Develop Strength Bruce Lee’s Way

Did Bruce Lee take his training seriously?

"While Bruce was in Hong Kong filming in late 1971 or early 1972, he had his weight equipment and training gear shipped to him," says Ted Wong, who met Lee in 1967 and trained with him for more than six years. "He wanted to stay in shape. So we packed his bags, but we did not send any clothes because he said he could buy them cheap in Hong Kong. We just packed training equipment. When he saw all the bags filled with training equipment, he laughed and said, ‘Now I’m going to be able to do lots of training.’"

And train he did. "Bruce considered training number one," says Wong. "He was constantly training. When he watched TV or went to the movies, he conditioned his knuckles. When he was driving, he worked the hand grips. If he walked to a bookstore and came to a hill, he always ran. He never wasted time." Why was this man so obsessed with training? Several reasons. First, according to Lee, training was important because you couldn’t perform up to your capabilities if you weren’t in shape, Wong recalls. "Lee felt you had no business being in the martial arts if you weren’t in shape," says Wong. "If you weren’t in shape you couldn’t be 100 percent efficient." Second, he had lofty goals. "He wanted to be the best," says Wong. "He wanted to be the best martial artist." And no one could dispute that he was.