15 facts that prove Bruce Lee was a superman

Born in November 1940, the legendary American and Hong Kong actor, director, screenwriter and producer, fight director and martial artist Bruce Lee is a cult figure in cinema. During his short life, he managed to win love, world fame and the respect of a huge number of fans and imitators, both in sports and in cinema. Bruce Lee died suddenly at the age of 32 from cerebral edema while finishing work on the film Game of Death. He starred in 36 films, actively popularized Eastern martial arts in Western countries and created his own fighting style, Jeet Kune Do.

Height, weight and other parameters of Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee is a famous American and Hong Kong film actor.
He was also a director, screenwriter, and producer. First of all, he is known as a popularizer and reformer of Chinese martial arts. He is also known as a philosopher. To imagine what a famous martial artist was like, you need to know his basic parameters:

Bruce Lee

• With a height of 171.5 cm, his weight was 61.2 kg. (during the filming of “Dragon Island” his weight dropped to 56.7 kg.);
• Waist volume – 76.2 cm top, and 66 cm bottom;

In 1965, Bruce's weight was 63.5 kg. and it had the following parameters:

• Chest volume 99 cm (resting state), 105.4 cm - at full inspiration, 109.2 cm after completion of training;
• Neck volume – 38.7 cm (volume before), 39.4 cm (volume after);
• Biceps of the left arm – 33/33.7 cm (after);
• Right arm biceps: 34.3 / 36.2 cm, before/after;
• Left forearm: 27.9 / 29.8 cm, before/after;
• Right forearm: 29.8 / 31.1 cm, before/after;
• Left wrist: 15.9 / 17.1 cm, before/after;
• Right wrist: 16.5 / 17.5 cm, before/after;
• Left thigh: 53.3 / 57.1 cm, before/after;
• Right leg thigh: 54 / 57.1 cm, before/after;
• Left shin: 31.1 / 32.7 cm, before/after;
• Right shin: 31.7 / 33 cm, before/after.

By the time filming of Dragon Island wrapped, Bruce had lost quite a bit of body fat due to its grueling schedule. The volume of the chest decreased to 85 cm at rest and 96.5 cm with full inspiration.

Physical training

Lee was known for being physically fit and energetic, devoting as much time to training as possible.

After his fight with Wong Chek Man in 1965, Lee changed his approach to martial arts. Lee believed that many fighters did not spend enough time on physical training. Bruce incorporated all elements of fitness into his training: muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance and flexibility. He tried traditional bodybuilding techniques to create bigger muscles or mass. However, Bruce was careful enough to assert that mental and spiritual preparation was fundamental to the success of physical culture in the skill of martial arts. In The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, he writes:

Training is a neglected phase of athleticism. Too much time is spent on developing skills and too little on developing individual characteristics. Jeet Kune Do is ultimately not a matter of narrow methods, but of highly developed spirituality and physique.

Bruce's strength training in Hong Kong in 1965, at the age of 24, focused mainly on arm development. At that time, he performed barbell curls with weights of 70–80 pounds (32–36 kg), for three sets of eight reps, along with other exercises such as squats, push-ups, reverse crunches, concentrated crunches, and French presses. He always used 6 to 12 reps. Bruce later weighed about 68 kg. Lee had over 2.5 thousand books in his library; the statement “Strong muscles are big muscles” was challenged by him during training.

Bruce has always experimented with his training to maximize his physical capabilities and push his body to the limits. He used many different routines and exercises that included jump rope, which is very good for bodybuilding.

Lee believed that the abdominal muscles are the most important muscles for martial arts, since every movement requires some degree of abdominal work. Mioto Yuehara recalls that "Bruce always said if your abs weren't developed, then you weren't sparring hard." According to Linda Lee Cadwell, even when not working out, Lee often performed various exercises in his daily life during the day, even while watching TV. “Bruce was an abdominal workout fanatic. He always did crunches, Roman chair exercises, and the corner exercise.

Lee trained from 7 to 9 am: abs, flexibility, running and from 11 to 12 he lifted weights and used a bike. Bruce typically ran 2 to 6 miles in 15 to 45 minutes, speeding up every 3 to 5 minutes. Lee rode about 10 miles (16 km) in 45 minutes on a stationary bike.

