Bruce Lee’s Fighting Method
I’ve just received my copy of Bruce Lee’s Fighting Method, and I’m salivating over it! I’m only on the first page, but this book is already stirring up concerns and uncertainty I have about certain aspects of martial arts training. Bruce Lee geared his training towards being “fighting fit”. If an exercise improved his endurence, power or speed, he would perform it. I’m currently reading about the aerobic element of his workouts, and it seems that he thought this a very important part of anyone’s martial arts training.
Training Conflict
This contradicts my club’s philosophy on training in which “cardio workout” has no place. Don’t get me wrong, our training can be very physically demanding, but the exercises we do are in the traditional “standing on one leg until it hurts” school of pain. And also, I’m not dismissing the benefits that these kind of exercises bring. Our physical training comes from doing, among other things, 20 minute siu lim taus, standing on one leg whilst circling the other slowly, performing one legged siu lim taus etc. Yet many other wing chun practitioners include a lot of physical exercise that isn’t necessarily “martial”. Bruce Lee did massive workouts and was a great advocate of building functional muscles.
Personally, I’ve always loved doing exercise. From the age of 13 I would do press ups and sit ups every night without fail, and I used to sprint round my paper round. About 8 years ago I discovered weight training and so I replaced my daily pressup/situp routine with a more structured and rounded weight training plan. I’ve dabbled in other martial arts in the past (tae kwon do, tang soo do, some weird made up style of kung fu and ju jitsu) and they all, without fail, placed importance on the physical exercise side of training. Strength and stamina are important in a fight.
At my club, the emphasis is placed squarely, even solely, on developing skill. Muscle power is taboo. In one way, this does make a lot of sense as the whole wing chun concept enables the smaller person to beat the bigger, stronger attacker. But surely there is something to be gained from training to become more powerful. I mean, Bruce Lee did it with great success. I’m in a quandary at the moment. On the one hand I want to continue training for strength and size (I know, pure vanity!) but on the other, my sifu discourages this kind of training. He says that all the exercise you need is in Wing Chun itself.
I used to accept that, and I used to think that Wing Chun included all the training I needed, but perhaps simply accepting without testing is a little narrow minded of me. I liked Bruce Lee’s approach. He questioned old masters and tested traditional ways of doing things. If something didn’t work, it was rejected. If it did work it was absorbed. Bruce Lee also spent a lot of time researching the benefits of different types of exercise and he kept what worked. Through his training, he developed massive amounts of power.
MMA Training
Look at the training that the top dogs in MMA endure. OK, I know that they are training for extreme situations, but they are living proof that the fitter you are, the better you will fight. And some exercises are better than others at preparing you for a fight
I’m not suggesting that Wing Chun students incorporate Wanderlei Silva snorkel style methods into their training routines…
… but I think training to improve endurance, speed and power is a good thing.
Call me cavalier, but I’m going to have a look around at other training methods. I don’t believe that Wing Chun is enough – from a training point of view anyway, and certainly not at my low level of skill. It may be enough from a skill/technique/efectiveness point of view, but something inside tells me that if I were to supplement my forms and technique drills with exercises designed to develop speed and power, I will fare better in a fight.
With that in mind, I’m going to be paying a lot of attention to Part 1 of Bruce Lee’s Fighting Method. It’s all about basic training and the table of contents includes sections on aerobic, warming up, flexibility and abdominal exercises, stances and footwork. But the two sections in Part 1 that have me drooling the most are those on power training and speed training. And there are 60 whole pages on those two subjects. If doing extra curricula exercises such as these will improve my power and speed, then I want in!
Interestingly, there’s a thread going on MartialTalk discussing weight training and Wing Chun training.
March 9th, 2009 at 10:34 am
You’ve made a valid point.
Having no wing chun experience but having done other style’s beforehand I beleive that Bruce had a big interest in fitness but this would also be related to his development of Jeet Kune Do.
