What is the secret of Bruce Lee’s success? A dragon’s journey of 32 years

Bruce Lee was more than just a movie star, martial artist and cultural icon. His path and the values he conveyed have motivated generations since his death.

Let’s talk about the life of the great actor and how to succeed in martial arts with an international karate master.

International Master of Sport in Karate, expert in the field of physical education

Success in martial arts, as in any other business, is hard work, systematic work on yourself, and confidence in success!

Be willing to change when change begins. Be flexible to change when the time for change comes. Empty yourself. Open yourself up. Remember: the benefit of the cup is that it is empty.

Bruce Lee

The Little Dragon

Bruce Lee was named Li Xiaolong after the dragon in whose year and hour he was born in San Francisco. His parents Grace Li and Li Hoichenya, his father was a Chinese opera artist. Since childhood Bruce was interested in martial arts, although at school age did not differ in physical strength from his peers, but rather, on the contrary, was stubby and frail boy.

His way in the movie he began very early – already three months Bruce starred in the film “Golden Gate Girl”.

Master of martial arts

Seriously engaged in martial arts Bruce began at the age of 16 years to be able to stand up for themselves in street fights. He trained under Ip Man, a Chinese martial arts master who taught him kung fu. Later, Lee studied boxing, judo and jiu-jitsu and created his own style of kung fu, jitkundo. Bruce excelled in the art of fighting, he trained for hours every day and developed a daily routine of over 7,000 exercises.

Thanks to daily grueling workouts, he brought his body condition to near perfection, as evidenced by his many accomplishments, which may seem like something impossible. And many of them are really beyond human comprehension.

For example, Bruce could catch a grain of rice in the air with sticks, could do 50 push-ups on two fingers, made inhuman jumps of 2.5 meters from a place, and could hold a corner in a handstand for half an hour. It is a well-known fact that Bruce’s lightning-fast movements in the frame could not always catch the modern by those standards cameras, which forced the film crew to shoot scenes in 32-frame method.

Alexander: Thanks to the modern level of development of the Internet has become much easier to become famous all over the world. But to master such skills, you need to devote at least 10-15 years of training. Perhaps not everything will work out. Many people are engaged in martial arts, but only a few become great. Hard work, severe discipline and the desire to achieve a great goal increase the chances of becoming if not a modern Bruce Lee, then his follower.

Popularization of kung fu

At the age of 21, already being a famous actor, Bruce opened his own martial arts school, where he began to teach people the method of fighting – jitkundo, translated from Chinese as “The Way of the Advancing Fist”.

Bruce Lee’s students included movie stars Roman Polanski, Steve McQueen and Lee Marvin. Bruce worked on perfecting his technique until his death, but never demonstrated it in any of the movies he starred in.

The Hong Kong actor’s innovations

His achievements in the field of martial arts brought him fame in the film industry. The filmography of the famous Hong Kong actor has more than 20 roles in various movies. In the pictures he demonstrates his fantastic skills of fighting, which is what he is remembered by most viewers.

However, the directors assured that the movie did not convey all the incredible abilities of Bruce. What is worth only his “inch punch”, which is still trying to repeat many fighters around the world.

Bruce Lee also proved himself a talented director, when the Hong Kong film company Golden Harvest entrusted the young actor to put all the fight scenes in the movie.

He brought many new stunts and punch combinations to the movie industry, as Jean-Claude Van Damme himself later commented: “Before him, every fighter in the movie beamed like a machine gun, and the viewer thought it was just a flicker. Each blow Bruce is exemplary powerful and unique in its kind”.

But, in addition to fights in the movies, Bruce took part in real fights. During his life, he held many competitions, and the first and only defeat he suffered at the age of 13. This incident, among others, motivated Bruce Lee to become the greatest kung fu fighter of all time.

Mysterious death and legacy

Bruce Lee passed away under mysterious circumstances at the age of 32. According to the most popular version, he died of brain swelling caused by an allergic reaction to a headache pill. Various theories are still being built around his death, but none of them has yet been confirmed.

Bruce’s contribution to martial arts and movies is invaluable. Many people specially go to Seattle to the grave of the actor to honor his memory. Bruce has a huge number of fans around the world, one of them even built a museum in his honor. And Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon created a foundation in her father’s name, which this year established the world’s first Bruce Lee Award.

Adapt like water. Be like water. It is the most malleable substance on earth, but it sharpens even the hardest stone. It may seem like water sometimes goes against nature and flows uphill, but it actually chooses any path open to it to the sea. Whether moving swiftly or leisurely, water is relentless, and its purpose and destiny are unchanging.

Bruce Lee

Alexander: In order to succeed in martial arts, it is very important to get to a specialist who can gradually instill a love for classes, create physical conditioning for sports, create conditions for an iron psyche. If there is no such master, you have to look for him.