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The Art of Expressing the Human Body, Volume 4 (Bruce Lee Library)

The Art of Expressing the Human Body, Volume 4 (Bruce Lee Library)

List Price: $18.95
Your Price: $12.89
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 3 4 5 6 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This is a book that I have been waiting for -- for over 25 years! I was not disappointed. For anyone who wants to get into awesome shape (and you don't have to be a martial artist)or who simply wants to learn more about how the world's greatest martial artist trained, this is a must-have book! John Little has done a scholarly job of locating and editing so much information. His writing (as always) is informative and provocative. Get this book while you can (all of my local bookstores can't keep it in stock).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great book on Bruces workout and martial arts routine
Review: This book is mainly about Bruce's weight lifting routine as well as his martial arts routine. I highly recommend this for the reader who is an avid martial artist and wishes to train the way Bruce did.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Book For The Bruce Lee Fan
Review: John Little delivers exactly what he sets out to in this book, which is every ounce of knowledge and documentation he could find regarding the specific conditioning methods of Bruce Lee.
Some could argue that the author "fills in some blanks" on his own, and surely he does a bit, but as a martial artist and fan of Lee myself, I feel that what little there is of this in the book is all in the true spirit of Bruce, and he would have concurred.
This book might be a tad longer than need be, and this series of books might be a tad larger than it need be, but that's nitpicking. John Little has worked his butt off and done us a great service in presenting all of this material in such a fashion. Thanks, John. Thanks, Bruce.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Super Martial Arts Dude
Review: Bruce was developing his workout to gain the maximum in strength, speed, reflex, endurance and striking power in order to always have an edge over his streetfighting opponants. His superhero-like physique was a side effect of this combat training. Since he was always being challenged to streetfighting duels (and eagerly excepting them) he wasn't interested in the concept of "overtraining." He just wanted to maintain his ultimate fighter status. I doubt he would have stopped training so intensely even if he had lived up into the era of the Rest-As-Part-Of-Your-Workout. Yes, "a reader." Streetfighting was Bruce Lee's sport. He was bored by the traditional fighting sports of his day. Too many rules. He grew up as a streetfighter on the rooftops of Hong Kong where anything goes, so his duels on his movie sets was the "sport" he trained for. This book did a really good job at showing Bruce Lee's focus and determination at putting together an effective workout system designed to turn a nearly obsessive man into a superfighter.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a reader is a jackass
Review: Well I think that this is a great book and it teachces alot about fitess and being in shape.It is to bad bad that some jackass had to say that some people like BL was a amateur at bodybuilding.This book teaches how to be more endure and having a
good looking body. The book will also tell you how to do the exercise Lee did. Soon your body will be in great shape.Do not
think that what a reader said.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: awesome book
Review: amazing book with a lot of info about the legends training and know -how. definitely would recommend this book to a martial artist trying to better himself physically . amazing conditioning exercises that work. too bad some freaks like that imbecile "a reader"(the art of what?) who gave such a bad review of this valuable piece of knowledge spends way too much time reading the dictionary and not enough training( or getting laid). dont be swayed by these unintelligent remarks. go buy the book . you wont regret it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The art of what?
Review:
As I have written elsewhere (see reviews of "The Tao of Gung Fu" and "Striking Thoughts") the fundamental problem with these series is the editor's shameless idolatry of BL, rendering the books hardly readable for anyone who doesn't believe the late action star was the pinnacle of the martial arts' world. This time, Mr. Little attempts to investigate the purely physical side of BL (he insists there were others too but fails to make his point convincing) demonstrating once again the usual verbal acrobatics comparing BL to Olympic athletes etc. I understand that the word "fan" probably comes from the word "fanatic", so I suppose Mr. Little hasn't seen the bodies of, say, Olympic gymnasts lately -if he had, most of the comparisons would evaporate since these people usually share BL's vital stats and their bodies are (a) much better looking and, (b) functioning in the real world (i.e. not in the movies). Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but function is much less so. Oh, and BTW, if you want to see what really huge forearms look like on a real martial artist, check aikido teacher Tohei Koichi in the 1960s, when he was in his mid 40s.

