Bruce Lee had the fastest kick in the world according to experts. It was said he could punch or kick you so fast you would never see it.
Contained in the pages of Bruce Lee’s definitive work on martial arts (the Tao of JEET KUNE DO) are secrets regarding his method of training for speed.
It was said that Lee could hit you with a punch or kick so fast – you would never see it coming. After having personally reviewed over 100 hours of videos of Bruce Lee in movies and exhibitions, I certainly believe that is true myself.
See video: Bruce Lee – Fastest Kicks ever seen in the world – Time frame by frame http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9NAps17C9I
OK, so what made him so fast?
Well it turn out that one of his famous training methods for developing speed was “shadowboxing” – of all things.
Shadowboxing is an exercise used in the training for combat sports , especially, as its name implies, in boxing . It is used mainly to prepare the muscles before the person training engages in stronger physical activity. In shadowboxing, only one person is required to participate; the participant throws punches at no one in particular. As an art form it is thousands of years old.
For those who don’t know “shadowboxing” today is somewhat of a lost art form in many respect.
I mean, you don’t see many people practicing shadowboxing in gyms today for whatever reason. This is, of course very unfortunate.
But for Bruce Lee, who is perhaps the greatest practitioner of martial arts in the world, shadowboxing was extremely important and he placed a lot of emphasis on that as well.
Here is exactly what he said regarding that subject:
“Shadowboxing is a good agility exercise as well as a method for building up speed. Keep your mind on the job! Imagine that your worst enemy, if you happen to have one, is there in front of you and go out to give him all you’ve got!”
A lot of it, he says was “mental” not just physical:
“Use your imagination to the up-most, try to anticipate the moves your phantom rival will endeavor to put across and work yourself up into a real fighting frame of mind”, Lee said.
Besides “speed” shadowboxing also help develop stamina and wind (breathing).
“Shadowboxing helps wind, speed, gives ideas and helps the mix for boxing moves ready for use when they are most wanted”, said Bruce Lee (Source: Tao of JEET KUNE DO, pg 58).
See video: Bruce Lee in action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QHnYzfylhA