Summary

• Bruce Lee almost gave up martial arts in frustration with Wing Chun.
• Disappointment in his skills led to creation of Jeet Kune Do.
• Lee's belief in flexibility and overcoming limitations shaped his legacy.

Years before becoming a kung fu movie superstar, Bruce Lee considered dropping martial arts altogether. In addition to his starring roles in classics like Enter the Dragon and Way of the Dragon, Lee's highly disciplined approach to martial arts is an important part of his legacy and image.

Even in his youth, Lee was deeply interested in martial arts. The actor's teenage years saw him as a student of Ip Man, a well-respected Wing Chun grandmaster and the focus of Donnie Yen's four Ip Man movies. While living in Hong Kong, Lee spent much time training diligently under Ip Man and his students, and eventually used the experience he gained to open his own martial arts schools. But while developing his kung fu skills had clearly been a priority throughout this period, there was a brief time when Lee entertained the notion of quitting martial arts for good.

Bruce Lee Nearly Quit Practicing Martial Arts In The Early 1960s

Bruce Lee Was Disillusioned With His Progress As A Fighter

Disciples of the Dragon, a book by Paul Bax that recounts stories about the actor from Bruce Lee's students, discusses the frustration that Lee experienced with his level of skill sometime after his move to the United States. According to James DeMille, who trained under the star in the 1960s, Lee would occasionally return home to Hong Kong and spar with his former classmates at Ip Man's school so that he could show off his progression in Wing Chun. Afterward, Lee returned to the United States "shattered" by how poorly he fared against Ip Man's students.

DeMille claimed that Lee had struggled in these fights, only hitting his opponents "once out of every three times they could hit him." Because of this, Lee "thought seriously" about walking away from martial arts, apparently feeling that his training in Wing Chun hadn't paid off. In David Brewster and David M. Beurge's book, Washingtonians, it was stated by another Bruce Lee student - Howard Williams - that this frustration went so far that Lee "almost gave up martial arts completely."

Bruce Lee's Frustration With Wing Chun Is What Led To Jeet Kune Do

Disastified With His Current Kung Fu Style, Bruce Lee Came Up With His Own

Obviously, though, this was only a phase for Lee. That said, it was an extremely important one, as it was ultimately what fueled the creation of Jeet Kune Do. As Williams explained, the challenges Lee dealt with pushed him to "develop something no one else had." In 1964, Bruce Lee officially founded Jeet Kune Do. Jeet Kune Do served as a solution to his problem, in that it allows a tremendous amount of flexibility in comparison to the more rigid structure provided by traditional kung fu styles like Wing Chun.

It would seem that expanding his system of martial arts beyond Wing Chun was indeed what Lee needed to overcome the hurdles he was facing.

Given his current reputation as one of the greatest martial arts stars of all time, it would seem that expanding his system of martial arts beyond Wing Chun was indeed what Lee needed to overcome the hurdles he was facing. This idea is exemplified by iconic quotes from Bruce Lee himself, not the least of which is "be like water," which spoke to Bruce Lee's belief that being "formless" and not being held back by rules was the key to succeeding in martial arts.