of Lat Pulldowns allow yourself to get into that good solid back contraction. It might be the
best one you've felt the entire set because maybe you're not obeying principle number one and you're
using weight that you're just swinging around. And of course, Bruce Lee, as I mentioned,
applied this to the curl as well. Again, you read just barbell curls, but what about employing this
technique in between sets of those? Don't forget the opportunity that you have to do a little bit
of this additional low-level contraction that is just an additive to the benefits of the first
portion of that set, the one that we all do, but this part, the one we all forget to do.
And while now, Bruce Lee never demonstrated the highest levels, as we talked about,
of absolute strength in the gym. Why was it that he had such incredible strength when he actually
did something? Because he had the ability to create total body strength and he knew that
creating strength was first and foremost about not losing strength. And when we talk about
this all the time, the energy leaks that are present in exercises that we do and when we're
not aware of them, well we lose strength. One of the most famous ways he did this was with
the Fingertip Pushup or the Two Finger Pushup. He made this look incredibly easy. I, on the other
hand, struggled very mightily here to do just a few repetitions and I have an understanding
of how to control strength and not lose it through these energy leaks. It's just a hard exercise. But
what will make it a lot easier for you, or even possible when it might seem impossible right now,
is by contracting the other muscles in the body. When you perform it, contract the quads,
tighten the glutes, tighten your core, drive your toes into the floor, start in a solid position,
contract the triceps, extend the arms fully. By doing this, you're preventing the dissipation
of energy, the exact energy that you need to drive not just into the floor, but most importantly to
drive your body back up in the opposite direction. But it doesn't just stop on a pushup. I've talked
about how this can benefit you in any exercise that you do. The next time you do a pullup,
don't just allow yourself to hang from the bar. Set the kinetic chain up for success by pointing
those toes down to engage the calves. Straighten those knees out by contracting the quads,
tightening the core, allowing your forearms and your arms to participate in the exercise.
Again, there are some times when we want to be very isolated on what we do,
but there are other times where we want to teach the body how to use the muscles to cooperate with
each other the way they prefer to. Even more complex variations of the pullup are possible
once you have this concept mastered, because instead of just allowing your shoulder blades
to just rotate upwards without control, keep them pinned to the rib cage, let that serratus work. It
provides the opportunity to move your body through space in ways you never knew were possible.
Even something as simple as a Side Lateral Raise, I bet you find yourself kind of lazily lifting
the arm out to the side. But if you actually increase tension throughout the entire arm,
and I'm doing it here with a bent arm, but you can do this with a straight arm also, engaging
the forearms, engaging the wrist, engaging the muscle of the upper arms. Not just the delts,
but also just getting tension through the entire arm. You'll see that that kinetic chain from the
fingertips up to the shoulder will feel stronger and move more efficiently through space.
Again, gaining strength by first, not losing strength. And he did this famously in other
ways too, mostly with overcoming isometrics done on either a Press or a Squat. And basically,
what he would do is just set the pins up to a location where he would push into them, realizing
that the bar is not going to go any further. But what it did was increase the muscle recruitment
capacity on the exercise, allowing your body to become more efficient through less dissipation of
force. Because again, when we lose force in the exercise we're trying to perform, then what we
do is we sap strength by losing it first. Guys, understanding this principle can change the game
for you in terms of not just how your workouts are, but the results that you see from them.
It should come as no surprise that when the body is lean as Bruce Lee's, he knew a thing
or two about nutrition. But surprisingly, his principle is very basic, he kept it simple,
you are what you eat. An adage as old as time that applies today just as much as it did back
then. But why do we screw this up? Because we forget to focus on what we're doing in that 23
hours outside of the gym. And that's one thing that Bruce Lee never did. As a matter of fact,
he was one of the first people to have a juicer, an industrial grade juicer in his house because he
relied on that as a source of getting in adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables each and every
day. He was also a big believer in limiting the consumption of starchy carbohydrates and,
most importantly, sugars, because he called them empty calories that provided
no real benefit to him or his training. But he did have a high priority on protein
and not just in the consumption of his whole food options like lean beef, chicken or fish, but he
also placed a high importance on protein powder as a means of increasing his protein consumption
and most importantly, the ease of consuming more protein. We all know that a good protein powder
can be an irreplaceable benefit to those looking to reach higher levels of protein consumption in a
day simply because of the ease of consuming it. Myself, I actually have my own protein powder that
I take every single day for that exact reason. As a matter of fact, I think if this existed,
this would probably be the choice of Bruce Lee. Okay, maybe, maybe not. But the point is,
you have to care about what you put in your body, if you want to see the best results
from your body when you're training or when you're just simply looking in the mirror.
And whether it's taking a punch to the gut or are you lifting more weight in the gym,
there's one mandatory asset that Bruce Lee and I both know, and that is your abs should
be like steel. In other words, you need to have a strong core. And while most of Bruce Lee's work
focused on creating rigidity and resilience in your abs, we know today that the core can be a
great contributor of power and explosiveness. But when we look at Bruce Lee's training, we
look no further than the Dragon Flag for how this was done. He believed that this exercise was the
epitome of core strength and control. And he was right, because in order to do this effectively,
you can't just do it with your abs. You need to have glute contraction as well. You need
to incorporate all of the muscles of the hip and pelvis to be able to do this exercise properly.
I mean look at even my lats as I do this exercise, they too, are fired up. Why? They re core muscle,
they have attachments to the pelvis. And even if you can't do this exercise,
it doesn't mean that you can't obtain the same benefits other ways. One of my favorite ways to
do this is through the Plate Drag. It's employing a heavy weight that I have to still maintain that
rigidity of my torso as I drag the weight from side to side, preventing any excessive rotation in
the process. Or something as simple as a step out which works on that lateral pillar strength.
Keeping your hands centered in front of you as you take a step against the resistance of the band,
making sure not to allow it to break you or tilt you back in the direction of the anchor point. Or
taking it to a whole other level, literally, as we jump up to a bar and perform a slow,
controlled movement like the Oblique Twist. The bottom line is, while you might be obsessed with
lifting the iron in the gym, you better be equally obsessed with getting a metallic midsection here,
preferably steel. If you want to be the most resilient in everything that you do. And -- Oh,
Jesse. No, no, no, no, no, no. Jesse, no! Jesse: Oh,
God my groin. Oh, that's a nad doctor. Oh, oh. Jeff: Oh, he still kicked your ass, buddy.
Jesse: Oh, I don't want to talk about it. Oh. Jeff: Guys, remember, legends become legendary
because they offer lots to learn. We all can learn from this legend right here. If you're looking for
a workout that we put together, the Bruce Lee Ab Workout, you can find it right here. In the
meantime, if you're looking for things to learn from me, you can do them over at Athleanx.com. I
hope you found this video helpful. If you did, make sure you click Subscribe and turn on your
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