Bruce Lee's Size.

[Thai Bri]

You can't gain much mass with callisthenics. The reps get too high (like 25 plus etc).

[Nutz]

Originally posted by Thai Bri
You can't gain much mass with callisthenics. The reps get too high (like 25 plus etc).

Yup. You eventually get to a point where your body plateaus. The reason you get bigger when lifting progressively heavier weights is because your adding a stimulus for your body to deal with. If you just stick to using your body weight, your body will get used to your weight and stop making size and strength gains. All you can do at that point is add reps to increase your muscular stamina.

[grubbogoppoly]

Hey. .Just to clear something up(sorry jowan). More weight doesn't necessarily mean more mass, there is a point where strength becomes a PRIORITY to mass. This is why power lifters do less reps and heavier weight. From (not a definite but generally)reps 1-5 you are training more towards the strength side as you go from 5-10 reps it is generally working more towards mass. From 10-15 reps it works more the muscular endurance. As I said these #'s are not definite and there is crossover(for example if you do 8 reps then you will be increasing mass, but also some strength as well)

[Jowan]

Thank you all for those answers, but what if you speed up calisthenincs, then there would be more contraction and so more strength gains and mass gains?
Also, when your muscles get slightly fatigued, the load on them is then heavier, which should make the bodyweight seem heavier, thus increasing calisthenics value.
Also, boxers sometimes do not weightlifting, and rely only on punching and calisthenics, and even though they have a high cardio rate, they get larger muscles.
Heck, even i got bigger from calisthenics!
-Jowan-

[Thai Bri]

Why ask if you think you know the answer?

[Nutz]

Originally posted by Jowan
Thank you all for those answers, but what if you speed up calisthenincs, then there would be more contraction and so more strength gains and mass gains?
Also, when your muscles get slightly fatigued, the load on them is then heavier, which should make the bodyweight seem heavier, thus increasing calisthenics value.
Also, boxers sometimes do not weightlifting, and rely only on punching and calisthenics, and even though they have a high cardio rate, they get larger muscles.
Heck, even i got bigger from calisthenics!
-Jowan-

For bodybuilding purposes, speeding up is counterproductive and actually gets you less out of the workout (many reasons why that is). That's why it's recommended you go slow and steady and use good form.

For martial arts, boxing, football, or sports in general, going fast can have special benefits in some situations--explosiveness of punches come to mind, but only when working areas of the body in a particular way.

[newguy123]

about the subject

hi everyone im new here...i just wanted to say from what ive read and come to understand ...how big you get is also due to how you eat ( eating what you burn or a calorie deficit or calorie surplus ) alot of body builders when "bulking" tend to eat alot enough to gain noticable increases in weight without gaining to much fat. Lee might have been small due to the fact he never ate enough to get huge..coupled with how much he burned due to his cardio and overall activity level. i can say from some personal experience that i lift heavy usually in the 3 rep range ..done this for a long time and yet im maybe only slightly bigger then i was before trying this method..my strength in terms of lifting though is much higher ( and yes i use proper technique..slow and controlled longest possible range of motion i can get) because of this im not one to believe low reps high weight automatically equals bigger muscle..lest not in the bodybuilder sense...diet has a large portion to play in wether you get big. a big example is i know kids much smaller then me some up to 30 pounds lighter ( i weigh 190 and im 6'1 not exactly small but nowhere near bodybuilder) the 1 that comes to mind right away is even the same height iam...he is a skinny kid..yet in some lifts he out does me while still maintaining proper form and control. im not one to go against science but everyones body is different some people can be massively strong and just not big at all due to diet lifestyle and genetics..and i believe lee lucked out in this case he was strong for his size..and powerful in his kicks and punches without being a very big guy.

[Eyegouge]

Read Inside The Lions Den about Ken Shamrock, and then try and tell me massive reps don't equal size and muscle ability ability. Fish, Rice, cold meats and cheeses, with tons of water is what Ken feeds his fighters.

( you wanna get mad tuff? try isometrics)

[newguy123]

i fail to see your point on this eye...i never said massive reps dont mean size...alot of reps with a fairly heavy weight equals more size then an extremely heavy weight for 1-3 reps ..even more so if your only doing 2 sets of 3 reps. and all that your mentioning i dont need to read...i have the bodybuilding book by arnold..and it pretty much covers all that too..as i said before DIET has alot to do with how big or small you are as much as training and genetics does. if you eat alot and have a calorie surplus or more calories then you burn and you work out with fairly heavy weights and atleast 4 sets of 6 reps your gonna get bigger ..some will be muscle alittle will be fat if your doing it as clean as possible. now if i lift that sameway but i eat exactly what i burn everyday im not gonna see mass gains..or if i do they arent going to be anywhere near as big..but my muscular strength and "ablity" are still going to improve. as i said in my previous post i dont eat enough to have a calorie surplus i also only work when using weights in the very low rep range 1-3 ..my strength has gone up ALOT but my size hasnt ...so whatever your talkin about in the lions den has more to do with just massive reps ( if you even mean alot of reps vs alot of weight ) its got alot to do with both diet and weight training

[shaolin-warrior]

At 5'8" 180 pounds i carried about 22% body fat. After alot of cardio and some major lifestyle change I weigh 150 pounds at 11% body fat. I'm faster and stronger than I was at 180. At 180, my max bench was 250 for 1 rep at 150 my max bench is 275. On a smith machine i can press 280. Almost twice my body weight and I'm 41. I couldnt do that at 19. I do think that size and strength are proportionate to a degree. But muscles are only as strong as connective tissue. I'm a firm believer that all of the long exagerated movements in Kung fu forms has greatly increased my strength.
Bruce's body style was a reflection of jeet kune do. Lean and trimmed to only what was necessary.......muscle.

