Description:

Lee Bruce

Bruce Lee's Original Training Cast Iron Dumbbell Weights

 

Magnificent set of cast iron dumbbells, 5 pounds each, 7.5" long with ovoid ends. Handle states "Martia 5 lbs". High gloss  coated silver exterior, now heavily pitted from use. Personally owned and used by Bruce Lee while training. Accompanied by impeccable provenance having been gifted to Herb Jackson directly by Bruce Lee (Jackson was Lee's original back yard student, close friend and confidant, and took an active role in improving Bruce Lee's training equipment), which was then gifted to Jackson's son by descent. The piece will include a  letter of authenticity from his son, Mark Ashton-Jackson.

 

Bruce Lee, (Lee Jun-fan), was a Hong Kong and American actor, film director, martial artist, martial arts instructor, philosopher, and founder of the martial art Jeet Kune Do, one of the wushu or Kungfu styles. A virtual legend, Bruce Lee began his learning from the late grandmaster Yip Man in the Wing Chun style of Kung Fu, Lee kept progressing until he had formed his own method, opposed to having it considered yet another fixed or patterned martial art. He referred to Jeet Kune Do as "non-classical", suggesting that JKD is a form of Chinese Kung Fu, yet without form. Unlike more traditional martial arts, Jeet Kune Do is not fixed or patterned, and is a philosophy with guiding thoughts. It was named for the Wing Chun concept of interception or attacking while one's opponent is about to attack. Jeet Kune Do practitioners believe in minimal movement with maximum effect.  

 

Lee practiced with numerous different types and weights of dumbbells to build incredible strength. Bruce Lee knew that no martial artist could be their best without proper strength development. However, his experience in that duel, combined with his entry into television and film acting, led Lee to launch a devoted relationship with the iron. His body strength translated into a body so well defined that Joe Weider once described as the most defined he had ever seen!

 

Some of the more phenomenal feats of strength exhibited by Bruce Lee who was 5'8", weighing in at only 140 pounds include:

 

  1. He could easily put one finger into an unopened can of Coca-Cola, at a time when cans were made of steel

 

  1. Lee could hit out the heavy fist of 350 pounds, the boxing champion Muhammad Ali could also hit the same amount of pounds, but Lee was just 130 pounds in weight, while Ali 260 pounds. They were not on the same weight class.

 

  1. He could kick 6 times during one second; His signature move “Skip SideKick” could kick a 200 pounds guy with safeguard armour into the sky. The guy flew 20 meters away and fell into the swimming pool.

 

  1. The data shows that Lee could do around 1500 pushups with both hands; 400 for one hand; 200 for two fingers (ordinary people even cannot support himself) ; 100 for one thumb.

 

  1. Lee once kicked the 135 kilos sand bag to the ceiling, about 5 meters.

 

  1. Lee could take 32 kilos of dumbbell with one hand, stretch arm and remain level for 20 seconds; Lee could hold a 57 kg barbell straight out.

 

  1. He could punch 9 times in just one second, His One Inch Punch could spring a 75kg opponent 5-6 meters away.

 

  1. He could hit out the strength of 1600 pounds with nunchucks.

 

  1. He broke a 45 kilo sand bag with the “side kick”

 

 

In the screenplay of the 1973 Warner Brothers film, Enter The Dragon, when Lee is asked, "What's your style?" Lee replied, "My style?...You can call it the art of fighting without fighting." Bruce believed that kata forms and martial art tournament matches alike (like Karate) were simply "organized despair". He believed that in order to "fully express oneself, one must" "have no limitations" (kata and rigid and non-flowing movements being the limitation). His system was revolutionary, and included all possible forms of strikes: attacks to the groin, finger jab to the eye.

 

The name Jeet Kune Do was often said by Lee to be just a name, and he often referred to it as "the art of expressing the human body" in his writings and in interviews. Through his studies Lee came to believe that styles had become too rigid and unrealistic. He called martial art competitions of the day "dry land swimming". He believed real combat was spontaneous, and a martial artist cannot predict it, but only react to it, and a good martial artist should "be like water"—move fluidly without hesitation.

 

This set of dumbells was used by this master for strength training, and will be accompanied by a detailed letter of authenticity and provenance stating "These dumbells were given directly to Herb Jackson from Bruce Lee. Heb Jackson was a close friend, student and confident of Bruce Lee. Herb Jackson handed this down to his son, Mark Ashton-Jackson" with the Letter of Authenticity noting " … This item was given to my father Herb Jackson as a gift from Bruce Lee in and around 1968. My father Herb Jackson was a very close friend and confidant of Bruce Lee and was also one of his private backyard students in Los Angeles in the mid to late 1960's. This item was used by Bruce Lee and is documented in many photos and magazines. It was a part of Bruce Lee's training regime and helped better him physically. This item is historical in nature and marks a point in time when Bruce Lee was seeking international fame for this martial arts/film career."



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