Bruce Lee

[chauinc]

I was reading about Bruce Lee for a project i had to do and i found a few of the crazy skills he could do. I stunned by his strength. I knew he was strong but i didn't think he was that strong.

* Lee's striking speed from three feet with his hands down by his side reached five hundredths of a second.

* Lee's combat movements were at times too fast to be captured on film at 24 frames per second, so many scenes were shot in 32fps to put Lee in slow motion. Normally martial arts films are sped up.

* 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 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 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 300-lb (136 kg) bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a side kick.

* Lee performed a side kick 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 perfectly horizontal midair.

From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee

The bolded ones are body weight skills. Just crazy V seat for 30 minutes!

[gekitsu]

i think that i heard coach say that he would not like bruce lee arguments to spring up on the board - because he usually is the subject of heated siscussion regarding his fighting style/ability/philosophy, his abilities, his training regimen, his use or non-use of more than just nutrition supplements, etcetera... and as every person who made a huge impact via charisma (which i think we can absolutely say about mr. lee - the kind of charisma appropriate for the time and role), there is a lot of mystification going on, with all the upsides and downsides that comes along...

but i guess its safe to say that he sure was an extraordinary athlete, and that his dedication is more than inspirational.

[Blairbob]

It was brought up. Some of the stuff has become very hearsay rumor-ish and tends to escalate into aggressive forum forays/fights.

I'm not sure if I'm gonna lock this yet. He was pretty badass and of course I was influenced by him as a child since I saw Enter the Dragon at a very early age due to my father and stepfather ( it would be heretical not to ).

[chauinc]

Yeah i saw that post. But really he was amazing hands down i don't care what anyone says. There will always be doubters for everything thats just part of life. I just think people like bruce lee, jack lalanne(spelling?), james benesica(spelling) are all amazing.

[Blairbob]

agreed, though i have no idea of the last guy.

[Felipe]

Wikipedia is not good for informations on big articles:

The v-sit fact is simply not true.

I tried to change it but some fanboys couldn't establish what the truth is by themselves.

The problem is that the documentary cited says something like bruce can hold a v-sit for several times, and who has written the article changed the word.

It's obiviously false.

If it was true, there would be recordings of specific v-sit training for time on his diaries, which doesn't exist.

Or writings on specific books which I have on bruce lee and contains all the true fact, not on a worldwide documentary dvd for the average guy who doesnt know what a v-sit is.

Sorry for discuting about, but I think that this is a very important thing to say in a gymnastics forum.

[George Launchbury]

james benesica(spelling)

...do you by chance mean Jasper Benincasa, performer of the (alleged) Close-To-Impossible?

[JoeS]

Jasper Benincasa is a legendary pullup master who could do dozens of one-armed chins using any combination of fingers. The CTI (close to impossible) is a very strict one-armed front lever.

Recently, Mr. Benincasa was said to be once again performing OACs at age 83, and after contracting some muscle-wasting disease. He was using, in his own words "only tendon strength". :shock:

[Razz]

Jasper Benincasa is a legendary pullup master who could do dozens of one-armed chins using any combination of fingers. The CTI (close to impossible) is a very strict one-armed front lever.

As far as i know the cti is not a 1 arm front lever but this:

[JoeS]

Jasper Benincasa is a legendary pullup master who could do dozens of one-armed chins using any combination of fingers. The CTI (close to impossible) is a very strict one-armed front lever.

As far as i know the cti is not a 1 arm front lever but this:

You're right, I was thinking of something John Gill did:

[chauinc]

Ah yeah it was jasper not james. I forgot his name so i just threw out a j name haha. Yeah people are skeptical about the CTI also but whether Jasper really did it or not it is still amazing. He could do one arm rope climbs, OAC with people holding onto him, and so much more.

[Blairbob]

ahh.

[roman]

Bruce Lee is waaaaaaaaaaay overhyped in my humble opinion... I'd carefully consider those statements, especially since they came from Wikipedia!

I mean seriously.. 30 minutes V-sit?! 50 one arm pullups?! That's physiologically Impossible, especially the 1st one... unless he had an alien CNS. Sounds like total BS to me.

[Mark Weaver]

Bruce Lee was pretty awesome.

But only Chuck Norris can divide by zero.

[roman]

Bruce Lee was pretty awesome.

But only Chuck Norris can divide by zero.

Are you one of the Wikipedia editors by any chance?

[Mark Weaver]

Bruce Lee was pretty awesome.

But only Chuck Norris can divide by zero.

Are you one of the Wikipedia editors by any chance?

No, LOL.

[JoeSimo]

I think most of these feats are lost in translation or turned into pure myths. Like saying he did 50 one arm pull ups. For all we know he did 50 total from both arms and broke them into sets. I can totally see that happening. But, the guy who saw it just said he did 50 one arm pull ups. Now everyone assumes its 50 straight with one arm non stop. Its easy to blow things out of proportion The whole 30 minute v-sit just seems ridiculous to me. 30 minutes is a long ass time. I doubt bruce would commit to training it up to 30 minutes as there are more important things to do during the day.

[JoeS]

Bruce may have been overhyped but he did kick Kareem abduljabbar from a full planche :shock: . That's on film.

I think anybody who dies young will get hyped way beyond their actual talent.

[Blairbob]

sounds like I need to rewatch that movie.

[George Launchbury]

But only Chuck Norris can divide by zero.

http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/

[John-Paul Potter]

mark wrote:

But only Chuck Norris can divide by zero.

http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/

lmao so true

[gekitsu]

again, id say the role bruce lee can play in a positive discussion of his person is not in whether he performed some feats or not - its in commitment and thinking outside of the box. whether or not he could or did hold a whatever-minute v-sit or punched through this or that or whoevers cat, landing the punch before he initiated it - he sure showed a lot of sincere dedication to what he was doing, and was humble enough to learn from everyone who knew something he didnt know yet, to further his game.

that, imho, is the take-home lesson of bruce lee.

[Mark Weaver]

sounds like I need to rewatch that movie.

In the fight scene, Kareem is forcing Bruce's head down, trying to impale him on some shattered Ming Dynasty pottery (probably fake).

It looks like Bruce uses the force from Kareem as leverage to lift his legs into a "planche" position, and then to press up and eventually kick Kareem.

I wonder if Bruce could dunk...