Jeet Kune Do (correct me guys if im wrong) appears to be much more active than Wing Chun. My extremly basic knowledge of Wing Chun implies to me that the whole principle is that a fight should be over in 3 to 4 seconds.
However logic implies to myself that Bruce’s principles on physical conditioning would make one more powerfull and quicker. So my inclination is to try and find time to impliment some physical workout. Wheather or not you sacrifice some form and technique time for it or try to find additional time is the major issue for me.
March 9th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
>> Wheather or not you sacrifice some form and technique time for it or try to find additional time is the major issue for me.
This is exactly the problem I’m having Matt. I’ve always done weight training in the past, but to do the amount of WC training I want to do, I’ve had to sacrifice the weight training. In an ideal world of course I wouldn’t need a job and I could devote all my spare time to training both.
March 9th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I would say maybe start by sacrificing one day of WC for the weight training or even just cardio work like jogging or cycling then you can go from there.
March 12th, 2009 at 12:45 am
I wasn’t sure where to post this but i just thought as your reading bruce’s fighting method that you may find this video interesting.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Where’s the link? Don’t leave me like this
March 12th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Doh! Sorry mate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx9iPFMriz0
March 12th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I love the clip of Bruce Lee using his one inch punch. It’s good to see the guy that made it famous is doing it properly. I’ve seen some really bad efforts on youtube where the demonstrator first positions the knuckles an inch away from the target but then actually draws the fist back before punching!
March 12th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
The power he generated is incredible. The guy getting hit (Bob Baker i think his name was) Obviously in wing chun this is the usual practice for straight punches. Theres no draeing back its “short blast punches” as my sifu likes to shout at us after ten minutes on pads.
LOL
March 16th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Yeah, I like the idea of generating so much power in such a short space. Sometimes you just don’t have the room or time to pull back first.
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Somehow i feel the one inch punch should be used only when you can’t use your longer punch. Obviously if you can generate that amount of power in one inch you should be able to generate tons more in a real punch and that should be peoples focus.
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:18 am
The “one inch punch” is a red herring. It simply uses fa ging (short power) in a very short distance, but fa ging should be present in every strike.
June 28th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Weight training & martial arts ;
If you decide to lift,use full body routines while concentrating on
the “basics” for 2-3 sets for 8-12 reps. Do this on Mon.& Fri.evenings on
Wed. evening do body weighted exercises, such as pull-ups push ups & squats. Each session should last between 30-45 mins.
I am 47 years old and have been training this way for over 30 years.
I have not been injured or suffered from burnout from this program.
Good Luck, if you have any questions please email me.
June 29th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Thanks for the interesting feedback Walt. I’m in my 4th week back doing weights and I feel great. I only realised how much I missed it once I started again.
I’m actually doing full body routines now as you suggested, though I have broken up muscle groups in the past.
I’d be interested to know how you integrate your Wing Chun training with the weight training. Do you do it on the same day or different days, and if on the same day, is it in the same session?
June 29th, 2009 at 11:18 am
I’ll tell you how I train, remember that this works for me,everyone is or has different ways of training.
Every morning (ex. Sun.)I will run through all 3 empty hand forms.Then I will hit the heavy bag for 3 5min. rounds,punch , kick ,techniques .
Mon.,Wed,Fri. evenings I weight train just as I told you.
Tues.,Thurs.,Sat. evenings I will do Chi Sau or wooden dummy.
Each session lasts for 20-30 mins.thats it . I have been training this way for30 years.Be brief ,go hard.Don’t train today what you can’t do at 80.
June 30th, 2009 at 7:55 am
That sounds like a good routine, I like the fact that you do the forms every morning. I’m also weight training Mon, Wed and Fri and unfortunately I’m only training Wing Chun on Tue and Thu. I’m going to 2 classes a week on top of that though. There is never enough time, and it feels like a delicate balancing act to get everything in that we need to do (or at least it’s that way with me).