Others have mentioned that the book is not a bodybuilding guide but a book on what (Mr. Little believes) BL did to build his body. Ahem, yes, but who would buy the book if he didn't mean to try these things out and create a BL body for himself? So it actually *is* a book on bodybuilding and the reader/buyer should view it as such. Is it a *good* book on bodybuilding? Well, maybe, if one chooses to forget that 30 years have passed since and exercise, like everything else, has progressed. Remember that the methods described here date back to the mid-60s when the comic books were full of Charles Atlas ads, Arnold hadn't hit the scene and steroids were unregulated and aplenty. If one tries the poorly researched improvisations Mr. Little supposes BL used, the results are probably going to be the same for him as they were for BL himself (i.e. overexercise, burnout and possible health damages). I'm not a doctor (or play one on TV) but the so-called programs the book "unveils" are the common haphazard experiments most teenagers (or teenager minded) "athletes" try when they want to build their muscles.

Of course the book has the usual faults (inconsistencies, inaccuracies, hyperbole etc.) but I guess the BL crowd will bypass those staying blind to the fact their idol suffers once again a damage being quoted as saying banalities oozing syntax errors. The basic problem is that the methodologies presented in this tome are contrary to both Asian philosophy (martial arts or other) and contemporary training theories and practices. The idea of adding arbitrarily more and more exercise to an already heavy training program without professional advice, radically changing programs every few months and training without rest, begs for health risks and history has shown BL suffered the worst of them. Add to these an almost complete lack of nutritional understanding and support (dropping all kinds of chemo/natural protein in a glass of milk and gulping two such glasses a day is not good for you, whatever your neighborhood iron-pumping coach says) and you have the worst squared.

The only interesting thing in this book, again for anyone interested enough to bypass the BS is that it discloses, albeit unintentionally, (a) how BL really built his body and (b) what he probably really died from. Considering that those days steroids weren't even thought as being bad for your health, that amateur bodybuilders like Lee popped them like M&Ms and that BL was very close to the local bodybuilding scene, a possible answer to both questions springs to mind. Alas what this book doesn't disclose, is the answer to the question that torments many real life martial arts' people, namely, what sport BL was an athlete in. Last time I checked, flexing your pecs and beating extras in front of a camera wasn't a sport, Olympic or other. Is it now? Darn IOC! I wonder what's it going to be next? Fashion modeling?

PS
Fame does indeed bring out jealousy to some people. It also brings out blindness to many, many more...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Book For The Bruce Lee Fan
Review: John Little delivers exactly what he sets out to in this book, which is every ounce of knowledge and documentation he could find regarding the specific conditioning methods of Bruce Lee.
Some could argue that the author "fills in some blanks" on his own, and surely he does a bit, but as a martial artist and fan of Lee myself, I feel that what little there is of this in the book is all in the true spirit of Bruce, and he would have concurred.
This book might be a tad longer than need be, and this series of books might be a tad larger than it need be, but that's nitpicking. John Little has worked his butt off and done us a great service in presenting all of this material in such a fashion. Thanks, John. Thanks, Bruce.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Inspiring...
Review: I just want to say this book is great!sure it hasn't descriptive photos,this book wasn't entended to become a book in the first place!...so to have it is already great...plus the knowledge in this book is very inspiring!and you can not take it's value from it!i love Bruce Lee he is an example for me not only as martial artist but as a human being if everybody was a little bit like him we would be in a better world!...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This book will affect the way you think about training
Review: As has been said already this is not a revolutionary book in terms of the exercises given or the routines. The exercises are standard ones. This book is interesting for 2 reasons.

1) It is inspiring to hear of Bruce Lee's attitude to training in terms of the quantity of training he did and the amount of effort he put in.

2) More importantly it gives an insight into his philosophy that he applied to his training. The book basically says that Bruce was constantly learning and adapting. So to follow the book word for word is to actually betray the spirit of Jeet Kune Do (and Bruce Lee). Bruce would certainly hope that readers would read the book, absorb the useful information and discard the rest. For example I have found some of his techniques on stretching a bit dated so I don't use them, but the use of an ankle-strap/pully has revolutionised my kicking regime.

This is why I would recommend this book.


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