- Jason Kelly
- Feb 19, 2024
- 4 min read
Bruce Lee really did have the Midas touch when it came to training. Most people think Bruce was advanced and complicated, but he was the master of simplicity. He was not worried about doing the jump-up flip spin-around back kick. Not sure if there is one. But by the time you land, Bruce would just throw a simple kick or punch to knock you down as you landed to the ground. However, that is the point. Simplicity is often overlooked because of the coolness and the latest and greatest workout when simplicity produces the most significant effect. Super complicated does not mean superior. This is actually reverse in fact. We see super complex exercises that don’t need to be. Truthfully, if an exercise or method is not straightforward in its approach, then it probably is not good.
Such as for flexibility. Bruce had some classic stretches, but he learned how to maximize the range in each stretch fully. And the same goes for jogging, one of Bruce’s favorite cardiovascular training activities. He would develop his aerobic speed and distance to be faster and more.
Different Styles of Jogging
Like life and JKD, Bruce was not an optimist nor a pessimist. He did not see the glass half empty nor half full. Instead, he saw the water in the glass take shape. For water, life, and JKD to take shape, it is developed from experiences and angles. Lee’s training was quite the same, and so was his jogging. Bruce never saw or just ran a straight line. He would run forward, backward, laterally, and probably any other direction you can think of, during his jogging. He would run heel to toe, flat-footed, and on the balls of his feet. He would incorporate skipping, hopping, jumping, and sprinting. After a while, he began adding weights into his jogging when it was not challenging.
Bruce’s Reasons for Jogging Every Day
1. It is quick. You just need to jog a few miles or about 20 minutes running your pace.
2. It is safe. You don’t need to over-exert yourself.
3. It improves your cardiovascular system. It is good maintenance for your heart and lungs, and you can do it every day. With strength training and intensity, you have to take a break. However, jogging and aerobic training help your muscles recover faster from intensity training.
4. It helps you lose weight.
5. It makes you feel better. Jogging releases the feel-good hormones that drastically reduce stress and improve wellbeing. It circulates your blood. No other exercise makes you feel good, gives you energy, produces confidence, and a better outlook in life without overexerting yourself. You think better and become more productive.
Bruce felt running was just as essential for the martial artist, much like practicing kata. Bruce always said the natural way is the best. It is true. Simplicity opens the door to greater perspective.
Unless there are human beings with three arms and four legs, unless we have another group of beings on earth that are structurally different from us, there can be no difference in training and style of fighting. Why is that? Because we have two arms and two legs. What’s most important is how we can use them to maximum? In terms of paths, they can be used in a straight line, curved line-up, down, round line. They might be slow. Depending on the circumstance, sometimes that might not be slow. And in terms of legs, you can kick up, straight-same thing, right? Physically then, you have to ask yourself, “How can I become very well coordinated?” well, that means you have to be an athlete using jogging and all those basic ingredients, right?
Start jogging every day. And when you build an excellent base for jogging where your breathing is relaxed, you can add in exercises to challenge your jogging.
To achieve this aim, we have two ways. One is running, but you have to increase the distance of your course every day until you are satisfied with it. The second thing is to observe progression. Start out slow and then gradually build speed as your conditioning improves. All of this will lead to a result of increased frequency of breath and heartbeat. And during intense training, you will feel an unbearable feeling, but you do not have to fear that point. It will be the maximum limit of a man's physical energy. If you do not have heart disease after taking a rest, you will soon recover. It is only through this compulsory hard training that one's physical energy can expand continuously
Bruce Lee’s Exercise for Endurance
Lee also loved stepping. He would take a bench or a stool and step up and down for one minute using the right leg then the left leg. After doing both legs, he would stop and stretch, take deep breaths, do abdominal and arm exercises, and then go back to the chair step-ups. It sounds like Bruce did this for about 30 minutes because he advises you to build up to do the same.
