A DAY WITH BRUCE LEE
(exert from an article about one man’s experience training with Bruce Lee)
(exert from an article about one man’s experience training with Bruce Lee)
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Bruce had me up to three miles a day, We’d run the 3 miles
in 21 or 22 minutes. Just under 8 minutes a mile [Note: when running on his own
in 1968, Lee would get his time down to 6.5 minutes per mile]. So this morning
he said to me “We’re going to go 5.” I said, “Bruce, I can’t go 5. I’m a
helluva lot older than you are, and I can’t do 5.”
He said, “When we get to 3, we’ll shift gears and it’s only 2 more and you’ll do it.” I said “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.” So we get to 3, we go into the 4th mile and I’m okay for 3 or 4 minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,” –and we’re still running-”if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.”
He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full 5 miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, “Why did you say that?” He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”
He said, “When we get to 3, we’ll shift gears and it’s only 2 more and you’ll do it.” I said “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.” So we get to 3, we go into the 4th mile and I’m okay for 3 or 4 minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,” –and we’re still running-”if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.”
He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full 5 miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, “Why did you say that?” He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”
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