The transcript below is from the video “BRUCE LEE | AMAZING SUPERMAN SPEED” by BRUTAL TV.
BRUTAL TV:
Bruce Lee | Amazing Superman speed
I’m sure we have all seen clips of Bruce Lee kicking, punching and throwing people all over the place. As we all know, Bruce Lee is one of the most famous actors to ever live.
Bruce Lee (Martial Artist, Actor, Director, Martial Arts Instructor & Philosopher):
“My last name is Lee. Bruce Lee.”
BRUTAL TV:
It is no doubt that Bruce earned most of his fame through movies but he was much more than that. Bruce Lee was a martial artist, actor, dancer, instructor and director. The man was even a philosopher and had his own idea about what life is. Today though, we are going to stick with the basics and see who Bruce Lee was, and most importantly, why his speed is famous all over the world. But before we continue, go check out KNSTV Sports YouTube channel for brutal boxing videos. You won’t regret it.
BRUTAL TV:
Bruce Jun-Fan Lee was born in the hour of the dragon between 6 and 8 a.m in the year of the Dragon on November 27, 1940 at the Jackson Street Hospital, in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Bruce was the fourth child born to Lee Hoi-chuen and his wife Grace Ho. He had two older sisters Phoebe and Agnes and an older brother Peter and a younger brother Robert. Bruce’s parents gave him the name Jun-Fan which was a female name. Bruce Lee’s mother believed that their family was cursed and so the curse will be passed down to the boy. The English name Bruce was given to the baby boy by a nurse in the Jackson Street Hospital. Although, he was never to use this name until he entered secondary school and began his study of the English language.
Bruce Lee (Martial Artist, Actor, Director, Martial Arts Instructor & Philosopher):
“I was born in San Francisco in 1940. I’m 24 right now.”
BRUTAL TV:
At the age of 3 months, Lee Hoi-chuen, his wife Grace and baby Bruce returned to Hong Kong, where Bruce would be raised until the age of 18. One of his early life achievements was winning the Hong Kong cha-cha dance championship in 1958 at the age of 18. You would not have really expected the world’s greatest Kung Fu legend to be a cha-cha dancer, huh? That requires speed too, I guess. Do not worry though, he also won a boxing championship that year but what he really excelled in was the Chinese art of Wing Gong Fu. When he started his martial arts journey there was one very distinguishable thing about his style and abilities; his speed.
BRUTAL TV:
Bruce Lee could punch in 5/10 of a second from the distance of one meter, and in an 8/10 of a second he could strike from a meter and a half. Bruce was so fast that while recording “The Green Hornet” tv show, Bruce Lee was too fast for the producers. It is the norm to speed up the fighting scene so that the moves are consistent but in this instance, it was the exact opposite. Bruce was too fast for the camera frames to make sense of what was happening. The producers had to ask Bruce Lee to slow down. Even after that, the final product was still blurry.
Bruce Lee’s forte was the famous one-inch punch. From a single inch away, Lee was able to muster an explosive blow that could knock opponents clean off the ground. Lee mastered it and fans worldwide absolutely adored it. The seemingly lightweight attack belied the fact that these punches came at you at speeds of up to 118 miles per hour, the equivalent of a high-speed train hitting you on a fist-sized area.
BRUTAL TV:
Let’s try and understand this legendary punch. As Lee’s shoulder bolts ahead, his arm gets to work. The swift and simultaneous extension of his elbow drives his fist forward for a final flourish, flicking his wrist just before impact may further increase the fist velocity. Once the punch lands on target, Lee pulls back almost immediately. This shortens the impact time of his blow, which compresses the force and makes it all the more powerful. By the time the one-inch punch has made contact with its target, Lee has combined the power of some of the biggest muscles in his body into a tiny area of force. But while the one-inch punch is built upon the explosive power of multiple muscles, Bruce Lee’s muscles are actually not the most important engine behind the blow. Because the punch happens over such a short amount of time, Lee has to synchronize each segment of the jab, his twisting hip, extending knees and thrusting shoulder, elbow and wrist with incredible accuracy.
Furthermore, each joint in Lee’s body has a single moment of peak acceleration. And to get maximum juice out of the move, Lee must layer his movements so that each period of peak acceleration follows the last one instantly. So, coordination is the key. And that’s where neuroscience comes in. The one-inch punch is followed by the also famous six-inch punch, and that has the same techniques at play, except with a 6-inch distance.
BRUTAL TV:
It is not just the one-inch punch that is famous though. Bruce Lee holds some world records of speed, which include a number of fast knockouts too. Among his records, is the most consistent knockout at just 18.6 seconds. He also boasts the fastest knockout from a punch in 3.2 seconds. The fastest knockout kick at 86 miles per hour is also a record he firmly holds under his belt. The fastest knockout 1.2 seconds as well as 9 punches in one second, making a punch every ninth of a second. Lee could easily kick six times in just one second.
Moreover, his signature move of skip sidekick had the capacity to push a 200 pound man over 20 meters away. So, it really should not come as a surprise that Lee was in really good shape. In fact, according to the present data, Lee could in one go do 1500 push-ups with both hands, 400 with one hand, 200 with two fingers and 100 push-ups with just the thumb.
Lee opened his first martial arts studio in Seattle, which he called the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. Here, Lee started developing his own martial art style named Jeet Kune Do, a system of fighting that abandons the rigidity of established forms and places an emphasis on practicality, flexibility, efficiency, speed and physique.
BRUTAL TV:
Bruce Lee, like every great man, was met with a lot of hate. Some leaders of big martial arts schools were against Bruce and called him to a meeting and told him to stop his martial arts lessons. Lee offered to solve this problem on the spot, by dueling with any opponent they choose. If he lost, he would disappear forever, but he asked them to kneel before him if he won. Lee came out to be victorious. However, the opponent dishonorably kicked Bruce in the back. After the fight, Lee was hospitalized with a broken spine. He couldn’t even stand up. The doctors said it would be impossible for Bruce to go back to normal. But against all odds, Lee developed his own methods to heal his body. Soon, he was kicking and punching again.
BRUTAL TV:
Hardly anyone would think of Bruce Lee as a poet or philosopher, but that’s exactly what he was. He studied poetry and philosophy in school and was even published several times. While studying at the University of Washington, he focused his studies on Asian and Western philosophy, incorporating elements of Jedu, Buddhism, Taoism and Krishnamurti. This helped him better understand himself and how he and his martial arts were more of a method of self-expression of his philosophy than anything else. And I am pretty sure you have heard his famous water speech.
Bruce Lee (Martial Artist, Actor, Director, Martial Arts Instructor & Philosopher):
“I said empty your mind, be formless, shapeless like water. Now, you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
BRUTAL TV:
His last movie “Enter the Dragon” was due to premiere at Hollywood’s Chinese theater in August of 1973. Unfortunately, Bruce would not live to see the opening of his film. On July 20th, 1973, Bruce had a minor headache. He was offered a prescription painkiller called Equagesic. After taking the pill, he went to lie down and lapsed into a coma. He was unable to be revived. Extensive forensic pathology was done to determine the cause of death, which was not immediately apparent. A nine-day coroner’s inquest was held with testimony given by renowned pathologists flown in from around the world. The determination was that Bruce had a hypersensitive reaction to an ingredient in the pain medication that caused a swelling of the fluid on the brain, resulting in a coma and death. The world lost a brilliant star and a beloved human being that day. There is no doubt that there will not be another man like him. His spirit remains an inspiration to untold numbers of people around the world.
And that’s all for this video. Remember to go subscribe to KNSTV Sports YouTube channel for some awesome boxing videos. Thanks for watching.