[konghan]

Bruce Lee was very light because he was more interested in lean muscles and not bulky mass. His exercise routines consisted of polymetrics and cardiovascular training. Bruce did not resort to traditional “body building” techniques to build mass, he was more interested in muscle strength and contraction. Hence, he did high reps and developed strategies to increase muscle tension and resistance.

I don’t necessarily think Bruce Lee was overtraining, but by yesterday’s standards perhaps he was. He was developing training methods that are used today, while most people were still doing kata, traditonal weights, etc...

By today’s standards, Bruce Lee’s physique is not too unusual in athletic competition. At 5’7” a boxer today could easily maintain 125 lbs. A case can be made that today’s fighters train as hard as Bruce Lee did. Simply put, Bruce Lee was ahead of his time in training and knowledge.

Here are the modern weight classes for boxing. Bruce’s weight puts him at the Featherweight Class. Guys in that class are not much different in size and stature from Bruce Lee.

Light flyweight/48 kg/106 lbs
Flyweight/51 kg/112 lbs
Bantamweight/54 kg/119 lbs
Featherweight/57 kg/125 lbs
Lightweight60 kg/132 lbs
Light welterweight/64 kg/141 lbs
Welterweight/69 kg/152 lbs
Middleweight/75 kg/165 lbs
Light heavyweight/81 kg/178 lbs
Heavyweight/91 kg/201 lbs
Super heavyweight/91+/201+ lbs

I think one factor that goes with weight and body structure is age. Bruce was IMO overtraining. He was over pushing himself trying to put his body where it wasn't suppossed to be. Notice before the movie Enter the Dragon in his earlier years from the Green Hornet to his many HK movies. Bruce had more muscle and weigh more. In Enter the Dragon notice how his cheek bone is all sunk in his body his bones are showing.

People tend to gain weight as they age that is why in boxing many boxers who started to gain weight as they age find it difficult to fight at maintain their original weight and if they did reduce their weight their fighting abilities were greatly affected to be negative.

The best way to maintain a light weight even when one ages is to be vegetarian. With age strength decreases, once strength decreases it will be difficult to train intensively with many repetition on certain exercises.

Every training method has to be adjusted according to age.

Bruce training was nothing new, early martial masters achived martial prowess while spending time training harder than Bruce. Those masters had all the time in their life to train, training was more crude and ancient then.

[pstevens]

I think one factor that goes with weight and body structure is age. Bruce was IMO overtraining.

So in your opinion, he was just overtraining... That's it?... At least Sage had the decency to provide an argument.

People tend to gain weight as they age that is why in boxing many boxers who started to gain weight as they age find it difficult to fight at maintain their original weight and if they did reduce their weight their fighting abilities were greatly affected to be negative.

So now you're a physical therapist as well...

Bruce training was nothing new, early martial masters achived martial prowess while spending time training harder than Bruce. Those masters had all the time in their life to train, training was more crude and ancient then.

Okay, if Bruce's training methods were nothing new, then he wasn't overtraining. Other "masters" were training "harder" so they must have been overtraining.. So which is it dumbass?

Aside from the fact that this thread is 100 years old, it's idiots like this that make it worthwhile bashing.

[konghan]

So in your opinion, he was just overtraining... That's it?... At least Sage had the decency to provide an argument.



So now you're a physical therapist as well...



Okay, if Bruce's training methods were nothing new, then he wasn't overtraining. Other "masters" were training "harder" so they must have been overtraining.. So which is it dumbass?

Aside from the fact that this thread is 100 years old, it's idiots like this that make it worthwhile bashing.

There is no arguments, in fact his death is still being kept a secrete. Secrete for what?

Yes, I am a therapisst

Kung fu masters train properly, as i say Buce overtrain that means he train improperly.

Dumbass will be.... I guess you

Come back after 30+ years and show me that you are still as strong and fit as you are now, other than that........you are in limbo

[konghan]

His death is being kept secret from who? According to the coroner's reports on Bruce Lee's death, he died from a cerebral edema resulting form an alergic reaction to Equagesic (a prescription painkiller). He was undoubtedly exhausted from his hectic work and training pace, but his death is not some hyped up super secret conspiracy. In fact, the results of that coroner's report have been available at least twenty five years, since I read abut it first in about 1980. I'd imagine they were public long before that, but that's the first time I read it myself.

In that case, he did died of over exhuastion then. Over train, busy with work, busy with social life.

[fanman.]

Why are you guys talkin so much about Bruce Lee? After all, he's just a fictional character, like santa claus or michael jackson or George Bush.