Bruce Lee on the Heavy Bag

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weich

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After another pointless discussion about Lee and his ability to destroy every fighter who ever lived, I started looking up old footage and found the video of Lee on the heavy bag. That video is embarassingly bad. In another thread I believe Sinnister pointed out that his "one inch punch" is also just a gimmick. The guy he punches is standing squared up, which makes it easy to be pushed over, and Lee pushes his punch to push the guy down.

I also didn't realize that Lee never fought competitively, and most of his "fights" were against untrained street fighters in Hong Kong. He never fought against trained professionals, likely because he was protecting an image.

I respect Lee for being a physical speciman, and his study of martial arts. I think it's great that he realized there were a lot of flaws in Eastern MAs and wanted to adapt different styles. However, the legend of his fighting prowess is clearly better than his actual fighting prowess. I think it's hilarious that many feel he would be able to beat any current MMA fighter of any division.
 
weich said:


After another pointless discussion about Lee and his ability to destroy every fighter who ever lived, I started looking up old footage and found the video of Lee on the heavy bag. That video is embarassingly bad. In another thread I believe Sinnister pointed out that his "one inch punch" is also just a gimmick. The guy he punches is standing squared up, which makes it easy to be pushed over, and Lee pushes his punch to push the guy down.
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Not really. Maybe overall, but he was onto something with his vertical fist lead punches. Some of those were actually solid. Most notably the first one thrown. Archie Moore employed the same exact vertical fist rising jabs, although in a different manner. Not to say Lee could execute in a fight, but he had the idea down at the very least, of proper alignment.



Also...way to stir up another shitstorm.
 
Kinda sloppy. But good power. I dont want to see another "lets piss on bruce lee" thread.

Everything stupid about Bruce Lee, comes from his nerdy fans.. Not from the man himself


(war Bruce)
 
Kids grow up... He was just an actor who trained martial arts...
He didn't fight competitively nor wasn't street fighter, he was just martial arts enthusiast and tv actor. Thats it.

In REAL fight I bet he would went chaotic brawling like a crazy cat.

But he was great inspiration for generation of real fighters.
 
fightingrabbit said:
Not really. Maybe overall, but he was onto something with his vertical fist lead punches. Some of those were actually solid. Most notably the first one thrown. Archie Moore employed the same exact vertical fist rising jabs, although in a different manner. Not to say Lee could execute in a fight, but he had the idea down at the very least, of proper alignment.



Also...way to stir up another shitstorm.
Click to expand...

All of it looked sloppy to me, and not particularly powerful. Not to mention he drops his hands to throw the punches and keeps them low after.

As far as stirring up a shit storm, I've only been vising the Stand Up forum for a few months and haven't witnessed any of the rest. If this is a terrible thread I'm sure the mods will move it to the wasteland.

Personally I'm just sick of Lee's fans thinking that he is the end all, be all, of fighting. Someone told me yesterday that he regularly KO'd professional boxers. When I pressed them on which ones or for videos he said, "He trained with Joe Louis". Yeah, way to support the ridiculous claim.
 
weich said:


After another pointless discussion about Lee and his ability to destroy every fighter who ever lived, I started looking up old footage and found the video of Lee on the heavy bag. That video is embarassingly bad. In another thread I believe Sinnister pointed out that his "one inch punch" is also just a gimmick. The guy he punches is standing squared up, which makes it easy to be pushed over, and Lee pushes his punch to push the guy down.
Click to expand...


The "one inch punch" that Bruce demonstrated and that got caught on film is a great party trick. You can learn how to do it in a minute. You do generate more power when turning the hips and torso rapidly (DUH!) but the way Lee did it then was all about pushing and looking cool. :cool:
 
Frode Falch said:
Kinda sloppy. But good power. I dont want to see another "lets piss on bruce lee" thread.

Everything stupid about Bruce Lee, comes from his nerdy fans.. Not from the man himself


(war Bruce)
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to piss on Lee. As I said in the OP I think he was a physical specimen, and to add to that, he did a lot for martial arts through his movies and fame. Those are great things.

I just don't think he would be able to smoke any fighter who ever lived.
 
Give it a rest. There was no sanctioned MMA in Hong Kong or the U.S. during Bruce Lee's lifetime--nothing even close. As such, you can't compare his style or training to modern day MMA fighters (the sport has now had 20 years to evolve).

What's brilliant about Bruce was his realization that various arts (including boxing and grappling) should be combined. He was able to see this long before the first UFC or Pancrase match. And remember, his primary job was to be an actor (along with being the premier martial arts guru/teacher/author of his time)...not a pro fighter. The fact that he took time to cross-train and study/synthesize so many arts was quite a feat.
 
well to be fair it depends on what he is doing here. If that is supposed to be his jab cross combos then yikes but it appears he is just wailing away on the bag with alternating vertical fist power punches..

As for the One inch punch yes its trick. Mind you many kung fu practitioners would preform on corners back in china to wow the crowd and get students so things like the one inch punch were just a way to entertain people and shock the gullible.


Bruce was a High school boxing champion for what its worth.:)
 
weich said:
I just don't think he would be able to smoke any fighter who ever lived.
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No one in their right mind thinks that. It's like taking some great athlete from the 17th Century, putting him in the NFL or NBA and expecting great things. These are all sports with specific skills and training that take years to develop.

If Bruce was around today and started serious MMA training in his late teens or early 20s, maybe he could be great. But you can't expect anyone from the early 1970s to be well-rounded in a 2012 MMA fight. It's not just Bruce--the same is true of the best boxers, wrestlers, judo guys, etc., from that day.
 
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theres nothing brilliant about Bruce Lee, he was a movie star who played in kung fu movies and liked MA. Your an idiot if you think people weren't blending MAs before Bruce Lee.
 
Chuck Norris said that he thinks Lee would have been a world champion if he chose to compete. That holds the same weight as if God had said it himself.
 
eembach said:
Your an idiot if you think people weren't blending MAs before Bruce Lee.
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images

electricity existed before Benjamin Franklin made discoveries and came up with theories regarding it but should we say fuck him too?:icon_lol:

The mans ideas were still ahead of their time and he remains one of the most influential martial artists for a reason.
 
Frode Falch said:
Kinda sloppy. But good power. I dont want to see another "lets piss on bruce" thread.

Everything stupid about Bruce Lee, comes from his nerdy fans.. Not from the man himself


(war Bruce)
Click to expand...

Agreed
Now replace Bruce with Fedor, Shogun, Silva, Jones, ....
 
How would bruce be able to compete unless there was no rules? I thought he was all about illegal shit like eye pokes and side kicks to the knee cap. If he was sparring/hanging around pro's like chuck norris and there saying he was good then I wouldn't call him just an actor, that would be stupid
 
It seems like you guys watch a couple of youtube videos on muay thai and now you can start criticizing everyone's fighting style.

Bruce Lee didn't have youtube. There wasn't much cross training in his days. He did everything from scratch. MMA didn't even exist back then. What did you want him to do? Join a Karate tournament? You guys would just shit all over karate for not looking like Muay Thai either.

The 1-inch punch was a demonstration of body rotation. It's to show that power punches come from core rotation and not the arms. There's a video out there of him explaining the point of the 1-inch point. It's not an actual move like "jab, 1-inch punch, hook".
 
Discipulus said:
Yeah, this one's embarrassingly bad too.

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Wow both him and Lee would get slayed in a real fight against one of the technical fighters of today such as Nate Diaz at LW or in that fat dude's case one of todays premiere technical heavyweights like Andrei Arlovski. :D
 
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