{"id":869,"date":"2009-03-08T09:46:01","date_gmt":"2009-03-08T14:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bspcn.com\/2009\/03\/08\/bruce-lee-like-strength-without-ever-going-to-a-gym\/"},"modified":"2009-03-08T09:51:32","modified_gmt":"2009-03-08T14:51:32","slug":"bruce-lee-like-strength-without-ever-going-to-a-gym","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/08\/bruce-lee-like-strength-without-ever-going-to-a-gym\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Lee Like Strength Without Ever Going to a Gym"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Written by  <a href=\"http:\/\/zenhabits.net\/2009\/03\/how-to-get-bruce-lee-like-strength-without-ever-going-to-a-gym\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jonathan Mead<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cEmpty your mind, be formless, shapeless &#8211; 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 it in a teapot, it becomes the  teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.\u201d &#8211; <strong>Bruce Lee<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lh4.ggpht.com\/_MsZb8mYFoCs\/SbPYSBNMWKI\/AAAAAAAAFGw\/ufv9DWhQvSg\/s800\/20090307brucelee.jpg\" width=\"306\" height=\"461\" align=\"right\">Bruce Lee was a paragon of cool and an icon of the ultimate bad-ass.  Not only were his martial arts skills incredible, but he had such an  impressive physique that even bodybuilders in the likes of Arnold  Schwarzenegger admired him.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more impressive is that Bruce trained his body without ever  stepping into a gym and with very little use of weights or machines.<\/p>\n<p>Here are just a few of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bruce_Lee#Physical_feats\">Lee\u2019s physical feats<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Performed one-hand push-ups using <em>only the thumb and index finger<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Could hold an elevated v-sit position for 30\u00a0minutes or longer.<\/li>\n<li>Could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in <em>mid-flight<\/em> using chopsticks.<\/li>\n<li>Could break wooden boards 6\u00a0inches (15\u00a0cm) thick.<\/li>\n<li>Performed <strong>50 reps<\/strong> of one-arm chin-ups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While you may not get to Bruce Lee\u2019s level overnight, you can start  getting in shape without the use of a lot of fancy (and expensive)  equipment. You can do it from the comfort of your own home, in a space  as large as a bathroom.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the reason I started training without a gym was because I began training in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sgvjeetkunedo.com\/\">Jeet Kune Do<\/a> (Bruce Lee\u2019s method of martial arts). But I also got tired of paying  monthly gym dues. At the time, I was looking for things I could cut out  of my monthly budget to save a little extra money.<\/p>\n<p>I thought about getting rid of my gym membership altogether, but I  didn\u2019t want to sacrifice my health or physical fitness. So I found  another way. For months, I haven\u2019t had a gym membership, yet I\u2019m  getting stronger and faster than I\u2019ve ever been in my life.<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t have to buy lots of weights or machines, either. The most  expensive equipment you\u2019ll need (a simple doorway pull-up bar) will  cost no more than $35.00.<\/p>\n<p>Bruce Lee was a big proponent of holistic or <em>total fitness.<\/em>His workouts included strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility training.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s just a few of the ways you can start getting stronger, faster and more toned without ever stepping into a gym:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Calisthenics<\/strong>. There are so many different bodyweight exercises out there, but we\u2019ll start with the basics. <strong>For the lower body<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.frixo.com\/sites\/fitness\/exercises\/lunge.html\">lunges<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.frixo.com\/sites\/fitness\/exercises\/squat.html\">squats<\/a> are a good start. <strong>For upper body<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.frixo.com\/sites\/fitness\/exercises\/pullup.html\">pull-ups<\/a>, push-ups, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.frixo.com\/sites\/fitness\/exercises\/handstand.html\">shoulder press ups<\/a>. <strong>For your core<\/strong>: crunches, chops, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.frixo.com\/sites\/fitness\/exercises\/rcrunch.html\">reverse crunches<\/a> will get you going. What\u2019s great about bodyweight exercises is that they build <em>functional<\/em> strength. They\u2019re natural movements you would use in real life  situations like sports, self-defense, gardening, or doing chores. Plus  when you do bodyweight exercises, you force your body to use more  supporting and balancing muscles than you would on machines. For more  bodyweight exercises check out these great resources: <em><a title=\"Permanent Link to The Ultimate Guide to Bodyweight Training: 100 Killer Resources\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalmassagecertification.org\/blog\/2008\/the-ultimate-guide-to-bodyweight-training-100-killer-resources\/\">The Ultimate Guide to Bodyweight Training: 100 Killer Resources<\/a><\/em> and for an awesome list of bodyweight exercises with illustrations check out <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.frixo.com\/sites\/fitness\/exercises.html\">Combat Fitness<\/a><\/em>. <strong>Bonus<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/renegadehealth.com\/blog\/top-10-best-bodyweight-exercises-for-advanced-and-beginners-the-renegade-health-show-episode-104\/\">Top 10 Best Bodyweight Exercises for Advanced and Beginners<\/a>.