February 3, 2008
Bruce Lee
The Big Picture
Lately, so many things were swirling inside my head like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle...and I couldn't make sense of it. I had thoughts of doing a lone lats showdown, I thought about martial arts tricking and I'm saddened that there are no Fab People in sight....where are they? As I was surfing on YouTube, I came upon Bruce Lee...my high school action hero. I played PIPO787's tribute to Bruce Lee (the video has been pulled down by Youtube)...lo and behold, the pieces of the puzzle came together to give me the big picture. How could I not have Bruce Lee on Fab People? How absurd is that?
The Lats Connection
And now, it's coming back...the obsession on lats (latissimus dorsi, the back muscles that give you the V-shape). As an impressionable high school student, I watched Bruce's 'The Way of the Dragon'. This lean and almost-wiry guy expanded his lats and morphed into a hooded cobra - The Rock would be jealous. I couldn't forget that scene. No wonder lats mean more to me than the usual favorite, pecs (chest muscles).
Bruce Lee Wannabe
Me and my high school buddies were all Bruce Lee fans. Since we were all Karate students too, we would re-enact his movies during breaks and take turns playing him. Of course in a fight scene, all hell breaks loose and the fun begins. Sometimes we would casually stroll in a mall, someone would utter a line from a Bruce Lee movie and we all spontaneously transform to role playing. The highlight is alway the fight scene...we didn't care we were in a mall.
Iconoclast
Bruce was the warrior-poet, the 2-fisted street fighter. During the height of his popularity, very similar to the wild west, martial arts fighters from all over seeked him out to duel. He never backed-down. Pound for pound, he was the meanest kung-fu fighter of his time. An open thinker, he founded Jeet Kune Do, assimilating the best technique there was in every martial arts discipline - including Muhammad Ali's style of 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'. An iconoclast, he defied the Chinese community by teaching 'outsiders' his brand of martial arts.
Ending Thoughts
Bruce Lee was DA MAN! He broke the mold and redefined martial arts, paving the way for the throng of martial arts heroes today...Jet Lee, Van Damme, Jackie Chan...they all owe Bruce.
I'm also relieved and thankful I got my fix of Fab People. I hurt for Fab People like I hurt for saddle time when I see a winding single-track. They're just so few...so far in between...and for someone like Bruce who's no longer with us, so unattainable.
What about lats? Yeah, I'll do a lats showdown...with his pic as the goal...even if it's just me.
Lastly, thank you PIPO787! You took me back to that place and time when things were more innocent...when I was just an overgrown kid who didn't know shit about the world but curious about what it had in store for me.
--- TheLoneRider
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