Top 10 Coolest Things About Bruce Lee

The myth is that Bruce Lee was invincible, and never lost a fight in his life. And, in fact, the only real proof to the contrary are tales of fights he lost in his early teen years growing up in Hong Kong – like when he was jumped, beaten and robbed by a gang of boys. Bruce was so embarrassed and upset that he dedicated his time to training to become a martial artist, and we all know how that worked out. Say, wouldn’t that make a great movie?

Not only could Bruce Lee pack a punch during his fights, his dancing shoes packed a punch all their own. He took up cha-cha dancing after he started taking Wing Chun, and he entered a contest when he was just 18-years-old. The end result? He became the 1958 Hong Kong Cha-Cha champion, and when he first travelled to America, he made cash by teaching locals how to dance. And of course, his skill on his feet paid dividends in the martial arts world.

For normal, puny humans, regular heavy punching bags usually weigh around 70lbs each, with some more substantial ones weighing more than twice that at 150lbs. But for a fighter like Bruce Lee, that was hardly any weight at all. In fact, his strikes were so strong that he apparently needed his punching bags to weigh a whopping 300lbs. He also needed those bags to be full of metal; otherwise the bag would be too easy for him to kick clean through.

There are reasons why Bruce Lee’s opponents shouldn’t have let him taste his own blood. Why? Because it made him an even better fighter. While in the middle of a battle in his film “Enter the Dragon,” he licks the blood from one of his wounds and uses that as motivation – we guess – to whoop his opponent. If anything, tasting blood gave Bruce an even bigger advantage against you than he already had, cause no one makes him bleed his own blood.

If you told someone that you thought Bruce Lee was superhuman back in his day, it would be hard even for those who filmed his movies to disagree with you. While filming “The Green Hornet,” his punches and kicks turned out to be so fast that it looked like he hadn’t moved at all. Because of that, his footage needed to be re-filmed at a higher rate so they could capture his awesomeness on camera.

Even while he was eating, Bruce Lee was showing off his out-of-this-world skills. In fact, as a means of improving the quickness of his reflexes, he would take his chopsticks, throw grains of rice in the air, and then catch them mid-flight as they were coming down. And you thought Mr. Miyagi catching flies with chopsticks in “The Karate Kid” was cool.

If there’s anything that should indicate to you just how strong and focused Bruce Lee was, it’s this. His punches were so powerful that he could land a devastating blow against his opponents from not even an inch away and send them flying. He was so good at it that he could even break wooden boards from that distance, and also apparently taught his punch to inner city kids. But we’re betting no one has ever pulled it off quite like Bruce.

Bruce’s workout routine was just as intense as his movies and his fighting abilities. Need proof? He could not only do more pushups and pull-ups than your average health nut, but he could do it while barely needing to use his limbs. One armed pull-ups, or two-fingered pushups anyone? He also sat in an elevated v-sit position for upwards of 30 minutes. Although you may think it’s showboating on his part, let’s be honest, you probably would do this if you could, too.

Though Bruce Lee has a reputation for being one of the best mixed martial artists of all-time, he also was a pioneer of many different aspects of his craft. One example is his creation of a hybrid martial arts style. Translated into English as “the way of the intercepting fist,” Jeet Kune Do combines martial arts with philosophy, and teachers its practitioners ways to improve their skills as well as help them discover themselves. Sounds badass to us.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
- Bruce Lee Broke 5 Boards with a Speed Break

- Bruce Lee Accepted a Tapping Foot as a Challenge

- Bruce Lee was a Philosopher

- Bruce Lee Took High-Pitched Screaming to the Next Level

Although Chuck Norris’ fighting skills are praised and revered to no end by some - even to this day – there was one thing he didn’t quite accomplish: beating Bruce Lee. In fact, the complete opposite happened. In the film “Way of the Dragon,” Bruce and Chuck square off for almost 10 minutes. Though Chuck puts up a good fight at first, he, Bruce and a kitten stare each other down before Bruce takes the contest. When Chuck Norris goes to sleep, he checks the closet for Bruce Lee.

Do you agree with our list? What do you think is the coolest thing about Bruce Lee? With new Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.