According to various sources on the Internet, a 1996 article in Iron Man magazine revealed Bruce Lee’s workout. In addition to cardio and karate, Lee lifted weights three times a week and performed the following routine:
Clean and press 2″ x 8″.
Squat 2 x 12
2 x 8 iron pullovers
Bench presses 2 x 6
Bonjour 2 x 8
2 x 8 curls
Unfortunately, he injured his back on Good Morning, nearly ruining his career. Other than that, his weight training was a success as he is credited with helping him add 30 pounds of solid muscle to his relatively small frame.
Although Lee is the most famous martial artist of all, the most powerful man may be Masutatsu Aoyama. Therefore, it will be interesting to compare Lee’s workout with Oyama’s.
Karate Bull Fighter
Oyama was one of the first to bring karate to America and the founder of the Kyokushin style of karate. His 1958 classic “What Is Karate?” It was one of the first books written in English on the subject, and was designed to make the subject more accessible to Westerners.
Oyama was initially known for stunts such as karate-style bullfighting. Unlike Mexican bullfighters, he would wrestle the bull to the ground and break one of its horns. (He was not very popular among animal rights activists in Tokyo.)
Oyama strength training
According to Aoyama’s 1958 book, strength and speed are more important than karate skill, and speed is more important than strength. He also said that it is very important to practice jumping.
Here are some of the recommendations he made in What is Karate? (It does not give an exact workout.)
Running – 4 km per day
Skipping rope – 20 minutes a day
Dumbbell arm curl (shoulder press?) – 200 times
Dips – 100 times
Push-ups (with an overhand grip) – 300 times
Incline push-ups – 100 times
Side jump kick over 4 feet jumping horse
Incline dumbbell bench press
Exercises that require a partner:
Hitting bag with upper elbow and side elbow – 200 times each
Practice the jumping bag kick
Neck exercises (with partner)
Leg curl (squat with partner on your back)
Back and abdominal exercises with a partner
Elsewhere in the book, Oyama said he would bench press 175 pounds 500 times a day.
Then there are karate-specific exercises such as hitting straws and exercises dedicated to plank and stone-breaking abilities. All this in addition to practicing forms, sparring, etc.
Compare to me and Aoyama
Now, what strikes me as the primary difference between Lee’s and Oyama’s workout styles is size. Lee’s weight-training routine is relatively short, and he avoids heavy lifting on martial arts training days.
While Lee might do an exercise for 2 sets of 8 reps (which is fairly typical), Oyama would do it for hundreds of reps. Obviously, Aoyama’s method is a very time-consuming approach that requires a lot of dedication.
If you look at the photos of these men, they have completely different structures. For Lee, his training goal was apparently to add size. Before weight training, he only weighed 135 pounds, and added 30 pounds of solid muscle.
Oyama, on the other hand, is clearly a chubby fellow, and in his book he talks about losing weight during periods of intense training. Judging from his photos with other people, I’d say he was probably a little taller than me (who was 5′ 8″). Although Aoyama was of average height, he didn’t look like a small man when standing next to professional wrestlers, boxers, and American strongmen.
Possible conclusions
The point is not to compare them by saying one is better than the other. I wonder what influenced their training style on their appearance and how much it was just genetic.
In any case, if Oyama struggled to keep his weight down, it appears that high-volume training helped him achieve it. On the other hand, it seems like Lee was naturally skinny and wanted to increase the training weight (maybe it would look better on camera). Too much volume may be counterproductive to this goal.
So perhaps the lesson from this is that if you want to lose weight while getting stronger at the same time, it might be worth considering an old-fashioned high-volume workout routine, assuming you can do that kind of dedication. On the other hand, if your goal is to look like Bruce Lee… well, all I can say is “good luck”!
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