Muscle Fitness Muscle_Fitness_February_2016 | Page 100

BRUCE LEE’S NEW TRAINING PROGRAM TRAINING OVERVIEW 98 MUSCLE & FITNESS WARMUP STRENGTH TRAINING This is one area in which training philosophy has greatly improved over the past five decades. Warm- ing up properly can improve per- formance and decrease the chance of injury. Lee actually sufered a back injury—which plagued him for years—from performing barbell good mornings after not adequately warming up. Here, we replace his archaic stretch routine with foam rolling, elastic-band work, and a routine of dynamic movements to prepare the muscles, increase heart rate, and stimulate the central nervous system. A full warmup can by found in the TFW text. Lee was one of the first martial artists to advocate weight train- ing. This broke with the prevailing wisdom of his day that strength training would make you heavy and slow. However, in place of his total-body routines, I’ve changed the emphasis to one upper- and one lower-body day. Weights used are heavier, and sets and overall volume increase from his two sets of eight to develop more size and strength. Some basic bodybuilding moves he used are upgraded to a more productive fight-specific version. Single-leg lifts are added to im- prove stability and kicking power. FEBRUARY 2016 Bruce Lee learned through combat that he needed to improve both his strength and conditioning to be a more efective martial artist. Although he used basic concepts like weights for strength, jogging for endurance, and stretching for flexibility, these methods have come a long way since the 1960s and ’70s. Today, Lee would not seek “best,” but he would continue to seek “better.” Similar to what Lee used, the Training for Warriors system also uses a four-day physical train- ing week. This schedule allows fighters (and weekend warriors) to build strength and cardiovascular endurance while still leaving time for both recovery and martial arts training. In order to accomplish this, the following workouts should be finished in a little over an hour or less. If Lee were training today, the TFW methods would be per- fectly tailored to match his need for strength, conditioning, and recovery. You have to remember Lee was constantly training for martial arts in addition to his physical training. In accordance with the philoso- phy of his martial art, Jeet Kune Do (also referred to as the “style of no style”), Lee would surely be involved in more of the martial arts that make up MMA, adopt- ing what works best for today’s champs. This would require more time spent on martial arts training in addition to work in the weight room. As a result, you will notice that martial arts are kept separate from his TFW training routine. The following overview of his new training routine will explain Lee’s past program and how and why it was upgraded.