How was Bruce Lee so quick?

Question

Like How was he so quick what excercises did he used to do and will there be any one like bruce lee.

Answer 1

Cameras can speed or slow any moves. I have seen figures for Bruce Lee's tested speed on YA and elsewhere, and I've had mine tested electronically. I am much faster than the speed given for Bruce, and there are others faster than that too. Naive people do not know anything about such matters. It seems as if my opponents are moving in slow motion, and I must be careful not to hurt them too much. That surprised me when it first happened. It also happened in other activities. The first time I ever played ping pong, I beat a man who was good and had played for years. The ball seemed to move so slowly that I could wave my hand around it and easily hit it and aim it to spots where my opponent had difficulty reaching it. He refused to believe I had never played before. Bruce had enough training to be fast, but he had barriers to full development of his potential that other men overcame better.

Answer 2

His legs were different lengths. I believe he used that to mess with his opponents perception of distance.

Answer 3

I've heard that there are many martial artists quicker than Bruce Lee really was. As someone else said, the cameras speeded up his moves. He was a movie star and never competed in martial arts tournaments. Some people believe what they see in movies is real. My own experience is that martial arts training makes anyone quicker, but each person has his own potential for speed, power, etc.

Answer 4

Read "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do" and you will learn many of the things he did.  For one, he was never tense when he threw a technique.  

Another "trick" was that he didn't telegraph his moves at all, he had no timing devices, no pattern; he just struck fast.  While that is not raw speed, it is effective speed because it limits the opponents chance to defend himself.

Answer 5

He worked on his speed and timing probably the same way that boxers and other martial artist do. Speed bags, headache bags, reflex workouts etc.

Answer 6

Camera work. Record the action then play it back at +30% speed.

Pretty well documented that Bruce did this in most of his films.

Answer 7

dna

Answer 8

Bruce lee did use weight training to create speed and flexibility

Those are some exercises:

Clean & Press 2 sets of 8

Squats 2 sets of 12

Pullover 2 sets of 8

Bench Press 2 sets of 6

Good Mornings 2 sets of 8

Barbell/Dumbbell Curl 2 sets of 8

I heard also that bruce lee was to fast for the camera so that they had to increase the fps to max to get his speed

Answer 9

Erm....actually, you're wrong, they had to slow down the camera for Bruce Lee.... He was quick because of his weighting, he would usually work out with weights on his arms, legs, torso, etc. Another aspect would be his WIng Tsun training, it's really trained for speed and efficiency, it also has some insanely quick punches. I don't understand, why is everyone saying he was more focused on being a movie star, as far as I know, he was a martial artist first and a movie star 2nd, he researched and learned about martial arts all over the world and created Jeet Kune Do from it, He was widely considered one of the most athletic men in the world at the time. He was incredibly interested in diet and fitness, to say that he was more focused on fame is almost insulting.

Answer 10

DNA, training, training and training.  Get his books.  Lots of training regimen covered in them.

No there is only one Bruce Lee.  Only one Chuck Norris.  Only one Jet Li . . . .  Why would anyone want to be like someone else rather than be the best they could be?

Answer 11

Apparently in the 1970's they had technology that speeded up ONLY Bruce Lee and not the other actors, judging from the posts I'm reading here.....

How was he so quick?  

1)  Its just the nature of Wing Chung Kung Fu, which is almost as simple in nature as boxing, fewer techniques, means you can master them faster.  Anybody who has done Wing Chung Kung Fu for a length of time has fast hand speed.  Fastest hands in the martial arts.

2)  Combo dummy drills, and Wing Chung combo dummy drills are deadly effective at developing speed, and Lee used to spend hours on it.

3)  While not a big fan of forms, for the sake of exercise he used to do them while holding 8 lb dumbells, something many martial artists do to develop hand speed.

4)  In addition to strength training with weights, he also did a lot of isometric work, which develops the tendons.  No one knows exactly why, but tendon development makes a person lightning fast.  A study I read on the net made by Tokyo University of all people, actually conducted research on the isometric training methods used in Okinawan Karate.  What they discovered, was that isometric work works primarily the tendons, more than the muscles, and that it significantly increases a person's punching and kicking speed.

5)  As a less ignorant poster put it, DNA; being a Chinese man of average proporitons (well, at least 75% Chinese, he was 1/4 German from his mother side), standing at 5'7 and weighing in at 140 lbs, the man was built for speed.  Physics, from his genetics could exploit, are what ultimately allowed him to move with the speed he could move with.  The reason Bruce Lee was lighter than most people of Cantonese origin, as most Cantonese Chinese are genetically related to the people of south east asia, because of his German blood.  Most people of Canton province tend to be very dark skinned because, like I said, they are cousins to the peoples of Vietnam, Laso, Burma, etc.  Lee's father, was Han on his father side, cantonese on his mother side, and his mother was cantonese on her mother side, german on her father's so, as you can see, Lee was very well blended ethnically speaking, part of the reason his family was open to him marrying Linda Caldwell, is because his own family was mixed.  Its also the reason he readily taught Kung Fu to westerners I mean come on, his grandfather on his mother's side was one of the nicer Germans.  Not the cold hearted, arrogant kind; the kind of German who will give you a guided tour of his quaint town with no thought of reward, and even buy you a beer at the end of said tour.  That kind I mean come on, he would not have married a Chinese woman if he wasn't.  So naturally, because of his German grandfather Lee grew up with a good impression of westerners, well, at least as a child, his opinion would change drastically upon being exposed to Americans...  the kind of Germans his grandfather was trying to get the h**l away from.

These five combined factors (sans the family history), are what gave Bruce Lee his legendary serpent hands.  Ever hear of a genetic theory called "hybrid vigor?"  There have been arguments made, that people of mixed ancestry like Lee, tend to be healthier, more robust and intelligent than people of pure ancestry.

So, yeah, he was genetically gifted, because his genetic pedigree was as diverse as his martial arts one.

You can try his training methods yourself; from his student Danny Inosanto, who still runs the oficial Jeet Kune Do school in California, he held nothing back.  In that school not only do you learn Lee's Jeet Kune Do, but you also learn Escrima.

Everything I talked about here, odds are they will train you in, and then some.

good luck.