The Impact Bruce Lee Had on Martial Arts | Teen Ink

The Impact Bruce Lee Had on Martial Arts

March 12, 2019
By GledisG GOLD, Tirana, Other
GledisG GOLD, Tirana, Other
15 articles 0 photos 12 comments

“Those who are unaware they are walking in darkness, will never seek the light” is one of the most powerful quotes Lee Jun-Fan, professionally known as Bruce Lee, has said. One of the meanings of this quote could be “Those who are unaware they are doing bad, will never seek to do something good”. In my opinion, Bruce Lee had a huge impact on Martial Arts.

Bruce Lee was born on 27th November, 1940. He is often regarded as the best Martial Artist the Earth had to offer. Because of how good of a Martial Artist he was, Hollywood hired him to play a leading role in many movies such as Enter the Dragon, The Game of Death, and Fists of Fury. Bruce was also the founder of Jeet Kune Do, which is "The way of the intercepting fist."                                                                                                   

When Bruce Lee became famous, everyone was motivated to become a Martial Artist as well. Because of that, Bruce Lee opened three schools. One in San Francisco, one in Hong Kong, and one in Seattle. Before accepting a student, Bruce Lee would enqurie the reason why they wanted to learn Martial Arts. The reason is because he wouldn’t accept anyone that wanted to master martial arts for bad purposes. Something really important that Bruce Lee told his students was that if they have their own students, they must to teach them what they discovered themselves and not what he’d taught them. In one of his interviews, Bruce Lee states that Martial Arts is a way by expressing yourself. What he meant by “expressing yourself” was that a real Martial Artist, like him, mastered Martial Arts because they want to test how great they can become by pushing their bodies to surpass their human limits. After Bruce Lee became famous, many people would want to challenge him. They would tap their foot on the ground and then go to attack him. The tap on the ground was really important because that’s how you would challenge someone.

As mentioned before, Bruce Lee starred in many movies but the most famous ones are Way of the Dragon, Game of Death, The Big Boss, Fists of Fury, and Enter the dragon. Being the greatest Martial Artist, Bruce Lee had an incredible speed. In order for film producers to see his movement, they had to get 32 frp cameras, put the movie in slow motion, and tell Bruce Lee to be slower. One really dangerous thing that Bruce Lee did was the removal of his sweat glands from armpit. The reason for this was because he didn’t want to sweat while making his movies.

Bruce Lee’s training was very dangerous. Before doing it, he would have a really good warm up. One day, he skipped his warm up and went straight to the real training. He lifted a weight that was about 100 pounds. Because he skipped his warm up, he couldn’t keep the weight for too long. He started bending. Luckily, he found a way and put the weight down. He got sent immediately to the hospital. When the doctors saw him, they said that he was really close to being paralyzed. Sadly, the doctors said that he will never be able to do Martial Arts anymore. They told him that he would have to stay in bed and have as little movement as possible. Bruce Lee did as he was told. During that time, Bruce Lee would read books about Martial Arts because he wanted to learn new moves and much more. After about six months, Bruce Lee was able to walk again. Not only that, he also got faster and stronger than before. Surprisingly, he managed to prove the doctors wrong.

July 20th, 1973, was the day when Bruce Lee died. He was at the age of 32 and died from Cerebral Edema. Cerebral Edema, or brain swelling, is a really dangerous disease because it can lead to loss of memory, it can disable your ability to think and sometimes can lead to death. When affected by Cerebral Edema, fluid starts creating in your brain. The reason why Bruce Lee was affected by Cerebral Edema was because he took a painkiller called Equagesic. The reason why this painkiller caused Cerebral Edema to Bruce Lee is still unknown.

Bruce Lee’s quotes were really motivating. Most of them had a deep meaning. One of his most famous quotes is “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” The meaning of this quote is “Don’t try to be the best at everything, but try to be the best at one specific thing”. The reason why Bruce Lee says that he is scared from the person that has practiced one kick 10,000 times is because that person has mastered that kick really well, while the person that knows 10,000 kicks hasn’t mastered them. “Knowing is not enough; We must apply. Willing is not enough; We must do” is another really famous quote of Bruce Lee. In other words “If you know how to do something, do it. If you are willing to do something, don’t just think about it, try to do it”. Bruce Lee’s third most famous quote is “Using no way as way; having no limitation as limitation”. What Bruce Lee meant by “Using no was as a way” was that you should use no style of fighting as a style of fighting. In other words, there is no style of fighting in a battle. “Having no limitation as limitation” is the second part of the quote. Bruce Lee thought that there is no such thing as limitation, which, according to him, your body doesn’t have a limit and you can get really strong. The most famous quote that Bruce Lee ever said has to be “Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and 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”. The meaning of this quote is that in a fight, you cannot use any fighting styles because they don’t exist. In a fight, you should fit with the environment and your rival’s movement and skills.

In conclusion Bruce Lee changed everyone's perspective on Martial Arts, and motivated many people to practice Martial Arts. Even nowadays, Bruce Lee is the motivation of many people such as Chuck Norris and Jackie Chan. Bruce Lee will always be remembered as the legend of Martial Arts.



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