Bruce Lee once famously said, “Be water my friend. Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Be water.” The point that Bruce Lee was trying to illustrate was the importance of being adaptable. Possessing and training the ability to flow and change seamlessly with changing pressure, tension and stress. In his words, “To change with change itself is the changeless state.” Regardless if you loved or hated Bruce Lee movies his physical attributes and martial abilities were to be admired. This article is about how to develop steel bending strength, blinding speed, as well as athletic coordination, and unity of movement. It is my goal to introduce the world to Action Strength (A.S). A system inspired by Bruce Lee’s very own all-encompassing attribute fitness training program.      

My name is Brian Olson. I am a certified Physical Therapist Strength Coach and senior instructor of this incredible system. Over the past two decades I have had the honor and pleasure of coaching and teaching thousands of athletes from high school State Champions, NCAA National Champions, PGA professionals, Major league MVP’s, BJJ World Champions, UFC Champions and everything in between. For the first seven years of my career, I was highly successful using multiple strength training systems. Any fitness program can yield results if the athlete combines hard work and dedication. Consistency is the golden key that opens all the doors. Having said that any understanding of strength and attribute development training was drastically upgraded in 2007 when I was blessed to meet and train under Sifu Harinder Singh.

Sifu Singh is widely regarded as one of the world’s top Jeet Kune Do Instructors. He has been featured on the cover of multiple martial arts magazines including Black Belt, Masters Magazine, Wing Chung Illustrated as well as teaching almost every government agency on national and foreign soil. He has given TED talks and is the creator of the Action Strength program. I personally over the past 19 years have worked with Sifu Singh and have earned the rank of Senior Instructor in the A.S. I have firsthand watched as he created, developed, tweaked and improved A.S. over the years. Jeet Kune Do is more than just a highly sophisticated fighting system. JKD embraced all of Bruce Lee’s concepts and philosophies about fighting, mindset, attribute development and so much more.

When A.S. was originally formulated it was with the intention that Sifu Singh would never get tired regardless of the changing pressures or stimulus. The goal was to develop an athlete that could be alert yet relaxed, smooth, yet explosive, fast yet still. Over the years it has been refined into the ultimate attribute development system. We will be discussing some of the key points that make A.S. unique to all other systems. There are 4 major training modalities that work in symphony to create an amazing athlete in action. These modalities are designed to address all fitness and strength needs. 
Initially every athlete must be assessed to fall into one of the three fitness levels. The first level is the first level in A.S. program is called Coming Back. Even the world's most elite athletes occasionally suffer injuries and illness. As a result, the Coming Back stage allows the individual to energize the body, restore lost function, without risking re-injury or creating new injuries. 
The Coming Back stage identifies lack of symmetry, mobility and proper kinetic chain firing. Primary training methods include breathing and body weight exercises, as well as meditation and visualization techniques. Once an athlete has completed the basic body weight requirements, they qualify to enter the next stage of training.

This stage is called Next Level. When prioritizing training and fitness goals, the order of importance goes as such, general overall health, symmetry, mobility, and finally strength. Once this foundation has been laid training protocols are intensified and increased in the Next Level stage. During the Coming Back stage, the athlete is placed under the load of their own body weight (which will be elaborated on shortly).

 During the Next Level training stage, the athlete refines the skill of strength. This is where basic weightlifting and manipulation of exterior forces other than body weight exercises are taught and improved. The athlete has now created a foundation of mobility, flexibility, and strength, and is ready for more complex movement patterns. In addition to manipulating external forces, they are also put under timed rounds. Upon completing all necessary requirements, the athlete enters the final stage which is called the High-Performance stage. This is where everything and the kitchen sink is thrown at the athlete forcing them to adapt and overcome unimaginable pressure, tension, obstacles, and barriers. In this stage you are training like a professional athlete/Navy Seal. Now they are ready to safely train where real adaptability must happen. Life is constantly changing so there is a stage for all levels of fitness in athleticism. In High Performance level we push the athlete to turn up the intensity making them comfortable in uncomfortable situations. In this stage you are pushed not only physically to the extreme but also mentally.

