When Bruce Lee decided to go Super-Saiyan...

If you're like me, you remember some of the Bruce Lee classics, like "Enter the Dragon" where his sculpted body looks like every muscle fiber was developed solely for the purpose of optimizing ass kicking. He wasn't always built that way. There was a turning point, which his wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, pinpoints as the crucial moment when Bruce decided to go Super-Saiyan.


Whilst living in Oakland, Bruce received a formal challenge, written on an ornate scroll, to fight against the top martial artist in the area. Why you ask? Because he was teaching kung-fu to foreigners, and that was a strict no-no according to the old-timers. You weren't supposed to teach Chinese "secrets" to non-Chinese, and that was that. Bruce didn't see it that way, so he accepted the challenge.

What happened at the fight was rather anti-climatic. Bruce Lee delivered such a beat-down that, within a matter of seconds, the supposed kung-fu expert took flight out the exit door. Bruce had to go through considerable lengths to track him down, throw him to the ground, and extract a submission. Then he tossed the entire group out of the gym. All of this took roughly 3 minutes.

Bruce was surprised and disappointed at his physical conditioning, and that the fight took so long. He felt inordinately winded, and that was a clear indication to him that his normal martial arts training was insufficient to bring him to the levels he wished to achieve. So he threw his energy towards learning everything he could about conditioning, body building and health. He set his path towards becoming Super-Saiyan because he was overly winded from opening a large can of whoop-ass. That's pretty badass.

Say Uncle!