Stuff for Sports Fans

According to respective origins on the internet, a 1996 article in Iron Man Magazine revealed Bruce Lee’s workout. In addition to his cardio and karate workouts, Lee lifted weights three times a week and performed the following routine:

clean and presses 2 x 8

squats 2 x 12

barbell pullovers 2 x 8

bench presses 2 x 6

good mornings 2 x 8

barbell curls 2 x 8

Unfortunately, he injured his back doing good mornings, which almost ruined his career. Otherwise, his weight training was successful in that it is credited with helping him add 30 pounds of solid muscle to his comparatively little frame.

Although Lee is the most widely known and esteemed martial artisan ever, it may be that the firmest was a man named Masutatsu Oyama. Therefore, it will be interesting to contrast Lee’s workout with Oyama’s.

The Karate Bull-Fighter

Oyama was one of the original to fetch Karate to America and founder of the Kyokushin style of Karate. His 1958 classic “What is Karate?” was one of the primary books on the subject written in English, and designed to make the subject accessible to westerners.

Oyama initially became famous with stunts such as bull-fighting Karate-style. Unlike Mexican bull-fighters, he would actually wrestle the bull to the ground and break off one of it is horns. (He wasn’t too frequent with animal rights activists in Tokyo.)

Oyama’s Strength Training

According to Oyama’s 1958 book, strength and speed are more indispensable than skill for Karate, and speed more important than strength. Also, he said it was very indispensable to exercise jumping.

Here are a lot of recommendations he gives in “What is Karate?” (He doesn’t give an precise workout.)

Running – 4km per day

Rope-skipping – 20 minutes per day

Dumbell arm exercise (shoulder press?) – 200 times

Dips – 100 times

Push ups (with hands in fist) – 300 times

Inclined push ups – 100 times

Jumping side kick over 4 foot vaulting horse

Inclined dumbell bench press

Exercises requiring a partner:

Hitting bag with upper elbow and side of elbow – 200 times each

Practicing jumping kick with bag

Exercises for neck (with partner)

Leg exercise (squat with collaborator on back)

Back and Abdomen exercises with partner

Elsewhere in the book, Oyama said that he would bench press 175 pounds 500 times a day.

Then there are karate-specific exercises such as straw striking and exercises that are specific to board and stone breaking abilities. All this was in addition to practicing forms, sparring, etc.

Comparing Lee and Oyama

Now, what strikes me as the necessary divergence amid Lee’s and Oyama’s workout styles is volume. Lee’s weight training routine is comparatively brief, and he fended off lifting on days of heavy martial arts training.

While Lee might do an exercise for 2 sets of 8 reps (which is reasonably typical), Oyama would do it for hundreds of reps. Clearly, Oyama’s is a more time-consuming approach that would require a lot of dedication.

If you look at pictures of these men, they have rather dissimilar builds. For Lee, his training goal was apparently to add bulk. Before the weight training, he weighed only 135 pounds, and he added 30 pounds of solid muscle.

Oyama, on the other hand, was evidently a stockier fellow, and talks in his book regarding losing weight for the duration of periods of intense training. Judging from pictures of him with other people, I would say that he was in all probability more or less taller than Lee (who was 5′ 8″). Although Oyama was of intermediate height, he doesn’t look like a little guy when standing next to American professional wrestlers, boxers, and strongmen.

Possible Conclusions

The point is not to compare them as saying one was better than the other. I do wonder what affect their training style had on the way they looked and how much was just genetic.

At any rate, if Oyama was struggling to keep his weight down, it sounds like high volume training helped him to achieve that. Lee, on the other hand, seems to have been naturally lean and wanted the weight training to bulk up (probably to look better on camera). Too much volume might be counter-productive to that goal.

So, perhaps the lesson in this is that if you want to lose weight while simultaneously getting stronger, it might be worth giving careful consideration to an old-fashioned high volume workout routine, assuming you may make that kind of dedication. On the other hand, if your goal is to look like Bruce Lee… well, all I may say is “good luck”!

Chicago Bulls G H Various Artists Photo

Chicago Bulls G H Various Artists Photo

Chicago Bulls G H Various Artists Photo

Chicago Bulls G H Various Artists Picture