As I mentioned earlier, there are four major modalities that make A.S. unique. The first is body weight movements. These are performed on the floor (think BJJ movements) on your feet (stand up fighting) and eventually suspended and eventually suspended with Olympic rings. Before one can manipulate an external force, they must first master the ability to manipulate their own body weight in all conceivable plains of motion. The next training modality that is introduced are kettlebell lifts. The kettlebell has recently become popularized by phenomenal Coaches like Pavel Tsatsouline but has been used by warriors, soldiers, and athletes for hundreds of years.

John Saxon, co-star to Bruce Lee and Enter the Dragon was quoted in Men's Health Journal saying that the first day he met Bruce Lee, Bruce introduced him to the kettlebell swing to improve his punching power and speed. With kettlebell training there are ballistic lifts like the swing and the snatch. These drastically improve explosive ability, type two muscle fibers (fast twitch fibers). There are also slow grind lifts like the press, squat, and Turkish get-up which increases maximal strength and durability. These lifts improve your ability to absorb force, creating armor. Listing all the benefits of kettlebells would be longer than Santa's wish list. However, some of the key components I would like to highlight are the manipulation of external force in linear planes, coordination of breath while under load and teaching the joints to stay in a neutral position throughout movement patterns. As they say in boxing, there are no wrists. The same is true with kettlebell lifts. 


One of the major malfunctions in our workout culture today, as well as our social society in general, is we are losing the ability to concentrate especially while the body is under tension and strain. As a martial artist, this is a crucial skill. The ability to stay focused while under physical and mental duress cannot be overvalued. In A.S. kettlebells are designed to keep you focused on the lift and maintain correct breathing and posture at all times. 

The third unique training modality is the Gata or Indian mace. The Gata can be used to help support the athlete while performing body weight movements. Eventually it is picked up and yielded/swung in every conceivable movement pattern. This trains the skill of manipulating external force in a centripetal or circular pattern. We move in three dimensions so we must develop the skill to set to train in 3D. The Gada is a perfect tool for developing and mastering the skill. This was something the ancient Indian wrestlers deeply understood. For the grappler, the pulling strength and mastery of centripetal forces are the utmost importance. One of Bruce Lee's idols was a famous Indian wrestler known as The Great Gamma. He was undefeated in his career using primarily only three strength exercises. The Hindu push-up known as Dand, the Hindu squat known as the Behtak and the Indian Mace known as the Gada. If you look in Bruce Lee's book, the Tao of Jeet Kune Do under preliminary movements, you can find the first two exercises personally illustrated by Bruce himself. This led Sifu Singh to incorporate them in A.S. It was Guru Dan Inasanto who told Sifu Singh about Bruce's admiration for the Great Gamma.

The fourth and final modality is Tai-Chi and Qi Gong. Perhaps the most valuable of all. This ties everything together. Tai-Chi unifies the body, breath, mind, and spirit. The goal of Tai-Chi is to bring us back to harmony. Through movement, breathing, visualization, and sound resonance the practitioner is able to heal externally as well as internally. The body becomes soft and supple as the mind can let go of pain, weakness, fear, anger, regret, anxiety, and stress. These enemies rob us of the perfect moment which is the present moment. Tai-Chi teaches us to let go, regulate, recalibrate, and bring ourselves back to balance. It is our strategic advantage in martial arts and in life.

 Posture, breathing, and intent (P.B.I.) is the final A.S. principle I would like to illustrate. No matter which of the four modalities the athlete is engaging in P.B.I. is always stressed. If you obsess over Posture, Breathing and Intent during training sessions they will naturally occur subconsciously during competition. Whatever attribute development system you choose it needs to encompass more than just physical grunt work. A.S. was designed to blend external fitness with meditation and internal peace. Moving pain free with fluidity, power, and speed while remaining quiet inside. Becoming harmonized physically, mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually. A.S. builds physical strength, emotional harmony, and spirit skill. This system uniquely teaches strength and stillness. 
In this crazy world today we all need to cultivate our physical, mental, and spiritual strength. A.S. truly checks all three boxes. This was one of Bruce Lee's best- kept secrets and now is available to you.