Bruce Lee's Stats?

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61

Martial arts are fun.

About 4 years ago, I was training with a guy that just moved to the US from China, An Tian Rong. He didn’t speak any English (my friend’s mother would translate), but he didn’t really need to in order to get his point across. My buddy came for a lesson, and An demonstrated a technique on him. He pushed my friend with what I thought was a fairly lax maneuver. At best, I’d say his arms traveled about 6" or so. My friend, on the other hand, traveled about 7-8 feet backwards and slammed into the wall.

An was 62 years old at the time.

Earlier tonight, my current teacher (who’s 40, and weights about 135 tops) knocked me into a wall (I’m 25, and 165-170ish) with barely any effort at all. I was actually trying to resist at the time – it didn’t help.

My point is this: before getting tossed around effortlessly by a handful of MA practitioners, I probably wouldn’t have bought into the whole one-inch punch deal either. I’m pretty skeptical. After training with these guys for a bit, I’ve got to say they’ve convinced me. However, there’s really nothing magical about any of it. As another poster already mentioned, it’s all about proper body alignment. Anyone can learn to do it, if they’re so inclined.

62

I’d like to clear up a few things. Joe Lewis was a martial artist. Joe Louis aka the brown bomber was a boxer. Joe Lewis is held in the same esteem in his field as Joe Louis was in his. Joe Louis and Bruce Lee didn’t train and/or spar together. Joe Lewis and Lee did. If you read about Joe Lewis the world champ, you’ve got the wrong Joe.

Also, Chuck Norris was-isn’t-and never will be a heavyweight, despite his ability to time travel and give the gift of beard.
That is all.

63

[quote]The Mage wrote:
In fact he lost a serious amount of weight, and thought that meant he was healthy shortly before he died. (The exact circumstances are not known. Marijuana believed to be the cause, but the unexpected loss in weight may have indicated a missed medical problem.)

[/quote]

I don’t get what you are saying. Bruce Lee died from MARIJUANA? Or Bruce Lee lost lots of weight from marijuana? Do you know anything about drugs? Because both scenarios are as highly unlikely as the other. Please find me confirmed evidence anyone has ever ODed from pot. And also, that any stoner has ever managed to fight off the munchies and actually lose weight!

I heard he was abusing amphetamines, which seems a more plausible possibility, but still only a possibility. It would account for the weight loss, amazing ability to train, etc.

64

[quote]deanosumo wrote:
The Mage wrote:
In fact he lost a serious amount of weight, and thought that meant he was healthy shortly before he died. (The exact circumstances are not known. Marijuana believed to be the cause, but the unexpected loss in weight may have indicated a missed medical problem.)

I don’t get what you are saying. Bruce Lee died from MARIJUANA? Or Bruce Lee lost lots of weight from marijuana? Do you know anything about drugs? Because both scenarios are as highly unlikely as the other. Please find me confirmed evidence anyone has ever ODed from pot. And also, that any stoner has ever managed to fight off the munchies and actually lose weight!

I heard he was abusing amphetamines, which seems a more plausible possibility, but still only a possibility. It would account for the weight loss, amazing ability to train, etc.[/quote]

I was going to post something along these lines earlier but get tired of repeating the same shit. Marijuana has been a direct link to the deaths of…wait for it…here it comes…hold on…NO ONE AT ALL. You don’t overdose on marijuana so how could you die from it? Unless you died as a results of massive Twinkie inhalation, this is highly unlikely.

65

I was going to rebutt some of the idiocy in this thread, but I see others have beaten me to the punch. But one comment I need to address:

[quote]DLboy wrote:

It is very well documented that Gene Lebell beat Lee by simply tackling his 18 inch legs (minus the 18 inches bit). Bruce would easily be defeated by a well versed grappler. Also, Gene probably didn’t know half of what today’s submission wrestlers are capable of.
[/quote]

And when Lebell subdued him, he asked Lee “What would you do now?”

Lee responded, “I would bite you, of course.”.

Lee wasn’t a sports fighter. He was a martial artist. Think about it.

-Glee

PS. To those of you fed up of hearing about Bruce Lee, not clicking on a thread with “Bruce Lee” in the title would be an excellent start.

66

[quote]JammieBane wrote:
Somebody mentioned “that chi nonsense” or something to that effect earlier…

Nonsense? Calling it nonsense is the simple minded individual’s way of saying if “I can’t understand it, it can’t be real”. Do some research on the nonsense filled monks of tibet.