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>Isometric exercises<\/strong>. These are basic bodyweight exercises, but where you hold your body in a static position. Examples of these are the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lKVPLhdEYvg&#038;feature=PlayList&#038;p=58421987CBCCCACC&#038;index=0\">frog sit<\/a>, v-sit, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MnPmLWZan1g&#038;feature=PlayList&#038;p=58421987CBCCCACC&#038;index=1\">horse stance<\/a>, hanging from a pull-up bar, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MHQmRINu4jU\">plank<\/a>.  Calisthenic exercises will improve muscle strength over a range of  motion, but isometric exercises are great for joint and stabilizing  strength.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>Range of motion and flexibility<\/strong>. The best exercise  I\u2019ve found for range of motion and flexibility is yoga. The best thing  about yoga is that no equipment is required and you can find tons of  free resources online for yoga routines. Check out Anmol Mehta\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/anmolmehta.com\/blog\/category\/yoga\/yoga-illustrations\/\">Yoga Illustrations<\/a> to get you started.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>Balance.<\/strong> Balance is the ability to keep your  equilibrium when your center of gravity is thrown off-balance. There  are many ways you can practice balance every day (we won\u2019t get into  tight rope walking here). When you\u2019re putting on your shoes or getting  dressed, do it on one foot. Walk on the curb and try to walk in a  straight line without stumbling. Or if you\u2019re <em>really<\/em> ambitious, there\u2019s always pogo sticking and unicycling.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>Dynamic exercise<\/strong>. Dynamic exercise is anything  where you\u2019re not performing routine after routine. Things are in flux  and constantly changing. You\u2019re moving in more natural movements,  rather than continuous repetition of fixed patterns. I recently started  doing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sgvjeetkunedo.com\/\">Jeet Kune Do<\/a> in the  park every weekend. It\u2019s a great way to get a good work out and learn  self defense. Not to mention, practicing martial arts tends to make you  inspired to further pursue and achieve higher levels of physical  fitness. If you\u2019re not into martial arts, you can always pick up a  sport like tennis, handball, basketball, or take dance classes. Do  whatever you\u2019re naturally drawn to. Or if you struggle with seeing  fitness as an enjoyable activity, you might consider getting a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00199SYNQ?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=zenhab-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;creativeASIN=B00199SYNQ\">Wii Fit<\/a>.<\/li>\n<p>\n<\/ol>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of other opportunities for exercise that don\u2019t include  a gym that I haven\u2019t listed here. Hiking, jogging, skiing, yardwork\u2026  The list could go on. Just use your imagination. Make it fun and change  it up. That\u2019s the great thing about exercising without a gym, there\u2019s  so much to choose from.<\/p>\n<p>On a side note, I will, however, say that for me, it took a lot more  discipline to work out from home. It was easy for me to just go to the  gym. Once I\u2019m there, there\u2019s not a lot else I can do other than work  out. But at home, there\u2019s always distraction, always other things you  can do besides working out (like laying on the couch or surfing the  internet). For me, practicing martial arts inspires me to be physically  fit. While you might not have this problem, I thought it only fair to  be upfront about this issue.<\/p>\n<p>The other motivator for me to work out from home \u2014 besides saving  money \u2014 was the variety of workouts. There\u2019s just so many more options  with bodyweight exercises than machines. You can always do something to  further challenge yourself. If push-ups are a breeze, you can try doing  them on your fingers or in a close grip (with a medicine ball). If  pull-ups become too easy, train for a one arm pull-up (insanely  difficult).<\/p>\n<p>Attaining Bruce Lee like fitness isn\u2019t just about doing the types  workouts he did and eating the same diet. What made Bruce so great was  his natural curiosity and drive to constantly explore and learn more  about fitness and personal growth. (His personal library contained over  2,000 books!)<\/p>\n<p>Tap into your own curiosity and make fitness enjoyable. Challenge yourself to new levels of fitness. Go beyond what <em>you think<\/em> you can do.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIf you always put limits on everything you do, physical  or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life.  There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay  there, you must go beyond them.\u201d &#8211; <strong>Bruce Lee<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Photo courtesy of <a href=\"http:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/dafongman\/3031589785\/\">CK Image Gallery<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written by Jonathan Mead \u201cEmpty your mind, be formless, shapeless &#8211; 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 it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}