also courtesy of Wilkipedia:
Bruce Lee's striking speed from 2 feet away was five hundredths of a second.
Bruce did one-hand push ups using only 2 fingers.
Bruce was able to break a 150lb bag with a sidekick.
Bruce would ride for 45 minutes (10 Miles) on a stationary bike, sweating profusely afterwards. (Uhera
Bruce's last movie Enter the Dragon was made for US$850,000 in 1973 ($3.74 million in 2005 currency.
To date, Enter the Dragon has grossed over $90,000,000.
Bruce was able to hold a 125-pound barbell at arms length in front of him (with elbows locked) for several seconds
The following are some quotes from Bruce Lee's students and friends about his feats of strength: [4]
Chuck Norris
"Lee, pound for pound, might well have been one of the strongest men in the world, and certainly one of the quickest".
Dan Inosanto
"Bruce was only interested in strength that he could readily convert to power. I remember once Bruce and I were walking along the beach in Santa Monica. All of a sudden this huge bodybuilder came walking by, and I said to Bruce "Man, look at the arms on that guy" I'll never forget his reaction, he said "Yeah, he's big, but is he powerful???".
"Bruce had tremendous strength in holding a weight out horizontally in a standing position. I know because I've seen it. He'd take a 125lb barbell and hold it straight out".
Doug Palmer
"Bruce was like the Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali in his prime, somebody who stood above everyone else. It's not that the other martial artists weren't good. It's just that this guy was great".
Herb Jackson
"Bruce was interested in becoming as strong as possible".
"The biggest problem in designing equipment for Bruce was that he'd go through it so damn fast. I had to reinforce his wooden dummy with automobile parts so he could train on it without breaking it. I had started to build him a mobile dummy that could actually attack and retreat to better simulate "Live" combat, sadly Bruce died before the machine was built. It would have been strung up by big high-tension cables that I was going to connect between two posts, one on either side of his backyard. The reason for the machine was simply because no one could stand up to his full force punches and kicks, Bruce's strength and skill had evolved to point where he had to fight machines.".
"He never trained in a gym, he thought he could concentrate better at home, so he worked out on his patio. He had a small weight set, something like a standard 100lb cast-iron set. In addition, he had a 310lb Olympic barbell set, a bench press and some dumbbells, both solid and adjustable".
"Bruce used to beat all other comers at this type of wrist wrestling and even joked that he wanted to be world champion at it".
James Coburn
"Bruce and I were training out on my patio one day, we were using this giant bag for side kicks, I guess it weighed about 150lbs. Bruce looked at it and just went Bang, it shot up out into the lawn about 15ft in the air, it then busted in the middle. It was filled with little bits and pieces of rag, we were picking up bits of rag for months".
Jesse Glover
"When he could do push ups on his thumbs and push ups with 250lbs on his back, he moved on to other exercises".
"The power that Lee was capable of instantly generating was absolutely frightening to his fellow martial artists, especially his sparring partners, and his speed was equally intimidating. We timed him with an electric timer once, and Bruce's quickest movements were around five hundredths of a second, his slowest were around eight hundredths. This was punching from a relaxed position with his hands down at his sides from a distance between 18-24 inches. Not only was he amazingly quick, but he could read you too. He could pick up on small subtle things that you were getting ready to do and then he'd just shut you down".
"Bruce was gravitating more and more toward weight training as he would use the weighted wall pulleys and do series upon series with them. He'd also grab one of the old rusty barbells that littered the floor at the YMCA and would roll it up and down his forearms, which is no small feat when you consider that the barbell weighed 70lbs".
Joe Lewis
"Bruce was incredibly strong for his size. He could take a 75lb barbell and from a standing position with the barbell held flush against his chest, he could slowly stick his arms out, lock them and hold the barbell there for 20 seconds, that's pretty damn tough for a guy who at the time only weighed 138lbs. I know 200lb weight lifters who can't do that."
" 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."
Leo Fong
"Yes, I was on the receiving end of his side kick. It was like getting hit with a truck. "
Mito Uhera
"Bruce always felt that if your stomach wasn't developed, then you had no business doing any hard sparring".
