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Before His Mysterious Death, Bruce Lee Made a ‘Great’ Bodybuilding Confession as Arnold Schwarzenegger Featuring Magazine Became His Guide

Published 10/18/2022, 3:30 PM EDT

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Bruce Lee paved the path for MMA and is rightly called so ‘Father of MMA’. While it’s true that he was not the first one to merge multiple aspects of martial arts and create his own style. But he propagated and built his own philosophy, ‘Jeet Kune Do’, on a level that no one ever did. His multifaceted approach isn’t only limited to MMA. Further, the legendary star also shared a fascination with bodybuilding.

In a recent interview, the famed author and bodybuilding advocate John Little remembered Bruce Lee. While discussing Bruce Lee on the ‘Bodybuilding Legends Podcast’, Little touched upon different aspects of Bruce Lee’s life.

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He then talked about how much Bruce Lee loved bodybuilding. Additionally, he described how Lee used bodybuilding exercises and techniques to develop his physique.

The host, Johan Hansen, started the conversation by mentioning that despite Bruce Lee’s brief life, his physique went through a commendable transformation. He, following this, mentioned that Lee’s physique improved when he shifted places from Kato.

Further, he remarked that his physique improvement continued till he got into martial art movies that were made in Hong Kong. The point of reference is the most popular movie that propelled him to world celebrity status, ‘Enter the Dragon’.

Bruce Lee and his bodybuilding fascination

This led Hansen to speculate and raise an interesting question to the renowned writer. Thus, he asked, “Do you think that was a direct result of him being interested in bodybuilding and buying the magazines?”

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John Little implied that Hansen wasn’t wrong. He replied, “He [Bruce Lee] started buying the magazines in the mid to late 60s”. The notable magazines that he bought included ‘Strength and ‘Health, and ‘Muscular Development.’

Little continued on the same topic and revealed that Bruce Lee used to clip out the articles and, more precisely, training articles of ‘Ironman’. Ironman magazine is the oldest fitness magazine still in publication and it featured Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jay Cutler, and more such bodybuilders.

He recalled that Lee kept a gray folder where he kept all his clipped articles. He added, “I really went through it once and made a list of what all the articles were.”

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Little asserted that Lee was hooked into bodybuilding. Hence, he concluded, “He [Bruce Lee] was in with both feet and bodybuilding. He thought bodybuilding was great.”

However, John Little maintained that bodybuilding was neither his goal nor that he had the genetics to be huge. But, according to Little, Lee was proud of his physique.

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What do you think of Bruce Lee’s obsession with bodybuilding? Let us know in the comments below.

Watch this story: Bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger built compared to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan

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Written by:

Rohit Lohan

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Rohit Lohan is a UFC writer at EssentiallySports. After completing his undergraduate as a History major, he is currently pursuing LLB. Rohit is a big MMA fan and has been following UFC since 2017.
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Edited by:

Vineet Nandwana