You’ll find documentation of monks who used their nonsense to sleep in near 0 degree weather, while it snowed, on a mountainside wearing nothing but a near paper thin sheet of cotton. They woke in the morning, and used their nonsense abilities to dust the layer of snow off of themselves and walk back to their village.

This was all documented by I believe a National Geographic film crew… wearing all-out expedition gear. The same individuals could place a wet cloth on themselves… and after a minute or 2 of meditiation, created enough body heat to have dried the cloth. Hard to believe, yes. True, yes… very true.

Lesson to learned: Ignorance of a subject does not make it nonsense :-)[/quote]

I was the one who mentioned the “Chi nonsense”. Internal pressure, great CNS adaptation is how we explain “Chi” nowadays. Can meditation help with that? Probably. Keeping your body nice and unstressed is very important.

My point was in this case, and poorly illustrated perhaps, was to have a go at the crowd who thinks Chi is the be-all and end-all of strength and explosive power.

The guiness record holder of brick and concrete smashing (a very experienced karate guy) talks about how his use of Chi helps him do what he does. It just so happens that this guy is also very large and very black. The size of his muscles just might also have something to do with it.

He regularly breaks his bones while smashing through hard things, something he admits to.

Bruce was great, and he racked up some very impressive achievements in speed and relative power of the upper body, largely thanks to his use of martial arts strength boosting techniques and lots of training. There is something to be learnt for us all from this.

His idea of staying nazi camp skinny to retain quickness and explosive energy, is retarded, and for the most part false.

And in the end, it killed him at a very young age.

67

[quote]deanosumo wrote:
The Mage wrote:
In fact he lost a serious amount of weight, and thought that meant he was healthy shortly before he died. (The exact circumstances are not known. Marijuana believed to be the cause, but the unexpected loss in weight may have indicated a missed medical problem.)

I don’t get what you are saying. Bruce Lee died from MARIJUANA? Or Bruce Lee lost lots of weight from marijuana? Do you know anything about drugs? Because both scenarios are as highly unlikely as the other. Please find me confirmed evidence anyone has ever ODed from pot. And also, that any stoner has ever managed to fight off the munchies and actually lose weight!

I heard he was abusing amphetamines, which seems a more plausible possibility, but still only a possibility. It would account for the weight loss, amazing ability to train, etc.[/quote]

I remember hearing the stat on how much THC would be required for an overdose. It was an insane amount (a number of kilos worth of pot). You’d die from smoke inhalation first or pass out stoned out of your mind.

Yeah, he was a druggie as well as a manorexic. That’s all we prove here.

68

[quote]jsbrook wrote:
Duh-he was small. Duh-he was pretty impressive. What is the argument? It’s not like he was a bodybuilder or anything.[/quote]

Well, he wrote a bodybuilding book… Anyway, i read an article on Myodynamics (Staleys page) years ago, I couln’t find it now but it was about Lee’s strength.
From what I remember, his lower body strength was quit weak, he used ~130lbs when squatting, and if I remember correctly he used less than 30 pound dumbellls when curling which doesn’t nescessarily mean anything. It didn’t say anything about his power in more strength-related excercises. It did say, however, that he was born with one testicle and thus was on testosterone replacement.

If anyone knows the article I’m talking about I’d be interested in reading it again, it might be total bull for all I know.

Bruce Lee will be remembered as a great martial artist, and he inspired me and millions of others to start doing martial arts.

Personally, however, I wouldn’t wanna look like him, I’d rather look like Brad Pitt in fight club. (kidding :slight_smile:

69

I also mentioned “chi nonsense”. I have no problems with the word being applied to general life energy. HOWEVER, alot of what is claimed to be highly developed chi is often biomechanics. On the other hand if you hang around the chinese martial arts for a while its only going to be a matter of time before you meet a “my master can shoot lightning bolts out of his finger tips because he developed his chi” kinda statements. Secret Chi abilities, etc. The Boxer rebellion would be an good example. People were convinced their chi could stop bullets. They were wrong.

Also i get iffy when certain movements are ment to increase chi, etc.

There is a basis of truth. But mystical elements that are taught with martial arts are rarely true. Though some of the skills/tricks that have been developed are amazing. I amount that to extreme physical/mental control trained over years.

70

[quote]deanosumo wrote:
The Mage wrote:
In fact he lost a serious amount of weight, and thought that meant he was healthy shortly before he died. (The exact circumstances are not known. Marijuana believed to be the cause, but the unexpected loss in weight may have indicated a missed medical problem.)