Lee often jumped rope after cycling, doing about 800 jumps. Lee also did exercises to tighten the skin on his fists by sticking his hands in buckets of rocks and gravel. He did over 500 repetitions every day. An article by S. China Post writes: “When a doctor warned him to stop abusing his body, Bruce told him: “The human brain can control anything, even real pain.”

Childhood and youth

November 27, 1940 is the day Bruce Lee was born. Place of birth: San Francisco. His father's name was Lee Hoi Chuen, his mother's name was Grace Lee. Bruce's father had a good income working as a Chinese opera actor. Since the boy was born, according to the Chinese calendar, on the day and hour of the Dragon, his parents named him Li Xiaolong, that is, Little Dragon.

Chinese beliefs state that every child should have several names - this creates protection from evil spirits. Because of this, Bruce’s mother came up with another name for her son – Li Zhenfan (translated as “come back”).

The family lived in Hong Kong. While touring America, Grace was pregnant. When it became clear that she could not continue the trip due to her impending birth, the family remained in San Francisco.

The celebrity's famous name (Bruce) was invented by one of the nurses at the hospital where Grace gave birth. This is what she advised to name the newborn boy. He did not use this name until he moved to the States and was not remembered.

Bruce grew up in Hong Kong. As a child, he was a weak child and, despite his passion for martial arts, did not think of continuing to practice them. He also did not differ in school studies.

When Bruce was 12 years old, he was sent to study at a special college designed for all-round development - La Salle. He has been attending dance lessons since he was 13. After 4 years, he wins the cha-cha-cha dance championship organized in Hong Kong.

At the age of 19, Lee moved to the States. He confirms his American citizenship, which is his birthright.

First, Bruce goes to San Francisco, and then settles in Seattle. There he began working as a waiter in a local restaurant. At this time, Bruce becomes a graduate of Edison Technical School. Continues his studies at the University of Washington at the Faculty of Philosophy.

Memory

In 2012, the documentary film “I Am Bruce Lee” was released, which included clippings from interviews with Bruce himself, his rare photographs, as well as memories of his relatives and colleagues.
In the actor’s homeland, Hong Kong, a monument was erected to mark his 65th birthday. The day before its opening, a similar monument appeared in Zrenjevac Park in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, an almost two-meter figure of Bruce Lee is installed in Chinatown in Los Angeles.

Monument to Bruce Lee in Hong Kong

The 20-meter statue of Bruce was erected in the Chinese city of Shunde, the city where the ancestors of the martial artist's parents were from. The monument is located on the territory of Bruce Lee Paradise Park.

Giant statue of Bruce Lee in China

In 2022, Quentin Tarantino released the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. One of the episodic heroes of the tape was Bruce Lee. But in Tarantino's film, Bruce was not a very nice guy: in this scene he appears as an arrogant and star-struck actor, challenging Brad Pitt's character, stuntman Cliff Booth, to a fight. Spoiler alert: Butt sends Lee to the ground with one punch.

Still from the film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Shannon Lee criticized Tarantino's film and the director himself. In response, Quentin noted that in real life, Bruce Lee was indeed an arrogant guy. Shannon told the director to “shut up.”

Bruce Lee in sports

As a teenager, Lee decides to master the ancient martial art of kung fu. He needed combat skills to protect himself in case of a fight on the street. The son's choice was approved by his parents, and they sent him to study with Ip Man - the master taught Wing Chun.

Dancing helped the young man with well-trained coordination of movements. Thanks to this, he very quickly masters the basics of Taijixuan technique. From that moment on, Bruce's training did not stop. The fighting style did not involve handling weapons, but he soon began to wield them. He managed best with nunchucks.

Later, Bruce mastered other martial arts: jiu-jitsu, judo, boxing. His contribution to martial arts is quite significant - it was he who developed another style of kung fu - Jeet Kune Do. He taught a similar style in 1961 at the martial arts school he founded.

