Cover Story: Bruce Lee Fitness What is the History behind Bruce Lee Fitness? B


ruce Lee fitness equipment is the result of an 18 month collaboration between Escalade International, (distributors of Marcy Fitness products), and Bruce’s daughter, Shannon Lee. Following in-depth research into the heritage of Marcy, Escalade uncovered a surprise connection between Walter Marcyan, the founder of Marcy, and the cultural icon Bruce Lee, a family connection which still survives today. During Bruce’s life, he was known as an actor, philosopher, martial arts instructor and founder of Jeet Kune Do. His enthusiasm for acting and martial arts, together with his expression of Chinese culture throughout his highly successful acting career during the early 1970’s transcended the


boundaries between East and West. Through his work, Bruce gained considerable respect from athletes, bodybuilders and fellow movie stars, and is considered to be one of the most influential martial artists and cultural icons of all time. Bruce firmly believed that you could never have too much knowledge, and lived his entire life searching to acquire and put into practice, as much about health, fitness and wellbeing as possible. Bruce believed that many martial artists spent too much time on form and technique, and not enough on physical conditioning. Bruce constantly experimented with training routines to push the human body to its limits. He believed the abdominal muscles were vitally important to the martial artist, as they co-ordinated all parts of the body and acted as the central generator to control the body’s actions.


Bruce firmly believed that by adopting the correct techniques within a weight training programme, he could develop muscular


efficiency, strength and speed. His training brought together the key physical attributes of lightening fast reflexes, supreme flexibility and explosive power, which enabled him to perform a number of incredible feats, including one fingered push ups and the infamous one inch punch.


Bruce was a true pioneer in strength resistance training, understanding that muscle size and strength were not necessarily linked. His resistance training focussed not only on


muscles, but also the ligaments and tendons which he realised were


equally important in his quest for total


physical fitness. He created his own fitness machines to assist his training requirements which did not exist at the time, until a chance meeting with Doctor Walter Marcyan.


What is the connection between Marcy and Bruce Lee?


Bruce met Walter Marcyan in 1972, who was himself an early advocate of weight training as an aid to athletes in improving their athletic and physical performance.


Bruce was particularly interested in one of Walter’s newest home fitness developments, The Marcy Circuit Trainer. The individual workout stations had been developed for the sole purpose of training each muscle group for a functional purpose. This principle echoed Bruce’s own beliefs, and in his own words, enabled him to, “express his total fitness”.


Bruce knew the Marcy Circuit Trainer would enable him to create a fitness routine which would exercise each muscle group precisely, efficiently and effectively. He developed a comprehensive training programme utilising the individual workout stations on the Marcy Circuit Trainer, and began training for the movie which was to become his most defining role. Bruce firmly believed the Marcy Circuit Trainer, and his training routine were responsible for sculpting the most iconic physique in movie history. The movie became an instant classic; - the movie was ‘Enter the Dragon’.


What Products are Available? Through close collaboration with Shannon, and the use of private photographs, archive


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footage and personal recollections, Escalade have developed a compact collection of strength training products which are sympathetic to the principles and training routines adopted by Bruce. The Signature range consists of a Home-Gym and Power Tower, plus a Barbell, Utility, Dumbbell and Abdominal Bench, with the Dragon range comprising a Utility and Olympic Bench, Power Station and Power Cage. Each product has been designed to replicate


products Bruce used during his training routines, or would have used, had the products been available at the time.


Each product has been designed and manufactured to the highest possible standards, and is supported by Marcy’s comprehensive warranty and customer service support facility.


Is there any marketing support? Escalade International will be supporting and publicising the Bruce Lee brand through a sponsorship arrangement with newly promoted Swansea City. The Bruce Lee logo will feature on perimeter advertising during all home games at the Liberty Stadium, and with the Premier League’s popularity and TV coverage will guarantee extensive


international exposure for the brand. So what next?


Next year a full range of cardio equipment will be introduced to support the strength range, but available much sooner will be a compact collection of fitness accessories such as push up stands, chinning bars and forearm exercisers, etc, which will be available in the autumn. These again will be available under the Bruce Lee Signature, and Bruce Lee Dragon brands which are distinguishable by their appealing packaging designs and product features.


In addition to the fitness products, Escalade will be introducing an exciting collection of high quality, affordable martial arts equipment for both personal protection (gloves, head guards and shin guards), together with jab, and kick pads. The Signature collection will feature a striking yellow and black colour option, whilst the Dragon collection will be a little more subtle in black and red supple leather. The martial arts products will be available prior to the all important Christmas period.


Further information regarding Bruce Lee Fitness is available by logging onto www.Bruceleefitness.com


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