Have you ever wanted to train like Bruce Lee? In this video, I am going to show you five core principles pertaining to the Bruce Lee workout and diet plan that helped to make him a lasting fitness icon so that you can implement them into your own workouts and meal plan.

The first principle of training like Bruce Lee is to lift what can be lifted. What this means is that you should have command and control of the weight through space. How can this command and control be displayed? Easily, actually. If you cannot stop the weight from moving at any point through the range of motion, then the weight is too heavy. For example, can you stop a dumbbell at point during a front raise? Or is the dumbbell so heavy that momentum is carrying it through the range of motion? Bruce Lee was a master of this and translated this demand of command and control into his martial arts practices as well.

The second principle to train like the legendary Bruce Lee is contraction creates command. By contracting the muscles following an exercise, there is an opportunity to create a greater mind-muscle connection. With a greater link between the two, you will have greater command over the muscles themselves in their pursuit of growth. Bruce Lee famously did this with pushups where, following a set, he would cross his arms and flex his chest. The good thing is that this can be done with almost any exercise and corresponding muscle group. For example, following a set of curls you would flex your biceps, or lat pulldowns; you would be flexing your back. Apply this technique to your training and see for yourself how you create a better mind-muscle connection to lead to further muscle growth than you previously thought.

Bruce Lee’s third training principle was to create strength by not losing strength. You’ve likely heard me say in the past that to improve performance on an exercise, you have to plug the energy leaks. Bruce Lee had a very similar approach to his training and workouts. This was displayed with his famous fingertip pushups – without creating rigidity and stability throughout the body, the exercise would be near impossible to perform. But this principle applies to more than just fingertip pushups; plugging the energy leaks can be done on so many exercises in so many forms.

Another application of creating strength was Bruce Lee’s inclusion of overcoming isometrics. He commonly did this on the bench press and the squat by pressing the bar against the pins of the rack so that the bar would move no further. Overcoming isometrics is a time-tested lifting technique that has helped to produce great strength results and is something you should look to include in your workouts as well.

To train like Bruce Lee, you have to understand his philosophy on food; being that you are what you eat. Bruce Lee was very conscious of the food that he put in his body and took great care to make sure that he was putting high quality, nutritious food into his system. He famously had an industrial juicer in his home, something unheard of at the time, to help prepare his meals. Bruce also understood the importance of including high quality protein in his meal diet as well. Taking care of what he ate and what he put into his body helped create the body that he sported and the performance to go along with it. I, myself, can’t stress the importance of high quality nutrition if you want to achieve the body you are looking for. Aesthetics or performance, it doesn’t matter; they are going too heavily rely on the food you eat.

The last principle of Bruce Lee’s training and workouts is that your abs should be like steel. While some might focus on their abs solely for appearance, Bruce Lee felt that the core was important for his martial arts performance as well. Thus, he focused on resilience and rigidity in his ab training. One ab exercise that Bruce Lee was famous for performing was the dragon flag, but if that move is too advanced, you can achieve similar results with exercises like the step out and plate drags. In this training principle, it’s important to take note of the obliques, but being able to train them with overload is even better. This can be done easily by hanging from a bar and performing oblique focused exercises there.

If you are looking for a program that will get you looking ripped and athletic like Bruce Lee and puts his training principles into effect, then head on over to athleanx.com via the link below and be sure to check out instant access to all 42 workout programs.

For more videos on workouts and diets like Bruce Lee’s, be sure to subscribe to this channel here on YouTube using the link below and make sure to turn to turn on your notifications so that you never miss a new video when it’s published.

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    36 replies to "Bruce Lee Workout (SECRETS REVEALED!)"

    • ATHLEAN-X™

      *THE GIVEAWAY IS BACK* – I’m giving away my brand new complete 90 Day Beaxst PPL program to 40 lucky clickers within the first hour this video is published! Remember, this is NOT THE FIRST 40, but those randomly selected within the first hour the video is published. Click the link to see if you’ve won. No strings attached! Clicking twice does nothing. Only one entry per video. Remember to watch to the end for more workouts.
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      If you don’t win, no worries, you’re not going away empty handed. Just be sure you have your notifications turned on so you can get to my next video quickly and try again. Good luck and thanks for being a loyal subscriber…

      • Werber Guerrero

        Do you jean claude van damme next !!

      • Sander S.

        Jeff! There is a highly valuable video on biological process of growing muscles made made Institute of Human Anatomy channels.

        And there are presented facts from researches that for muscle Growth you Need Trainings AND Testosterone!

        So if a person has testosterone deficiency it will affect the muscle growth directly.

        Please, make a video on this topic 👏 people must know why they couldn’t achieve what they want and define a potential health problem in them.

      • Galahast

        @Thatwik Confidence Yes, I won a one month program a couple of years ago.

      • nobailjustjail

        Would be good if you did a video attempting all of Bruce lees hardest bodyweight exercises. He had a few incredibly challenging ones (elevated V sits for extended periods are another). Even you would probably struggle with them, but that just goes to show how great Bruce Lee was.

