The Right Mindset

So what made Bruce Lee as great as he was?

Strength training? Genetics? Intensity?

"I think there are a lot of factors, but I think it was his drive," Wong says. "For example, he always told me you had to put 100 % effort into everything you did. He said, ‘When you throw a punch, put everything into it. Don’t just go through the motions.’ To this day I remember that, and it’s very important to me."

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Gaining Strength

To get in excellent shape, Lee felt you needed strength, Wong notes. "He considered strength training very important," Wong says. "He was constantly looking for ways to improve, including weight training and isometrics." Although Lee felt strength was important, he did not believe bodybuilding was the answer, Wong says. "He felt it was important to have definition, but he did not feel you had to overboard," Wong says. "He did not feel it was necessary to develop large muscles. On the other hand, strength and definition enhanced certain functions, such as kicking and punching."

And Lee’s conditioning entailed more than hand grips, sit-ups, weights, running and conditioning drills. "A lot of the time he read books and analyzed different arts," Wong says. "He had a keen eye and an analytical mind. He did a lot of researching." While you may never develop Lee’s skills, you can certainly train the way the "Little Dragon" did.

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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.

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MMA Conditioning

Due to popular demand, we will now be all encompassing in our respected martial arts. In the last decade or so, MMA has blown up and become mainstream.

Brazilian Jiu Jitzu, Muay Thai Kickboxing, and Greco-Roman Wrestling are three of the core/most apparently effective styles.

As for *Conditioning:

1) ATP-CP System: High energy or explosive movements without oxygen (lasts about 10 seconds)

2) Anaerobic System: High energy or explosive movements without oxygen (usually lasts about 2 minutes)

3) Aerobic System: Low energy over long term using oxygen (15 minutes or more)

Let’s say you’re the one attempting to take-down your opponent(s) for 5 minutes. When you shoot in for a take-down, whether it’s a single leg, double leg, or other, this requires the ATP-CP system.

Now your fighting to pick your opponent up, switching from a single to a double or visa versa, pausing for a quick second, exploding again to take your opponent down, but he’s both strong and has great take-down defense. This requires the anaerobic system.

You finally get your opponent down, and the next opponent is fresh and ready to defend (or a real mma fight example, your opponent immediately pops back up and you’re starting over). After several rounds of this, you begin to tap into the aerobic system.

Here’s the point…

Why? Because you really haven’t done squat yet to develop your ATP-CP energy system, or any muscular conditioning.

Every time you attempt to pick your opponent up and he stuffs you and stays standing, that few seconds of explosive energy takes a toll not only on your heart and lungs, but now your body needs to provide oxygen to all of your muscles involved in that movement as well.

And since you haven’t developed this type of conditioning yet, your muscles aren’t going to be properly trained for this, thus wear out quickly and leave you gasping for air and your arms and legs feeling like noodles.

The wall drill is only one example of why you need to develop these three energy systems. In any MMA fight, you also need to take into account striking battles, defending take-downs, grappling scrambles and other movements that require a mix and match of all these different energy systems.

Summary

As you can guess by now, a good mma conditioning workout must focus on developing all three of these types of energy systems. If you lack conditioning in just one of these, then you’re still gonna gas out in any one of these scenarios no matter how well developed any one of the other energy systems are.

So if you’re just following a standard general fitness workout, or even worse, a conventional bodybuilding workout with a few random cardio exercises thrown in, you’re not fully preparing yourself for the type of gas tank you need to go the distance in a grueling mma battle.

If you don’t have the proper conditioning in ALL THREE of these energy systems, you’re gassing out one way or another.

In terms of how this article relates to Traditional Kung fu, we can see how the modern sport science is applied to training. The effectiveness of it all is now set on a public stage (The Octagon)

*Accordingly: If you don’t have the proper conditioning in ALL THREE of these energy systems, you’re gassing out one way or another.

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八極拳 - The Fist of Eight Extremes/Limits

Baji Quan / 八極拳

A tv clip featuring Liu Yun Chiao, Baji Quan Grandmaster.

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