One lesson was quite expensive at that time - $275 / hour. Bruce's school differed from other institutions in that everyone could attend it, and nationality did not matter. This was important because other schools were educating the Asian population.

Even while teaching, Bruce constantly improved his skills in martial arts, his movements were perfect and precise. He even created a separate nutrition system during training. The method of conducting classes was published and gained worldwide popularity.

Education

At the age of six, Bruce was sent to study at a Jesuit school. It would seem that the Jesuits, who had been engaged in missionary work in China for so many years, should have had no difficulty in dealing with little Li. But they could not do anything with this nimble, frail and thin child. He was not interested in either the English language or arithmetic, he just wanted to fight with someone and break his nose.

Nevertheless, his mentors many years later remembered Bruce Lee as an intelligent, lively and perceptive boy. The main thing was to find a gentle approach to him, to occupy his imagination with something interesting. But over time, their patience came to a limit; Bruce was expelled from school.

Despite his outward frailty and frailty, he was not so interested in anything in life as fighting. He was absolutely fearless and evasive, constantly participating in all kinds of street fights, without paying attention to the weight and height of his rivals. He found a reason for a fight in any look, sigh or spit of a boy he met that he didn’t like. Very often he got it, and a lot, sometimes Bruce was beaten twice a day. The mother wailed in the evenings, darning torn clothes and washing abrasions, and the father lectured.

But the stingy dad, who didn’t really like giving money to his children, became generous and allocated Bruce Lee a certain amount for kung fu lessons ($12 per lesson). He was so tired of all these bruises and wounds that he hoped that if his son went to study martial arts, then all this chaos would end.

Bruce Lee's teacher was a former policeman from the city of Nam Hoe, who fled to Hong Kong from the persecution of Mao Zedong. Ip Man opened his own school in Hong Kong and made money by training street scoundrels like Bruce Lee into real fighters. The training was challenging, requiring me to run 5 km every day, do acrobatics and full-contact fighting, endlessly hit bags filled with sand, and do several hundred push-ups. As a result, Bruce perfectly mastered the techniques of boxing and judo, wing chun and jiu-jitsu, mastered the nunchucks, and later developed a new style of kung fu - jit kune do.

Simultaneously with his kung fu classes, Bruce Lee, at the age of 12, entered the prestigious La Salle College of Comprehensive Development. However, he was not at all interested in studying, he received bad grades, and did not find a common language with his classmates. Nevertheless, kung fu classes benefited the teenager, he was no longer so mischievous, after training every bone ached, and there was simply no strength left for pranks.

On top of that, at the age of 14, Bruce Lee began to learn cha-cha-cha dancing. And four years later he won the dance championship in Hong Kong.

At the age of 18, Bruce Lee became the king of the school; no one argued with him on the street. He greased and licked his hair, carefully ironed his black suit, not trusting his mother to do this, and tied a thin tie with a beautiful knot. In a word - handsome, he looked very much like a dancer from a variety show.

Film career

In 1946, Bruce Lee played in the decisive film in his film career, “The Origin of Humankind.” He considered this role his first significant achievement. It was from this moment that Lee believed his acting career began to develop.

Already at the age of 18, Bruce took part in the filming of about 20 Chinese films. In 1958, he got the main role in the film “Orphan”. This is one of the last films where he did not use his fighting talents on the set. Here he played a teenager.

During his studies, Lee constantly organized classes in martial arts, teaching every American who wanted to. Producers and film directors became interested in Bruce's talent. He was invited to appear in TV series.

In America, his popularity quickly reached its heights. Lee gained not only fans, but also students. Later he opened his own school, where he taught the branch of martial art he created - Jeet Kune Do.

The cost of his lessons was high and already provided him with all the necessary funds so that he could live comfortably with his family. His wife and children did not need anything, but Lee dreamed of a role in a big movie, and Hollywood did not offer him such an opportunity.

In 1971, Lee decided to return to Hong Kong. Just at that time, a new film studio was created there, where he was given the main role in the film with the opportunity to independently stage fight scenes.

Despite the fact that the studio director took a risk by making such a decision, this step turned out to be justified. The film "Big Boss" was an incredible success.