      • Habib Mokhtari

        A loyal sub just like me 😁

    • Jeffrey Charbonneau

      Man his work out videos were crazy. Bruce was a beast!

    • Woodbro Chillson

      Bruce Lee was a beast, thanks for covering this Jeff. Nobody does it better than you!

    • Jared Jordan

      This is the perfect blend of amazing information with just enough entertainment to keep me riveted from the beginning to the end. You crushed this guys!

    • InStrong Workout

      This man was my hero in the childhood. Glad to see you made a bideo about his workout. Actually he wasone of those old school athlets who made me to go into sport and now I even trying to make some workout videos even if it’s not so good enough yet. i complitely grateful that i stand on a right way thanks to the legendary people like Bruce

      • Sadullo Khojiboev

        Are you talking about Jeff 😂

      • Masher Basher

        I would learn Muay Thai , Boxing and Judo just to be a bit like Bruce … But Time doesn’t go backwards

    • EZ Target

      I gotta admit placing a bar underneath something that can’t move but keep pushing into it is actually really intelligent, definitely adding this to my workout

      • Feratiger

        Get under your car and push up 😂

      • Kristoffer Miller

        Same here bro. Great idea

    • Kristoffer Miller

      I’m grateful for this video. Bruce Lee was so much more than a great martial artist but also a brilliant philosopher. I trained WC and JKD and man I’ve never been so humbled. Keep up the great content sir!

    • Masher Basher

      “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” – Bruce Lee

    • Joshua Melby

      Been watching this channel for years. Applying the lessons to my daily routine and workouts. Awesome!

    • Paul Yiu's Travelogue

      Even after 50 years of his passing, people of Hong Kong, myself included; still admire his achievements, and in awe of his influence in the film industry. He is a true legend.

      • Brodie Stephens

        People all over the world, man!! I’m a white Australian 40-year-old man…. and Bruce Lee is my fukkin hero!!

      • R

        Not just Hong Kong. Bruce Lee was internationally, admired and loved.

    • Ethan Byrne

      Love Bruce Lee! He’s been one of my main sources of inspiration for a while now. Thanks for showing us how the legend approached training.

    • Jeremy Horne

      I’ve started incorporating your tricep work out in to my full body work out. Incredible results so far. I perform the barbell extension (bench) crikey it really does the job! Decided to include an arm day with your 100 rep exercises so on one of my rest days I can destroy my arms 🙂

    • Patrick Ryce

      “Empty your mind. Be formless. Shapeless. Like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” ~Bruce Lee

      • Mr. Loowiz

        Do you know the meaning of that?

      • Marco DeVito

        @Mr. Loowiz conform

      • AnAwakenedPanda

        ​@Mr. Loowiz adapt. It’s a fighting philosophy.

    • The Void

      50 years later, this man is still being talked about.
      If Bruce (and Brandon) were alive today, they would’ve love to have guest starred in this episode: like father…like son. 🥹
      RIP to both legends! 🥋🥋

      • Matt Nobrega

        That would have been awsome to see a father and son martial arts action film 🤯👍

    • Linton Rentfro

      Make this part of a series. Break down all the great tips and techniques from the best athletes. Great stuff.

    • Paul

      Thanks Jeff!
      100% agreed! I started incorporating much of what Jeff discussed about Bruce’s exercises and diet a few months ago. Lifting less, but incorporating multiple muscle groups for each exercise and almost always pausing throughout and at the end of each rep with 100% intensity and isometric control. This along with quality controlled core work has greatly increased my overall musculature and I’m making gains that I’ve never seen before.

      It’s a whole new level of working out!

      Definitely not easy!!! I have to mentally prepare for each workout, but so worth it!!
      Bruce was way ahead of his time! #Legend

    • Hi Mynameis

      One thing I have also always said about the weights in the card. The date says 1965, this was relatively early in his lifting. His strength didn’t peak until something around the Big Boss which was around 5 or 6 years later. A lot can be gained in that time. I bet his numbers in 1970 were much higher.

    • Mrs. Boots - Workouts!

      Thank you for the inspiration!! I am not yet ready to give up my cheesecake and pies yet.. I do Abs & Core pretty much daily, and I was able to get rid of some of my midsection fat 🙂

    • FREETROLLINGS

      2:05 “Lift What Can Be Lifted”
      2:20 ROM/TUT
      2:50 Yielding Isometric
      3:40 “Contraction Creates Command”
      4:07 Intra-set
      5:21 “Create Strength By Not Losing Strength”
      6:08 Plug Energy Leaks
      7:50 Overcoming Isometric
      8:25 “You Are What You Eat”
      10:00 “Abs Should Be Like Steel”

      • Jack Bean

        Wow , looking good for your age. It’s funny how many people come on YouTube pretending that they workout and lift heavy weights but have no videos of themselves. You are proof that you can lift weights for a long time.

    • Andrae Gregoire

      Jeff and Jesse have been consistent in the high quality of the videos since pretty much since the beginning, but this was the best video they made in a long time in terms of information. Loved this video, never unsubscribing

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