Awesome physique of Bruce lee

It’s an honor and great pleasure writing about the greatest martial artist of all time the legendary “Bruce lee”. It’s my tribute to the man who was a perfect combination of body and soul a legendary martial artist and renowned philosopher. Whenever I hear or think of muscularity first name that pops up in my mind is “Bruce lee”, he was lean, razor–sharp cuts, dense muscle not to the degree of professional bodybuilders but chiseled and well defined muscles. He was not genetically gift with great genetics unlike our professional body builders; he built his awesome physique with sheer hard work and dedication. Just standing five feet and seven and a half inches tall and weighed around 126 to 145 pounds, he turned his body into an ultimate weapon which not only looked awesome but was also very strong and powerful.

Bruce’s interest in weight training mainly grew as part of martial arts training. He was a renaissance’s man; he had achieved the muscularity, definition and proportion to the same degree as that of body builders of today. Bruce’s main focus was towards strength and speed, the chiseled and ripped to the bone physique was byproduct of his intense training. His body was graceful and tremendously functional; he would leap eight feet in the air to kick out a light bulb in one of his movies. He would demonstrate one inch punch which could generate so much of power that it would send the person on the receiving end flying in the air. Bruce was a pound for pound fighter , his reflex’s were so quick that he had to slow down for his movies, so as to capture his punches and kicks on screen, man he was lightening quick. He termed his approach towards physical training as “the art of expressing the human body”. He demonstrated extreme flexibility, lighting quick reflexes, grace and colossal power. He didn’t believe in being huge or big but believed in being capable of converting one’s strength efficiently and quickly.  Bruce had a well proportioned physique, but his best body part was his abs, it is said that he loved to work his abs and forearms.

Some of Bruce’s feats of strength are he could perform one hand push-ups or thumbs only push –ups. He was able to support a 125-pound barbell at arm length right in front of him, mind you he weighted between 126 to 145 pounds. How can we forget his one inch punch? That would send the opponent flying in air. He could side kick 300 pound heavy bag slapping against the ceiling. Lee was always on the look out to train his muscles in new and unique ways to stimulate more muscle fibers; he had a huge collection of books ranging from bodybuilding to philosophy in his personal library.

Below is lee’s workout program:

Clean & press 2 sets – 8 reps

Squats 2 sets – 12 reps

Bench press 2 sets – 6 reps

Pullovers 2 sets – 8 reps

Good mornings 2 sets – 8 reps

Barbell curls 2 sets - 8 reps

Bruce was well ahead of his time, be in terms of fitness or nutrition, he was a great martial artist and a wonderful human being. He can also be termed as first one who introduced MMA (mixed martial arts) in way because he didn’t not believe or limit himself to one style of fighting.  I would like to conclude this article with one of his quotes on martial arts and fitness, he said “if you’re talking about combat- as it is – well then, baby you’d better train every part of your body!”

An overview of supplements and steroids

From an average guy trying to gain few pounds of muscle to elite fitness athletes are eluded by supplements. They are always on the lookout for cutting edge supplements. From your local neighborhood gym to the high profiled and exceptionally equipped gyms cater supplements. Supplements are available in health food stores, grocery stores, supermarkets, pharmacies and on internet. Supplement industry is fastest growing industry in fitness world, more like a backbone to run fitness and bodybuilding shows hence helping to keep the sport of bodybuilding alive.

Now the question arises, what are supplements? As the name suggests it’s an alternative source of carbs or proteins, vitamins, herbs or minerals and amino acids which are taken as part of your nutritional diet. They come in form of tables, pills, powders or liquid form. Consumption of supplements is purely “Need Based”, meaning it can be either taken when you’re unable to get the complete amount of carbs or proteins from your daily diet or if you have a tight work schedule due to which you’re unable to eat substantial amount of proteins or carbs on a regular basis. Another scenario would be if you are a professional athlete or say an aspiring bodybuilder then its best advised to take these supplements along with the nutritional diet that you follow. In order to counter grueling workouts in the gym or the daily rigors of other demanding sports, you need to aid your body with lots of calories by means of proteins and carbs in form of supplements to help your body recovery and perform at its best.

Supplements are also available to get rid of fat and lean out, its available in form of fat burners and other supplements in general. In regards to distinguish which supplements works and which doesn’t, you can Google and get abundant download on that. On a personal note, I am not here to advocate whether consumption of supplements is right or wrong nor am I here to oppose it. As I have mentioned earlier it’s strictly “Need Based”. I am not here to sell products but yes I want to help people comprehend its functionality and purpose. I suggest anyone who’s just started weight training to first and far most focus on the exercises and the form you need to maintain while performing these exercises. As far as the nutrition goes get your carbs and proteins and other essentials through natural wholesome food, like meat, vegetables and fruits. Once you progress, depending on your nutritional demands, schedules and your goals decide to whether you need to incorporate supplements into your daily diet.

Steroids on the other hand are an entirely different story. Steroids are frequently referred as juice or roids; they are synthetically produced hormones, more like androgens produced in our body. There is hell lot of variations of steroids available today like anabolic steroids and growth hormones they are compounds derived from testosterone which helps build and repair body. It’s well known fact that steroids minister to gain muscle mass rapidly, reduce body fat considerably. Steroids makes us bigger ,better and faster ,however all said and done most important thing about steroids is these magical benefits are temporary. If you use steroids, you have more to lose than to gain considering the consequences of steroid abuse. Cardiovascular problems, baldness, prostate enlargement, high blood pressure, kidney problems, immune system changes, liver damage and the “Roid rage”, these are the few side effects of steroids. Itinerary of such side effects can give anybody a heart attack, and then the question that lingers in one’s mind is why people take steroids. Well I guess that question depends on each individual’s perception and thought process. We all are adults and we should be acquainted with the choices we make in life, steroid use is no different weigh the pros and cons then make a decision. It’s you as individual who needs to validate whether it’s worth doing steroids or not, you are the one who needs to answer that question to yourself eventually.