10 facts you might not know about Bruce Lee

Without a doubt, Bruce Lee was and is a true legend of cinema and martial arts. Many articles and even books have been written about his personality, willpower, and extraordinary abilities. Bruce Lee is the superman of his time, who tirelessly overcame all obstacles to success. Through his tenacity, he was able not only to master kung fu to perfection but also to become the world's first international Chinese superstar, breaking the barriers of race and nationality. Below are some facts from the biography of this amazing person that may surprise you.

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1. He left the United States, among other things, to avoid trouble with the law.

Bruce Lee grew up on the streets of Hong Kong in the 1950s and, as a child, was a member of a gang called the Junction Street Tigers. On one occasion, he even beat the son of a famous member of the Triad. In the end, his parents decided that it would be better for him to leave the country, and sent him to the United States.

2. Bruce Lee defended his right to teach kung fu in a duel.

In 1964, Bruce began teaching martial arts in California. While other teachers only taught kung fu to the Chinese, he believed that knowledge should be shared with everyone, regardless of race. As a result, one of the members of the Chinese community, Wong Jack Man, challenged Bruce Lee. The terms of the fight said: if Bruce Lee loses, he will forever be forbidden to teach kung fu to non-Chinese people. Of course, he won and continued to teach his martial art to everyone he accepted as students.

3. His overly intense training once led to a spinal injury.

Bruce Lee's workouts were difficult and dangerous, even when done with all the precautions. But one day, without warming up, he performed an exercise with a barbell weighing 45 kg and received serious damage to the spinal nerve. Despite the predictions of the doctors, Bruce Lee fully recovered from the injury and managed to become even faster and stronger than he was before.

4. There were many celebrities among his clients.

Among the students of Bruce Lee were such famous people as Steve McQueen, Joe Lewis, Chuck Norris, James Coburn, and others. Despite the fact that Bruce Lee tried to get rid of celebrities, repeatedly raising the price of lessons, the stream of people who wanted to did not dry out. He even flew to Switzerland once to give private lessons to Roman Polanski.

5. He was too fast for cameras.

Cinematographers have repeatedly asked Bruce Lee to hit slower so that cameras could capture his movements.

6. Bruce Lee was partly German.

Bruce Lee's grandfather was half German.

7. He was faster than any of the people.

Bruce Lee came up with this trick: someone holds a coin in his open palm and quickly clenches his palm into a fist. In these fractions of a second, Bruce Lee managed to replace the coin with another.

8. One day he accidentally injured another actor while filming.

Bruce Lee accidentally broke the arm of actor Bob Wall during the filming of the movie "Enter the Dragon".

9. He could do push-ups with only four fingers.

Bruce Lee's workouts included push-ups, in which he rested on the floor with only his thumbs and forefingers.

10. Bruce Lee possessed the "one-inch strike" technique.

This technique was excellently demonstrated at the 1964 Championship in Long Beach, when he knocked down his sparring partner, moving his fist just 2.54 cm.