I posted this in another Lee thread but it fits in nicely here.
I first watched enter the dragon when i was 5 (older brothers) and the vhs tape was then played at least 100 times in the next 10 years.Bruce was an incredibly charismatic,lean and handsome asian star who literally took over a camera when he was on it.My brothers would tell me that bruce developed a muscle in his body noone else had, through one inch punching no less.They also said he won this title and that title, numerous times.Guess what, I ate it up, I had all his films (all 5 of them) posters, nunchackas and the lunch box.I boxed in my teens and then took an interest in the fighting arts as a whole.Streetfighters,boxers, wrestlers , you name it I watched and read about it and thats whn it dawned on me.Bruce Lee was a movie star and someone with a good knowledge of martial arts, no more.
I read all the books on Bruce, watched all the video footage, what did I learn?Bruce won 0 titles, in fact never competed in a tournament.He routinely got his ass handed to him as a teen when streetfighting.In fact the one organised fight Bruce ever had, you know what happened?All those years of Wing Chun, all that training, Bruce within 30 seconds was panting,wheezing and all the techniques of wing chun went out the window and it turned in to the swing fest you see on a friday night outside the local bar.And this was against some nomark fighter from a local dojo.This is by Bruces admission folks, look it up.
His great feats of strength...This one really erks me,apart from in his fingers, Bruce possesed no great amount of strength.He worked on his finger strength religiously and at 140 it isnt hard to do bodyweight exercises.DIet down to 140 then spend 5 years on finger strength with the same passion you lift normally and ill laugh at you if you cant do finger pushups by then.Bruce weighed 140 at around 6% bf and benched 160 for 10.that means at 20% bf Bruce would have weighed around 165,would you find it remarkable for a guy in your gym with the latter stats BP 160 or curling 80?I didnt think so, In fact I see this every day.The one inch punch is a gimmick that has been done better by many people better since.
Heres something for the doubters to do, go watch an organised fight that most resembles a streetfight.Something like UFC or K1.Watch the styles that work.In other words Boxing and grappling.Bruces foundation style wing chun relied pretty much soley on very precise blocks,grabs and counters which have very little effect in a real fight.Real fights involve punching and then usually rolling round on the floor.Watch UFC the fights always start with some boxing then straight in to a grapple.Bruce would last 5 seconds in a ufc bout.Mike Tyson would kill Bruce in a ring or out of it.Organised fighting Have weight classes for a reason people. for the safety of lighter fighters.
Anyway I have written too much now.Bruce was a marvel on the screen and looked like he could beat your ass in 5 seconds.But then so did Keanu Reeves in the Matrix.Its Hollywood folks, dont read too much in to it.
