Firebreather: Taking On Bruce Lee’s Philosophy

When I was 2 years old, I started martial arts. I was in the “Little Dragons,” training in a dojo, fighting before I could speak, literally. That’s why I always tell my clients that my first language was body language.

From that early age, Bruce Lee was already part of my world, through film, through quotes, through the presence he left behind in every dojo and training space. My first impression of him? Sharp. Crisp. He felt like the standard. How a professional should carry themselves. That never left me.

As I got older, I began to really understand him, not just as a martial artist, but as a thinker and a philosopher.

Especially when I became a trainer, that’s when things clicked. I always knew how to train myself, but coaching others was a difficult change, and I didn’t expect it. The work required tuning into someone else’s rhythm, understanding where they were mentally and physically, and being able to translate what I saw into words they could feel.

That’s where Bruce’s words became my words. His quotes became the language I needed to communicate what I believed.

He was 5’7”, maybe 135 pounds, and that man had more power in his movement, in his presence, than most athletes I’ve ever seen. He was precise. Every rep, every strike, every thought was locked in. He carried intensity without chaos. You had no choice but to elevate when you watched him.

There’s a quote I always come back to, the one I share with my clients all the time:

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

That’s mastery. That’s the image. That’s how I live. It's not about doing everything, it’s about doing the right things with relentless discipline.

When I started coaching, I realized I had always been coaching, even as a kid in my neighborhood. Drills. Routines. Pushing others. It’s who I was before I ever got paid for it.

That’s why Bruce’s book The Art of Expressing the Human Body hit so hard when I picked it up in a book store when I was a young trainer in my 20’s. I remember looking for answers, seeking to take my life to another level. When you’re young in your career, or life, just starting out, you need proper guidance. For someone like me, I needed to witness excellence, precision, mastery, all in one.

Looking at his actual training notes, mapped out, clean. He knew his stuff inside and out. From skill work, strength, cardio, mobility, even recovery, he laid it all out. Not fancy, or bloated, just real.

He believed in bodyweight training, precision movements, and routines that actually made you better. He lifted weights, but at the core of it was function, form, agility, output. I train the same way. I coach the same way.

From his functional strength, deep commitment to flexibility, emphasis on cardiovascular conditioning, nutrition, hydration, avoiding processed foods, his constant refinement of the training process, holistic integration of mind and body, viewing training as self-expression, he understood communicating through movement.

That's how I see it, with all my experience, as a lifelong athlete and fitness coach.

Then there’s the water quote. The one everyone knows.

“Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

That’s the core philosophy for me. You want to coach people? Be water. You want to evolve as an athlete? Be water. Any skill you’re working on developing? Be water. There’s a rhythm to it, not just physically, but mentally. Every client is different. Every skill has a different requirement. Every season of life demands something different of you. There are principles, yes, but then there’s application. That’s where the truth is.

Bruce wasn’t sitting in some recliner chair, theorizing. He was living it, and that’s why I trust him.

He trained, he fought, he failed, he adapted. He earned the right to speak.

“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”

He trained to become. His workouts weren’t about getting ripped, although he was, they were about removing everything that wasn’t honest.

His workouts were spiritual. Every session was a sharpening of the soul.

There was respect for tradition, but a refusal to be bound by it. There was value in forms, rules and repetitions, but it went beyond training, it was about adaptability, stripping motion down to raw truth, with no wasted movement.

His mindset runs through everything we’re doing at Orlean Fitness.

This isn’t just a training program. It’s a return to self. It’s not about doing more, it’s about removing what’s in the way.

Bruce understood that. He didn’t just change martial arts. He gave us a way to live.

Some more of my favorite quotes:

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”

“Don’t fear failure. Not failure, but low aim is the crime. In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail.”

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one."

"Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own."

"Mistakes are always forgivable if one has the courage to admit them."

"To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities."

"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus."

"The more we value things, the less we value ourselves."

"Only the self-sufficient stand alone. Most people follow the crowd and imitate."

"Defeat is a state of mind; no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality."

I remind myself of daily, your energy should be bold. Not perfect. Not safe. Bold. Go after what calls you. Not blindly, but with full intent.

I see myself in Bruce, in size, in mindset, in discipline, in the way I show up for others.

I’m confident that if he saw what we were building today, he’d understand it. He’d respect it. It’s built on the same foundation. Not hype, not performance. Alignment and truth.

Bruce taught us to express ourselves honestly. To live with rhythm. To move with precision. To train with purpose, and to trust the process.

He didn’t just train a body. He built a standard.