I don’t get what you are saying. Bruce Lee died from MARIJUANA? Or Bruce Lee lost lots of weight from marijuana? Do you know anything about drugs? Because both scenarios are as highly unlikely as the other. Please find me confirmed evidence anyone has ever ODed from pot. And also, that any stoner has ever managed to fight off the munchies and actually lose weight!

I heard he was abusing amphetamines, which seems a more plausible possibility, but still only a possibility. It would account for the weight loss, amazing ability to train, etc.[/quote]

Either that or cocaine. Someone mentionned the Myodynamics website. If memory serves me right, there was also something on that site about Lee found dead in his mistressbed. Blowtill you die…

71

[quote]deanosumo wrote:

I don’t get what you are saying. Bruce Lee died from MARIJUANA? Or Bruce Lee lost lots of weight from marijuana? Do you know anything about drugs? Because both scenarios are as highly unlikely as the other. Please find me confirmed evidence anyone has ever ODed from pot. And also, that any stoner has ever managed to fight off the munchies and actually lose weight!

I heard he was abusing amphetamines, which seems a more plausible possibility, but still only a possibility. It would account for the weight loss, amazing ability to train, etc.[/quote]

When I mention his weight, I am talking about the possibility of him having a potential medical condition that went unchecked. Where he thought he was getting healthier, when the opposite was true.

As far as Marijuana is concerned, I believe they tried to connect it, but not as the drug causing the death itself, but instead an allergic reaction to the drug, or a combination of that an a pain killer he took.

He was supposed to be allergic to cannabis, and it was still found in his stomach, which is strange that he would use something he was allergic to.

At least this is the theory, or theories. And that is all I am throwing out here, I am not really saying that is the reason.

There is also the theory of Dim Mak, (fun for children), a family curse, (also affecting Brandon,) and the idea he didn’t pay off gangsters who killed him somehow.

He died of cerebral edema of unknown cause, and that is the only fact we really know.

Sorry for making it seem as though I was buying the cannabis theory instead of just throwing it out, should have been more specific.

72

[quote]The Mage wrote:
deanosumo wrote:

I don’t get what you are saying. Bruce Lee died from MARIJUANA? Or Bruce Lee lost lots of weight from marijuana? Do you know anything about drugs? Because both scenarios are as highly unlikely as the other. Please find me confirmed evidence anyone has ever ODed from pot. And also, that any stoner has ever managed to fight off the munchies and actually lose weight!

I heard he was abusing amphetamines, which seems a more plausible possibility, but still only a possibility. It would account for the weight loss, amazing ability to train, etc.

When I mention his weight, I am talking about the possibility of him having a potential medical condition that went unchecked. Where he thought he was getting healthier, when the opposite was true.

As far as Marijuana is concerned, I believe they tried to connect it, but not as the drug causing the death itself, but instead an allergic reaction to the drug, or a combination of that an a pain killer he took.

He was supposed to be allergic to cannabis, and it was still found in his stomach, which is strange that he would use something he was allergic to.

At least this is the theory, or theories. And that is all I am throwing out here, I am not really saying that is the reason.

There is also the theory of Dim Mak, (fun for children), a family curse, (also affecting Brandon,) and the idea he didn’t pay off gangsters who killed him somehow.

He died of cerebral edema of unknown cause, and that is the only fact we really know.

Sorry for making it seem as though I was buying the cannabis theory instead of just throwing it out, should have been more specific.[/quote]

Allergic to cannabis? Your brain responds specifically to it due to receptors that seem to be very adaptive to accepting. I will try to find some research, but I think you are way off on this. No one has ever died because of marijuana directly. NO ONE. I seriously doubt Bruce Lee was the first and last. This sounds like when they claimed that the woman who played Dorothy in the original Wizard of Oz movie died from sleeping pills. Yeah, that’s what they called all drug addictions back then…sleeping pills.

I am not jumping on you. It is just that false info like this is spread and then commonly believed…much like marijuana and decreased testosterone.

73

[quote]perseng wrote:
His idea of staying nazi camp skinny to retain quickness and explosive energy, is retarded, and for the most part false.[/quote]

I don’t get it – are you saying he didn’t retain quickness and explosive energy?

