Bruce Lee was so fast some of his moves couldn't be seen on film til slowed down..
- Thread starter The Jewnited States
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The Jewnited States
Superstar
more stories from the reddit guy:
"Odd as it may seem, he was every bit as amazing in person as all of the hype and folklore about him would urge one to believe. That is sort of what was so strange being around him; to spend an evening in his presence you went away MORE amazed and impressed than having simply heard the rumors. I grew up in Seattle and he was living there at the time, going to the UW and teaching on the side. I began taking "kung fu" along with my brother at a little basement studio downtown with Bruce's chief student, Taky Kimura (you can look him up and see vids of him sparring with Bruce). Our dad, who had been a boxer early in his life, even attended for a few months though it was totally foreign to him. Bruce was, at that particular time, in LA preparing to play Kato in the tv Green Hornet series. But when he would swing back up to Seattle to see family (his son Brandon, I would imagine, must have been young and around at the time) he would stop in to Taky's studio and teach us.
I know it sounds corny, but it truly was as though, on those nights that he was in the studio, just opening the door at street level to begin the descent down into the basement studio, you could feel that Bruce was there; his energy was that 'refined' or something. But the real, absolute shocker was when he would 'casually' walk by the hanging practice masks that we had to one side and he'd do a little routine on them as he passed. You could be standing 40 feet away with your back turned and, when he'd do that 'just for kicks' (so to speak) you would FEEL it impacting on your back side. The 'purity' of his combative energy was insane. Not sure how to explain it really -- none of us had (or have) ever felt anything like it. Even our dad, quite a formidable guy and more than a full head taller than Bruce, for sure, would stand there in transfixed awe of his power and grace. He was like a killer-dancer in front of the masks or the practice boards.
He had a temper too, and it came out in his teaching."
"Well, there's a 'side' to him that you don't hear much about; he was moody and temperamental and and carried some resentments -- all of which made him a little spooky to be around for long stretches. When a guy who you don't really 'know' is a few feet away from you throughout the course of an eveinging and he's clearly feeling somewhat resentful and you KNOW that he could, on a mere whim, drop you and everyone in the room like so many sacks of shyt inside of a few seconds and without even breaking a sweat, it can make for an odd evening. But specifically, after the first night that he joined us we could tell that he was 'bothered' about something and we saw that Taky, a true Prince of a guy, had been slightly 'taken to task' over it and that he had taken it to heart. So, the next week following Bruce's first stop-in, when we were back as a class again without him, my brother and I, during the break approached Taky and mentioned to him that it "sorta felt to us like Bruce was somehow sort of 'bugged' by something about the class -- we were just sort of wondering what it was?" Taky, again, was an incredibly sweet guy -- and he admitted to us that Bruce was pissed when he saw the "room full of nothing but white faces". This was, of course, a little disturbing to us -- nothing much we could do about being 'white guys'. Taky said "Don't worry about it, it won't be a big deal in the long run", and he explained that Bruce had some strong feelings about his system not being "completely 'given away' to non-Chinese". We really didn't know what to say or to think about this. But we kept going to class(!) He's always sort of portrayed as merely a simple teacher and a phenomenal fighter -- but he was a very complex guy with issues and everything in him was so STRONG that if he was slightly disturbed about something .. he 'radiated' his displeasure. Not always pleasant to be standing next to."
The Jewnited States
Superstar
"Someone else here says it was called "sticky hands" .. it was really sort of amazing, and doing it with Bruce made you feel like a stupid little kid of 4 trying to take something from your dad or something. He would stand directly opposite you and you would sort of put your forearms together, loosely, vertical from elbow to hands, hands loosely towards yourself .. sort of touching and rolling them slightly against his. Then, you'd try to 'jab' him in the face .. only inches, really, from your hands. But it was COMPLETELY impossible of course. It was like he would 'feel' the impulse in you BEFORE you had even known you were going to move. ANY move that you made he had ALREADY countered such that it was a useless attempt. It was spooky, and ... freaky .. like he was MORE 'tuned in' to your mind than you were! For him, I'm certain, it was completely instinctive .. no thought involved .. only responsiveness .. his body was tuned in to and reading yours .. and it was pre-excluding any forming plan in the earliest stages. Again .. somewhat freaky to experience. I never got through and never saw anyone else in the class get through. Taky, also, was spookily good at it. Of course, either of them could get through and smack anyone's face at will!"
backbreaker65
All Star
Yes he's fast, but I would rather see this in a non choreographed fashion. So showing well rehearsed dance routines lesson the effect of WOW.
Big fan of Bruce...but I have to admit his legend lost some luster to me when Chuck Norris was being interviewed about him and Chuck was praising Bruce and the reporter asked him if they ever fought for real and Chuck said something like "well of course not, I was a professional fighter."
Made me look at Bruce more like one of these And 1 b-ball players with sick handles that could never actually beat an NBA player.
Made me look at Bruce more like one of these And 1 b-ball players with sick handles that could never actually beat an NBA player.
but bruce fought in real tournaments too. and in real street fights.Big fan of Bruce...but I have to admit his legend lost some luster to me when Chuck Norris was being interviewed about him and Chuck was praising Bruce and the reporter asked him if they ever fought for real and Chuck said something like "well of course not, I was a professional fighter."
Made me look at Bruce more like one of these And 1 b-ball players with sick handles that could never actually beat an NBA player.
feelosofer
#ninergang
Roy Jones Jr in his prime is faster and powerful then all them dudes. Even at his older age now he still faster then most but taking a punch though is another story
Funny you should say that, but Prime Roy Jones, based his training regimen and fight style off Bruce Lee.
That one where he knocks away the dude's blocking arm, holy fuuuuuuuuck. So incredible 
it was choreographed but the philosophy is still crazy...making use of small slices of time that would otherwise be idle. I'm sure it could be practical for somebody who wanted to use it for real. it didn't look like it hurt but it looked like enough of a distraction to turn the tide
I swear people want to believe he was some mystical super human so badly.
He was one of the best showmen that's for sure, got all these dummies decades later thinking he was something he was not.
He was one of the best showmen that's for sure, got all these dummies decades later thinking he was something he was not.
That elbow/back fist to that bytch would one hell of a gif. Titled it bytch Don't Kill My Vibe
@Liu Kang
Please make it happen
The time it took for you to type this post Bruce would have hit you with a 8 feint 16 piece combo with a bytch slap at the endI swear people want to believe he was some mystical super human so badly.
He was one of the best showmen that's for sure, got all these dummies decades later thinking he was something he was not.
"To me, ultimately, martial arts means honestly expressing yourself. Now, it is very difficult to do. It has always been very easy for me to put on a show and be cocky, and be flooded with a cocky feeling and feel pretty cool and all that. I can make all kinds of phoney things. Blinded by it. Or I can show some really fancy movement. But to experience oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that is very hard to do." - Bruce Lee
thats my gawd
i used that quote in my last mix
great words to live by, no matter what you apply it to.