Bruce Lee looking awesome because real badasses smile and show respect!
Like most martial artists I am a bit of a Bruce Lee fan. He was a pretty cool actor and his athleticism was impressive. He had some Traditional martial training but never completed it according to many sources so he had to kind of piece together the rest of his martial training which was geared for looking great in movies. Nothing wrong with that. The other side to Lee however was apparently his basics served him in good stead because most folks report that he could punch and kick with more force than almost anyone they had ever encountered. I think a lot of this power came not from his learning background but the man's sheer tenacity and demanding work ethic.
So I decided to test out the 10,000 times rule. I started practicing my basic punching and blocking combinations from White Crane Kung Fu. I started at doing 120 per day. That set of 120 felt great. So I did two sets... finally I worked up to doing 10 sets per day. That is 1200 punches performed slowly and with an eye on getting all the basics of posture, movement, and relaxation in order. In typical Chinese martial arts fashion I vowed to do these 1200 punches every single day for 100 days. At the end of this period I will have thrown 120,000 punches with perfect form. In the 11 days I've been doing these simple punches I have managed to improve my power, speed, and ease of delivery. I am able to knock down a 350 lbs. partner bracing himself with a pad with a nice effortless punch. I'm looking forward to seeing where I can go from here.
An added benefit of this insane punch regimen is that I am getting more endurance and my shoulders and abdomen are getting stronger. I think that the 1000 slow reps of any skill regardless of martial art is a good idea. If nothing else it gives you more movement in your day. Something we in the modern world desperately need.
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