I have heard, from several different, but possibly unreliable, sources. Bruce Lee, with his fist, could break the sound barrier. Like a whip, he could “throw” his arm, and pop the air. Is there any truth to this? or have nay of you heard this?..
[sub]Note to Moderators: I had no clue what forum to put this one in[/sub]
It’s complete crap. At its fastest, his fist might be going 1/20 that speed, though.
That’s a bit of an exaggeration, actually. He might be able to get his fist up close to 100 mph, I’d think, since a major league pitcher can do that. But there’s nothing magical about Bruce Lee that could make him do a whole lot better.
I’ve never heard that rumor before, but that would be impossible for anyone… The sound barrier is around 750 mph. Not even the great Bruce Lee was that fast.
Bruce Lee was not able to break the sound barrier with his fist, but he was supposedly able to break a board with his fist from only 1 inch away. Most martial artists need a few feet so that their fist can gain speed and thus inertia for breaking the board. Bruce Lee was able to get his fist up to speed with only 1 inch of space. Many claim it had to do with his channeling of “Chi” or some mysterious secret, but the fact is that he was in excellent shape and was a nut about excercising. He was also very VERY in tune with his body and exhibited a discipline and control that is very rarely matched by anyone.
Bruce Lee was the subject of a biographical term paper I had to write when I was in High School. I learned a lot about him and why he started his own style (Jeet Kune Do).
Dragonwyr, I dunno about a few feet . . . when I was in training in Tae Kwon Do I think I needed about two feet. An experienced martial artist would need less. But yeah, Bruce Lee was something completely different.
"I learned a lot about him and why he started his own style (Jeet Kune Do)."
“The fight took too long. Too much classical mess; too many fixed positions and wing chung.”
Sorry, had to quote from “Dragon”.
But yeah . . . um, the notion of Bruce Lee breaking the sound barrier is a biiiit of a stretch. Consider what effect that would have on his body.
From some books and tv biographies I’ve seen of him, his real-life striking speeds were too fast for good fight scenes; he had to slow down quite a bit for the camera and change his style somewhat on screen so the audience could see what he was doing. I have seen some sequences where he appears to be moving at full speed; check out the scenes in “Enter The Dragon” when he and Bob Wall (O’Hara) cross arms in the tournament - they only last a frame or two.
Sound barrier, no… but he WAS fast enough for rumors like that to get started.
Get real. Bruce was fast but no where near that fast.
The one inch punch was something he popularized but doubt if he invented it. It’s used by a lot of Kenpo (Ed Parker’s) people. You can watch slow mo’ footage of his one inch demo’s. He managed to make his whole body move and focus that force into his fist, thus the famous one inch punch.
Not sure if they slowed his moves down for the movies though.
Not to compare the two, but when Jet Li filmed Lethal Weapon 3, they had to choreograph Mel Gibson. Mel was just too slow to even try do any sparring or real live action. Basically, Mel did something like a 5 move sequence. At the same time, Jet Li did something like 20 moves.
The 1" punch really doesn’t have anything to do with speed. Rather, it’s a technique for transferring energy from the body to the end of the fist. By rotating the hips, and then tensing your body at the right moment, the rotational energy in your body gets transferred to the end of your fist.
I watched my sensei break the rib of a 200lb guy by placing his hand ON him (no gap at all) and then ‘punching’ him with this technique. I never managed to develop quite that amount of power, but the technique is rather straightforward.
Having been involved in martial arts for going on 10 years now, I can add somthing to this.
I have seen flashy showboaters do somthing like this by artfully adjusting their gi sleeves. If you do this right, you can make the sleeve make a whip sound when you punch. I was at a workshop where the instructor did this to demonstrate how fast his punches were. He did not take me up on the offer to repeat it without his gi top 
MM
Have you seen the fight scene between Lee and a young Chuck Norris in Return of the Dragon? It mostly kind of sucks-except in the slo-motion replays, they’re mostly going too fast for the viewer to see what’s going on.
I once saw a Japanese Kung Fu movie were they dubbed in whip cracks every time the guy did a martial arts move, what a hoot!
I once saw a Japanese Kung Fu movie were they dubbed in whip cracks every time the guy did a martial arts move, what a hoot!
It’s also worth seeing to witness a 20-something Chuck Norris, complete with hockey-hair and a grotesquely furry chest.
Actually, it’s still a fairly interesting fight to watch. If I had a vid card cable of taking in video feeds, I’d divx the scene from my copy and post it somewhere.
Equally impressive is when Lee punches that guy in “Enter the Dragon” so fast you basically see the guy fall and you see Lee’s fist one place and then another.
A man who would break another man’s rib merely for purposes of exhibition is incorrectly titled “sensei”. The correct title is “thug”.
I’ve seen a “demonstration” film Lee made where he demonstrates a number of punches and kicks by directing them at his much taller partner. Not only were they blindingly fast, but they were stopping barely an inch from his partner’s nose. The guy kept flinching. I’m sure I would have, too.
Both were wearing jackets and ties.
Elucidator: Perhaps you shouldn’t speak quite so harshly without knowing the details. It was a complete accident, my Sensei was mortified, and personally took the guy to the emergency room. He also happens to be one of the gentlest people I know, and a personal role model of mine.
In our school, if a student got in a fight anywhere, he had a lot of explaining to do. If it turned out that the fight was avoidable and especially if our student turned out to have provoked it, he was shown the door. If he was an especially promising student, and the Sensei felt that he was a generally good kid who made a mistake, he was given another chance, but not after being made keenly aware of just how disappointing his actions were.
Would that all Karate schools carry such an attitude.