Why is there so much mystery surrounding Bruce Lee’s training?

His workouts have been well documented and he even left notes. Bruce Lee tried almost every exercise equipment available in his day. One of them was called Tensolator.

What is the Tensolator?

It basically consisted of two tubes, one that slid into the other with handles at each end and a plastic-covered steel cable wrapped around it. I know it is difficult to visualize. You really have to see it, I’ll show you what it was like in a moment.

The Tensolator used a coil spring to provide resistance and incorporated isometrics into its training program. The creator of the Tensolator, Gert F. kolbel, a German inventor designed this portable home gym after a device that was being used for research at a major German think tank.

Bruce Lee’s training included the use of the Tensolator to increase striking power, speed, and muscle size. There are pictures of Bruce Lee, using it in place of dumbbells to increase the power and speed of his 1-inch punch.

In the book, The Art of Expressing the Body by Bruce Lee and John Little, he explained his Tensolator training program. Although the original Tensolator only allowed 24 exercises for the whole body, it was enough for Bruce Lee.

Here is Bruce Lee’s training for the Tensolator as per Bruce Lee’s notes:

Chest-

Compression of the chest.

Cramp.

Arms-

Bow and arrow

Vertical compression

Biceps: standing and kneeling

Forearm

Back-

Compression behind the head.

Overhead compression

Door corner press.

Stomach-

Sitting pulling down

Knee compression.

Oblique compression

Behind-

Kneeling Pulling Down

Vertical compression on the thigh

Behind Buttock Compression

Bend over compression.

Dead Lift.

Leg-

Outward stretch with stiff legs

Outward knee stretch

Standing down calf press.

Knee pulled inward in the grip

Raise step up.

Circulation exercise

Bruce Lee was obsessed with making his body as powerful as possible and he certainly achieved his goal.

Here are some of the feats of strength he performed:

* Lee’s attack speed from one meter with his hands at his sides reached five hundredths of a second.

* Lee’s combat movements were sometimes too fast to be captured on film at 24 fps, so many scenes were shot at 32 fps to put Lee in slow motion. Normally, martial arts movies are sped up.

* In a demonstration of speed, Lee could snatch a dime from a person’s open palm before he could close it and leave a penny behind.

* Lee could perform push-ups using only his thumbs.

* Lee would hold a raised V position for 30 minutes or more.

* Lee could throw rice grains into the air and then catch them mid-flight using chopsticks.

* Lee performed one-handed push-ups using only thumb and forefinger

* Lee performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.

* From a standing position, Lee could hold a 57 kg (125 lb) barbell directly.

* Lee could break 6-inch-thick wooden boards.

* Lee performed a side kick while training with James Coburn and broke a 150-pound punching bag.

* In a move that has been dubbed “Dragon Flag”, Lee could perform leg lifts with only his shoulder blades resting on the edge of a bench and suspend his legs and torso perfectly horizontally in the air.

* Lee could poke his fingers through unopened steel cans of Coca-Cola, at a time before cans were made of the softest aluminum metal.

* Lee could use a finger to leave dramatic indentations in the pine wood.