For a martial artist to win a real combat, there must be two elements present, skill and stamina. They are like Yin and Yang. It will be hard to succeed without one or another. Comparing the martial art practices of Bruce Lee and his senior Wong Shun Leung, they both treated sandbag training very seriously. But Wong stress on skills and Bruce Lee stress a lot on physical training.
The secret of Bruce Lee’s success in martial art, rely heavily on his harsh physical training. That is the only path to success. Everyday he trained himself physically. He insisted on aerobic trainings like running and rope skipping which are essential for the fundamental of Jeet Kune Do. This is because the body can be trained with the critical balance feeling from these drills.
Bruce Lee can finish running 4 kilometers within 24 to 25 minutes. Also, he would do various additional requirements like changing the rhythm and speed or punching during the run.
He thinks that the human body is a tool that he has to maximum its destruction power. Therefore, he is very serious about fundamental physical trainings like punching the sandbag. He can do up to 1000 punches per day.
He believes that punch is one of the most important aspects of combat. Hence, he did a lot of resistance training like training to strengthen the abs muscle. He even used equipment to help increase the level. All these made even Wong couldn’t stand.
Bruce Lee focused on large amount of exercise. He is also strict about the preparation warm up that help his body to relax before everyday’s harsh training. He had a serious injury because of a training and then he learned the importance of doing things step by step.
Bruce Lee teaches a formless martial art. That is based heavily on serious physical training to make the body a weapon which can give natural reaction to defend or attack out of reflex. Training Jeet Kune Do sleights without the heavy physical training Bruce Lee himself went through is like building the world trade center without a foundation.
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