How to Get Bruce Lee Like Strength Without Ever Going to a Gym

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless

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 w
ater, my friend.
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a paragon of cool and an icon of the ultimate bad-ass. Not only we
re his martial arts skills incredible, but he had such an impressive physique th
at even bodybuilders in the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger admired him.
What s more impressive is that Bruce trained his body without ever stepping into a
gym and with very little use of weights or machines.
Here are just a few of Lee s physical feats:
Performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger.
Could hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.
Could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight usi
ng chopsticks.
Could break wooden boards 6 inches (15 cm) thick.
Performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.
While you may not get to Bruce Lee s level overnight, you can start getting in sha
pe without the use of a lot of fancy (and expensive) equipment. You can do it fr
om the comfort of your own home, in a space as large as a bathroom.
Part of the reason I started training without a gym was because I began training
in Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee s method of martial arts). But I also got tired of pay
ing monthly gym dues. At the time, I was looking for things I could cut out of m
y monthly budget to save a little extra money.
I thought about getting rid of my gym membership altogether, but I didn t want to
sacrifice my health or physical fitness. So I found another way. For months, I h
aven t had a gym membership, yet I m getting stronger and faster than I ve ever been i
n my life.
You don t have to buy lots of weights or machines, either. The most expensive equi
pment you ll need (a simple doorway pull-up bar) will cost no more than $35.00.
Bruce Lee was a big proponent of holistic or total fitness. His workouts include
d strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility training.
Here s just a few of the ways you can start getting stronger, faster and more tone
d without ever stepping into a gym:
Calisthenics. There are so many different bodyweight exercises out there, but we l
l start with the basics. For the lower body: lunges and squats are a good start.
For upper body: pull-ups, push-ups, and shoulder press ups. For your core: crun
ches, chops, and reverse crunches will get you going. What s great about bodyweigh
t exercises is that they build functional strength. They re 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: The Ultimate Guide to Bodyweight Tra
ining: 100 Killer Resources and for an awesome list of bodyweight exercises with
illustrations check out Combat Fitness. Bonus: Top 10 Best Bodyweight Exercises
for Advanced and Beginners.
Isometric exercises. These are basic bodyweight exercises, but where you hold yo
ur body in a static position. Examples of these are the frog sit, v-sit, horse s
tance, hanging from a pull-up bar, and the plank. Calisthenic exercises will imp

rove muscle strength over a range of motion, but isometric exercises are great f
or joint and stabilizing strength.
Range of motion and flexibility. The best exercise I ve found for range of motion
and flexibility is yoga. The best thing about yoga is that no equipment is requi
red and you can find tons of free resources online for yoga routines. Check out
Anmol Mehta s Yoga Illustrations to get you started.
Balance. Balance is the ability to keep your equilibrium when your center of gra
vity is thrown off-balance. There are many ways you can practice balance every d
ay (we won t get into tight rope walking here). When you re putting on your shoes or
getting dressed, do it on one foot. Walk on the curb and try to walk in a strai
ght line without stumbling. Or if you re really ambitious, there s always pogo stick
ing and unicycling.
Dynamic exercise. Dynamic exercise is anything where you re not performing routine
after routine. Things are in flux and constantly changing. You re moving in more
natural movements, rather than continuous repetition of fixed patterns. I recent
ly started doing Jeet Kune Do in the park every weekend. It s a great way to get a
good work out and learn self defense. Not to mention, practicing martial arts t
ends to make you inspired to further pursue and achieve higher levels of physica
l fitness. If you re not into martial arts, you can always pick up a sport like te
nnis, handball, basketball, or take dance classes. Do whatever you re naturally dr
awn to. Or if you struggle with seeing fitness as an enjoyable activity, you mig
ht consider getting a Wii Fit.
There s a lot of other opportunities for exercise that don t include a gym that I ha
ven t listed here. Hiking, jogging, skiing, yardwork The list could go on. Just use
your imagination. Make it fun and change it up. That s the great thing about exer
cising without a gym, there s so much to choose from.
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 m there, t
here s not a lot else I can do other than work out. But at home, there s always dist
raction, 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 b
e physically fit. While you might not have this problem, I thought it only fair
to be upfront about this issue.
The other motivator for me to work out from home besides saving money
was the va
riety of workouts. There s just so many more options with bodyweight exercises tha
n machines. You can always do something to further challenge yourself. If push-u
ps 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 (ins
anely difficult).
Attaining Bruce Lee like fitness isn t 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!)
Tap into your own curiosity and make fitness enjoyable. Challenge yourself to ne
w levels of fitness. Go beyond what you think you can do.
If 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 p
lateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.
Bruce Lee