Thanks to this film, Lee completely changed the idea of ​​what action scenes in films should look like. At first, the film was enthusiastically appreciated by Asian audiences, and then the fight scenes and Lee's perfectly polished movements were appreciated all over the world.

Subsequent films turned Bruce into a real movie star. He owes this to the films “Fist of Fury” and “Way of the Dragon.” The box office receipts for these films were record breaking.

The fight choreography was done professionally by Lee. At that time, it was he who was the standard that was taken as a basis by all movie karate stars.

Arnold Schwarzenegger himself believed that Bruce Lee ideally developed his body thanks to constant perseverance and incredible training and stress to which he subjected himself. He could do push-ups on two fingers of one hand, and could do pull-ups on one little finger.

Throughout his film career, he played roles in 36 films. Almost the same number of films have been made about him, his life and creative path. The latest film with his participation is “Enter the Dragon”.

List of fights

Bruce Lee never participated in official competitions, so it is very difficult to determine the level of his skill. Here is a complete list of Bruce Lee's fights (over his entire life):

1955: William Cheung, Hong Kong Exch.

1957: Wong Shun-Leung, Hong Kong Exch

1958: Pu Chang, Hong Kong KO 2

1958: Yang Huang, Hong Kong KO 1 (school boxing tournament)

1958: Lieh Lo, Hong King KO 1 (school boxing tournament)

1958: Shen Yuen, Hong Kong KO 1 (School Boxing Tournament-Semi Finals)

1958: Gary Elms, Hong Kong KO 3 (school boxing tournament-Finals)

1960: Unknown, Seattle, Washington KO 1

1960: Uechi, Seattle, Washington KO 1

1963: Unknown, Hong Kong KO

1965: Wong Jack-Man, Oakland, California KO 1

Personal life

Bruce Lee and Linda Emery
When Bruce was studying at the University of Washington, he became acquainted with Linda Emery - she was 17 years old at that time. During the classes, he showed the abilities achieved in kung fu. The girl ended up at the 1st lecture by chance, but later she also began to study with Bruce.

After meeting, they fell in love with each other. They celebrated their wedding in 1864. A year after the wedding, they had a son, whom they named Brandon. The couple also had a daughter, Shannon, in 1969.

Son Lee died under tragic circumstances while young. He was filming a movie and during the final scene he was supposed to be shot from a gun, but the shot was real. The young man was wounded; the bullet went through the stomach and remained in the spine. Less than half a day passed before he died. The cause of death was significant blood loss.

Brandom died 20 years from the date of his father's death. At the time of his death he was 28 years old. He was to get married in 17 days. Brandon was buried near his father in Seattle.

Shannon Lee's acting career also began to grow. However, at the moment she, her mother and husband are managing the foundation of her father, Bruce Lee.

Nutrition

According to Linda Lee Cadwell, soon after he moved to the United States, Lee began to take nutrition seriously and showed an interest in healthy protein-rich foods, drinks and vitamin and mineral supplements. He later concluded that the body needs "good fuel" to achieve high performance. Lee also avoided baked goods, characterizing them as providing calories that did nothing for his body.

Lee ate green vegetables and fruits every day. He always preferred Chinese or Asian dishes because of their variety. Some of Lee's favorite Chinese dishes include beef in oyster sauce, tofu, steak and liver. He has also become an ardent advocate of dietary supplements, including vitamin C, lecithin granules, bee pollen, vitamin E, rose hips (liquid form), wheat germ oil, acerola (the richest fruit in vitamin C - 1678 mg per 100 g. ).

Lee did not like dairy products, although he knew that to build muscle mass he should consume milk and eggs. As a result, he ate cereals and protein drinks, usually using powdered milk instead of fresh milk. Lee's diet included protein drinks; he always tried to consume them once or twice a day, but subsequently stopped consuming them. Linda Lee recalls that Bruce Lee's waist fluctuated between 26 and 28 inches (66 to 71 centimeters). “In addition, he drank juices from vegetables and fruits, apples, celery, carrots and so on, prepared in an electric blender,” says Linda.