-Glee

74

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Allergic to cannabis? Your brain responds specifically to it due to receptors that seem to be very adaptive to accepting. I will try to find some research, but I think you are way off on this. No one has ever died because of marijuana directly. NO ONE. I seriously doubt Bruce Lee was the first and last. This sounds like when they claimed that the woman who played Dorothy in the original Wizard of Oz movie died from sleeping pills. Yeah, that’s what they called all drug addictions back then…sleeping pills.

I am not jumping on you. It is just that false info like this is spread and then commonly believed…much like marijuana and decreased testosterone.[/quote]

Whether it was a reaction to the wacky weed, or not - he was a very skinny, under-nourished little man when he died. hell - he was under-nourished when he was at the height of his career.

He could never beat Chuck Norris - unless Norris wanted to lose.

75

[quote]Gleemonex wrote:

And when Lebell subdued him, he asked Lee “What would you do now?”

Lee responded, “I would bite you, of course.”.

Lee wasn’t a sports fighter. He was a martial artist. Think about it.

-Glee

.[/quote]

Think about this…Would he still be biting after LeBell FINISHED the submission hold? After his elbow, knee, shoulder, or whatever had been dislocated? Was he skilled in the art of Pitbull-kwon-do?

How bout this scenario? LeBell finishes his hold on the biting Master, crippling one limb. He then moves on and proceeds to cripple the remaining three. Lebell gets treated and released at the hospital. Bruce, not so fortunate. Not bad for a “sport” fighter.

76

For someone who lived in Hollywood in the sixties (or any other time)to be called a "druggie " because he ate a little marijuana every now and then is a little excessive. It’s not like he was doing acid with David Carridine or shooting 8balls with Errol Flynn.

One of the most likely contibuting factors was spending long days in a hot poorly ventilated room editing Enter the Dragon.

The family curse was some bullshit made up by a Hollywood screen writer for Dragon because Hollywood is full of assholes who don’t really have any good imagination.

Lee was best freinds with Steve Mcqueen, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. That freindship would have been much more interesting than the fight with the demon.

When Steve Mcqueen took Lee for a joyride through the Hollywood hills in his porsche 911, he drove like such a maniac that Lee begged him to slow down. That would have made a much more interesting scene than the demon.

Lee had a personal trainer business going. Lee trained Steve Mcqueen, James Coburn, Sharon Tate, all big stars. Somehow it wasn’t worth mentioning.

The problem with being a celebrity is bullshit sells newspapers while the truth is boring.

77

[quote]AZMojo wrote:
Gleemonex wrote:

And when Lebell subdued him, he asked Lee “What would you do now?”

Lee responded, “I would bite you, of course.”.

Lee wasn’t a sports fighter. He was a martial artist. Think about it.

-Glee

.

Think about this.[/quote]

Done! Lebell would recoil from having exposed a target to Lee’s bite, and Lee would be free to evade and try a new approach, including all sorts of “illegal” moves that Lebell would have specifically trained to avoid, thus limiting his general combat ability.

Oh, wait, you had more. Sorry, please continue.

With 2 provisos:

  1. Lee and Lebell would have been in true adversarial combat, instead of Lebell teaching Lee Judo, and

  2. Inasmuch as the human jaw is designed to generate incredible amounts of pressure specifically for incapacitating, damaging and rending the flesh of animal prey,

YES.

Why do you think biting is illegal in virtually all sanctionned combat competitions?

I didn’t know Lebell didn’t need blood flow to perform physical feats.

-Glee

78

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
If you read about Joe Lewis the world champ, you’ve got the wrong Joe.
[/quote]

um…i got the right joe.
and btw they were both world champs.

79

[

according to joe lewis, lee was one of thousands of “actors” who could be compared to ali:

" I never stood in front of another human who was a quick as him. He not only had the quickness but he had the inner confidence to muster the conviction to do so. I’ve seen others who had the speed but lack conviction or vice versa. He was like Ali, he had both.I stood before both of these men, so I know." -Joe Lewis

dude get real and give credit where credit is due.[/quote]

I know they were both champs. They are also both considered by some to be the best of all time in their respective fields. Joe Lewis did not fight with Ali. Neither did Joe Louis.Lewis may have observed Ali training, but nothing more. I think he said that to illustrate a point, and compare Lee’s impact in his field to Ali’s in his.

80

I don’t know how that little bastard is such a lightening rod for controversey still. Its like clockwork…every third week, someone starts a thread about him, or someone mentions him in an article and things explode!

And all this on a bodybuilding site; I would hate to see what the martial arts sites say. There must just be one thread that has been going since 1994, with people just arguing back and forth.