Lee felt that many martial artists of his day did not spend enough time on physical conditioning and mental prowess training. Bruce included all elements of total fitness—muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and psychic flexibility. He tried traditional bodybuilding techniques to build bulky muscles en masse. However, Lee was careful to admonish that mental and spiritual preparation was fundamental to the success of physical training in martial arts skills. In his book The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, he wrote
Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics and brain stimulation. Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for participation." "JKD, ultimately is not a matter of petty techniques but of highly developed spirituality and physique.
The weight training program that Lee used during a stay in Hong Kong in 1965 at only 24 years old placed heavy emphasis on his arms. At that time he could perform single bicep curls at a weight of 70 to 80 lbs (about 32 to 36 kg) for three sets of eight repetitions, along with other forms of exercises, such as squats, push-ups, reverse curls, concentration curls, French presses, and both wrist curls and reverse wrist curls. The repetitions he performed were 6 to 12 reps (at the time). While this method of training targeted his fast and slow twitch muscles, it later resulted in weight gain or muscle mass, placing Bruce a little over 160 lbs (about 72 kg). Lee was documented as having well over 2,500 books in his own personal library, and eventually concluded that "A stronger muscle, is a bigger muscle", a conclusion he later disputed. Bruce forever experimented with his training routines to maximize his physical abilities, and push the human body to its limits. He employed many different routines and exercises including skipping rope, which served his training and bodybuilding purposes effectively.
Lee believed that the abdominal muscles were one of the most important muscle groups for a martial artist, since virtually every movement requires some degree of abdominal work. Perhaps more importantly, the "abs" are like a shell, protecting the ribs and vital organs.
He trained from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., including stomach, flexibility, and running, and from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. he would weight train and cycle. A typical exercise for Lee would be to run a distance of two to six miles in 15 to 45 minutes, in which he would vary speed in 3–5 minute intervals. Lee would ride the equivalent of 10 miles (about 16 kilometers) in 45 minutes on a stationary bike.
Lee would sometimes exercise with the jump rope and put in 800 jumps after cycling. Lee would also do exercises to toughen the skin on his fists, including thrusting his hands into buckets of harsh rocks and gravel. He would do over 500 repetitions of this on a given day.
Chuck Norris states, "Lee, pound for pound, might well have been one of the strongest men in the world, and certainly one of the quickest."
Joe Lewis, voted the greatest fighter in karate history attaining the titles of "United States Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion", "World Heavyweight Karate Champion" and "United States National Black Belt Kata Champion", states "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 pro weight lifters who can't do that."
Danny Inosanto states "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."
Jesse Glover states "Bruce would take hold of a 70lb dumbbell with one arm and raise it to a lateral position, level to his shoulder and then he'd hold the contraction for a few seconds. Nobody else I knew could even get it up there, let it alone hold it up there."
Karl Abs, the champion weight lifter for the European Greco-Roman Heavyweight Championship in 1894, was known as "The German Oak" and was the first man in Germany to continental and jerk 330 pounds. For the deltoid exercise that Lee performed described above, Karl Abs own deltoid hold out in perfect form was 88 pounds and was an established world wide record.
Ted Wong states "Bruce would do a lot of different types of sit ups and bench presses. He was also using a technique like the Weider Heavy/Light Principle, working up to 260lbs in the bench press for three sets of 10 on his heavy days and then repping out for 20-30 reps with 100lbs on his light days.
Jesse Glover states "When he could do push ups on his thumbs and push ups with 250lbs on his back, he moved on to other exercises."
In an unfavorable essay towards Lee the author of the article, Christopher D. Hess still objectively writes "Lee performed bicep curls using a weight of 80 pounds and 8 repetitions. This would equate to an estimated 1 repetition maximum of 110 pounds and would place him in the 100th percentile for the 121-140 pound weight class." The 1973 documented photograph taken at the office of Black Belt Magazine displaying Lee curling a 115 pound barbell in a single arm corresponds directly to Hess's uncanny calculation for the 110 pound bicep curl.
Herb Jackson states "Bruce was interested in becoming as strong as possible".
James Rage states "I think its important for people to realize that he was not only one of history's greatest martial artists, but also one of the finest athletes period. His devotion to physical exercise and healthy lifestyle was mind-boggling."
John Little states "He wanted to see just what the limitations and capabilities of the human body were. He would do two thousand punches a day, he would do one thousand kicks a day, he would run three miles and then ride on his exercylce for fifteen miles. All of it was pushing to see what the human body was truly capable of."
An article of the S. China Post writes "When a doctor warned him not to inflict too much violence on his body, Bruce dismissed his words. 'the human brain can subjugate anything, even real pain' --Bruce Lee."
Hayward Nishioka, a former National AAU judo champion, experiences first hand with a pad on his chest Lee's one-inch punch and describes what follows: "When Bruce punched me, I was almost jolted out of my pants and I bounced off the wall. But I couldn't believe it, so I told Bruce to do it again. After the second punch I was completely convinced. I never thought anyone could be that strong."
Hashimoto, a fourth dan black belt was a student of the noted karate sensei Shigeru Egami and when asked by National AAU judo champion, Nishioka, for his thoughts on being struck by Lee's one inch punch Hashimoto states "Frightening. I never met anybody like him before, not even in Japan."
Lee's phenomenal fitness meant he was capable of performing many exceptional physical feats. "A man able to perform super human feats that have yet to be equaled." The following list includes some of the physical feats that are attributed to Bruce Lee.
- Lee's striking speed from three feet with his hands down by his side reached five hundredths of a second.
- Lee could take in one arm a 75 lb barbell from a standing position with the barbell held flush against his chest and slowly stick his arms out locking them, holding the barbell there for 20 seconds.
- Lee's combat movements were at times too fast to be captured on film for clear slow motion replay using the traditional 24 frames per second of that era, so many scenes were shot in 32 frames per second for better clarity.
- In a speed demonstration, Lee could snatch a dime off a person's open palm before they could close it, and leave a penny behind.
- Lee could bench press 260 lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps in his routine workout.
- Lee would hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.
- Lee could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight using chopsticks.
- Lee could thrust his fingers through unopened cans of Coca-Cola. (This was when soft drinks cans were made of steel much thicker than today's aluminum cans).
- Lee performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger.
- Lee performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.
- Lee could break wooden boards 6 inches (15 cm) thick.
- Lee could cause a 200-lb (90.72 kg) bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a sidekick.
- Lee performed a sidekick while training with James Coburn and broke a 150 lb (68 kg) punching bag.
- In a move that has been dubbed "Dragon Flag", Lee could perform leg lifts with only his shoulder blades resting on the edge of a bench and suspend his legs and torso horizontal midair.