Portion sizes and number of meals were also important, Lee said. He tended to consume 4-5 small meals instead of several large ones and boosted his metabolism by eating fruit throughout the day. Fruits and vegetables provided him with a rich source of carbohydrates, and he was particularly interested in carrots, which made up half of his drinks when combined with other fruits and vegetables. The reason Lee was passionate about juicing vegetables and fruits was because he believed they helped the body absorb nutrients more easily. The enzymes in vegetable juice act as organic catalysts that increase metabolism and absorption. Given that most of these enzymes are destroyed by cooking, Lee tried to consume vegetables raw.

Li often drank royal jelly and ginseng as they contain B complex vitamins, including vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), acetylcholine.

Death

While working on his last film, Game of Death, Bruce suddenly became ill during the filming process. He suddenly fell, began to choke, suffered convulsions and lost consciousness. At the same time, there was no reaction of the eyes to light.

Literally after 3 minutes he felt better. He was examined by the best doctors, but they did not find anything suspicious, deciding that such an attack arose due to a sharp increase in intracranial pressure.

After 2.5 months, Lee and his co-star went to the apartment belonging to the main character of the film (Betty Ting Pei). There they had to discuss certain details regarding the filming.

As they worked through the script, Bruce developed a severe headache. The actress shared the painkiller prescribed to her by the doctor, one of the varieties of aspirin - equiagesic. To get rid of the discomfort, he took a pill. It should be noted that he had had a couple of cocktails earlier.

In the evening, my partner went to a business meeting. Did his health worsen, so he went to bed. He died in his sleep. Autopsy results showed that Bruce had cerebral edema. This was caused by an allergic reaction - Bruce was intolerant to aspirin.

Many rumors spread about other "possible" causes of his death. Some said that the master used marijuana and it was thanks to it that he maintained such a physical form.

According to other rumors, he was killed by the Shifu's "death touch" technique due to envy. Some did not want Europeans and Americans to learn kung fu. According to another version, the death was staged.

The official funeral took place in Hong Kong, and the body was brought to Seattle for burial. Five years after the death of Bruce Lee (1978), the last film with his participation, “Game of Death,” was released. Master Lee appears on screen for only 28 minutes, and his role is completed by another actor who looks similar to Bruce.

Officially confirmed records

These are the achievements that have ever been made before the eyes of journalists, and which have been consecrated in the credible serious press, memoirs and other literary works of famous personalities. Bruce Lee's officially confirmed world records include:

• The ability to strike at such a speed that the video technology of the time - 24 frames per second - simply could not have time to film these strikes. To film Bruce's fights, he had to be filmed at 32 frames per second, but the lines were blurry.
• Bruce's ability to hold a "corner" (legs bent at an angle of 90 degrees relative to the body with the knees straight) with emphasis on his hands for more than 30 minutes at a time.
• The ability, with a weight of 65 kg, to hold a 34-kg weight on an arm extended parallel to the earth's surface for more than 3 seconds.
• The ability to break through the steel of the then steel beer bottles with the fingers.
• The ability to do pull-ups while hanging on a bar using only your little fingers, and do push-ups while pressing two fingers of one hand into the ground.
• The ability to toss and catch grains of rice in flight using chopsticks.

Filmography

Watch the video: Documentary about Bruce Lee:

Interesting Facts

• Bruce Lee's height is 171 cm.
• At the time of death, his weight was 65 kg.
• Bruce learned nunchucks from legendary karate master Hidehiko "Hidi" Ochiyai, whom he met at the Los Angeles Young Men's Christian Association in the mid-1960s.
• One of Bruce Lee's students was the actor who played James Bond 007, George Lazenby.
• Almost none of the fighting games is complete without a character based on Bruce - Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat, Marshall Law (Tekken 1-2, 4-6) and his son Forest Law (Tekken 3 - Tekken Tag Tournament) from Tekken, Fei Long from Street Fighter, Zhen Li from Dead or Alive, Maxi from Soucalibur and the game of the same name released exclusively on Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY - Bruce Lee: Dragon Warrior.
• Bruce Lee received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the development of the film industry.
• Bruce Lee's favorite flowers are chrysanthemums.