NUTRITION AND RECOVERY |
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THIS SPREAD : WARNER BROS / GETTY IMAGES ; PHOTOS 12 / ALAMY |
ENDURANCE
In Lee ’ s day , roadwork and a jump rope were the gold standards in cardiovascular training for combat . Although this can still be a way to challenge the body and help a fighter clear his mind , the repetitive pounding can break an athlete down . In its place , I ’ ve used sprints and metabolic circuits designed to increase endurance , maintain strength , and burn fat . These workouts take less time and allow for greater recovery . These circuits also utilize a number of tools that were greatly underutilized in Lee ’ s day , like heavy ropes , an agility ladder , a sandbag , and a slam ball .
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CORE
Lee was a big fan of abdominal work , but in his day , most abdominal exercises like situps and crunches were done for extremely high reps . Lee could often be found banging out hundreds of reps of abdominal work . These reps cost time , and presently there are more efective ways to develop core strength . To increase productivity and recovery , the thousands of body-weight reps Lee performed are replaced with more heavily loaded exercises that require both stability and rotation , helping transfer even more power to punches and kicks .
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Lee took vitamins and ate clean in order to achieve his legendary physique . Yes , he had great muscle definition , but he also had a body weight that fluctuated between 125 and 145 pounds on a 5 ' 7 " frame ; the increase in information about nutrition , supplementation , and recovery would have helped him to pack on more muscle and size today . Lee , the student that he was , would surely have stayed on the cutting edge of this information and taken advantage of the improvements . If he had been able to add supps like creatine and hydrolyzed whey protein to his diet and use current recovery methods , Lee could ’ ve been even sharper . |