There is no argument that Bruce Lee had one of the finest physiques of anybody in sports. Bruce Lee’s physique workout was done 3 days a week and consisted of 6 basic exercises done swiftly with little rest and maximum weight after proper warm ups. The exercises are listed below.
Clean & Press
Lee would begin this movement by taking a shoulder-width grip on an Olympic barbell. Bending his knees, he would squat down in front of the resistance and, with a quick snap of his arms and a thrust from his legs; clean the barbell to his chest and stand up. After a brief pause, Lee would then thrust the barbell to arms length overhead, pause briefly, and then lower the barbell back to the top of
his chest.
After another brief pause, he would lower the barbell back to the floor (the starting position). With absolutely no rest, Lee would then initiate his second repetition of the movement and continue to do so until he had completed eight repetitions. After a very brief rest, so as to take full advantage of the Cardio-respiratory benefits as well as the strength-building benefits, Lee would perform a second and final set.
Squats
This staple of bodybuilding movements was the cornerstone of Bruce Lee’s barbell training.He had dozens of articles that he’d clipped out on the mechanics and benefits of squats and he practiced many
variations of this exercise. In his routine, however, he performed the exercise in the standard fashion.
Resting a barbell across his shoulders, Lee would place his feet approximately shoulder-width apart. Making sure that he was properly balanced, Lee would slowly ascend to a full squat position. With
absolutely zero pause in the bottom position, Lee would then immediately return using the strength of his hips, glut’s, hamstrings, calves and quadriceps to the starting position, whereupon he would commence rep numbers two. Lee would perform 12 repetitions in this movement and, after a short breather, return and
re-shoulder the barbell for one more set of 12 reps.
Pullovers
Although there exists no physical evidence that Bruce Lee superseded barbell pullovers with squats, there is reason to believe that this was the case if only for the fact that such was the method
advocated in the articles he read.
Squats were considered a great “overall” muscle builder, whereas pullovers were simply considered a “rib box expander” or “breathing exercise.” Consequently, the fashion of incorporating pullovers in the late 1960s and early 1970s was as a “finishing” movement for squats.
This being the case, Lee would perform the movement in the standard fashion; i.e., by lying down on his back upon a flat bench and taking a shoulder-width grip on a barbell that he would then proceed to press out to full extension above his chest. From this position, Lee would lower the barbell — making sure to keep a slight bend in his elbows so as not to strain the elbow joint behind his head until it touched the floor ever so slightly and provided a comfortable stretch to his last. From this fully-extended position, Lee would then slowly reverse the motion through the contraction of his last, pecks and longhead of the triceps. He would repeat this
movement for two sets of eight repetitions.
Bench Presses
Bruce Lee was able to develop an incredible chest musculature. His upper pecks were particularly impressive, bunching and splitting into
thousands of fibrous bands. And, as far as his personal training records indicate, the only direct barbell movement he performed to develop his chest was the good old-fashioned bench press. Lying down upon a flat bench, and again taking a shoulder-width grip on an Olympic barbell, Lee would press the weight off the support pins to arms length above his chest. From this locked-out position, Lee would then lower the barbell to his chest and, exhaling, press it back up to the fully-locked out (or starting) position. He would repeat this movement for six repetitions and then, after a brief respite, return to the bench for one more set of six reps.
Good Mornings
A word of caution about this exercise. Lee performed this movement to strengthen his lower back. However, one day in early 1970 he loaded up the bar with 135 pounds (his bodyweight at the time) and without a warm up proceeded to knock off eight repetitions. On his last rep he felt a “Pop” and found out later that he had damaged the Fourth sacral nerve of his lower back. The result was that Lee had to endure incredible back pain for the remainder of his life. This is not to say that the movement is without merit, just make sure that you perform an adequate warm-up prior to employing it.
Placing a barbell across his shoulders, Lee would place his feet three inches apart (Lee would later confide to Dan Inosanto “You really don’t need any weight but the empty bar on your shoulders Dan it’s more of a limbering movement”) and bend over from the waist keeping his hands on the barbell at all times.
Lee would bend over until his back was at a 90 degree angle to his hips and then returns to the upright position. Lee performed two sets of eight repetitions of this movement.
Barbell Curls
Bruce Lee performed barbell curls not only in his garage gym on Roscomare Avenue in Bel Air, but also in his studio office in Hong Kong. They were a staple or “core” movement in his weight training routine and were also responsible for building a very impressive pair of biceps on Lee, not to mention incredible pulling power, which he used to such good effect in all of his sparring sessions.
To perform this movement properly, Lee would take a comfortable shoulder-width grip on the barbell with his palms facing forwards. keeping a slight bend in his knees for stabilization purposes, Lee would then contract his biceps and curl the barbell up to a point
level with his upper pecks. Pausing briefly in this fully contracted position, Lee would then slowly lower the barbell back to the starting position. Two sets of Eight repetitions of this movement would typically wrap up Lee’s bodybuilding routine.
According to Inosanto, Lee didn’t just train with the above listed exercises. He would also incorporate weight training into his martial art workouts. “Bruce would always shadow box with small weights in his hands and he’d do a drill in which he’d punch for 12
series in a row, 100 punches per series, using a pyramid system of 1,2,3,5,7 and 10-pound weights. And then he’d reverse the pyramid and go 10, 7, 5, 3, 2, 1 and finally “zero” weight. He had me do this
drill with him and — Man! — What a burn you’d get in your deltoids and arms!”
By far the most impressive of all of Lee’s body parts were his abdominal muscles, which he trained daily? “Bruce always felt that if your stomach wasn’t developed, then you had no business sparring,” recalls Ted Wong. “He was a fanatic about abdominal training,” concurs Linda Lee, “he was always doing sit-ups, crunches,
Roman Chair movements, Leg Raises and V-ups.” Chuck Norris has gone on record recalling the time that he went to visit the Lee family and seeing Bruce lying on the living room floor bouncing his son Brandon on his abdomen while simultaneously performing dumbbell flies
For his pecks and leg raises for his abs and watching television at the same time.
In order to improve his gripping and punching power, Lee became an avid devotee of forearm training, while many champion bodybuilders shy away from direct forearm training, Lee made it a point to train his forearms daily. “He was a forearm fanatic,” laughs Linda in retrospect. “If ever any bodybuilder such As Bill Pearl came out with a forearm course, Bruce would have to get it.”
The dumbbell curl he liked best was an Ottoman curl, where you would curl the weight up one side of your body and then you twist(rotate the dumbbell) it in front of his body and bring it down on the other side. He’d do that all the time!”