How to Train Like Mike Moh, The Next Bruce Lee
Moh plays Bruce Lee in Quentin Tarantino's new movie. Here, he explains how to get ripped like the martial arts legend
BY DANIEL DAVIES
13/06/2019
Mike Moh was a teenager when he started practising martial arts. After a misspent youth spent imitating the Power Rangers, the Ninja Turtles and, of course, Bruce Lee, it seemed like the obvious thing to do, but little did Moh know that one day his childhood obsession would lead him to bagging the role of his hero on the big screen.
No, Moh isn't about to don a turtle suit to play Rafael, he's the actor tasked with playing Bruce Lee in this summer's new Quentin Tarantino flick, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Being a fifth-degree black belt in Taekwondo, he certainly has the credentials to play the part, but if all it took play Bruce Lee was being good at martial arts almost anyone could do it. “I had to get really deep into not only who Bruce was, but how he ate and how he trained,” says Moh. And he had to do all that in just three months.
To become Bruce Lee, Moh didn't call a celebrity trainer or just hit the gym and start benching. Instead, he studied Lee's martial arts training techniques and used his own knowledge of fighting to mimic Lee's workouts.
For starters, Lee was a big fan of boxing, so Moh starts every workout with skipping. "Jumping rope is going to get your nerves and your joints and your muscles warmed up," Moh says. "It’s also going to help with your timing and your footwork.”
Lee was also famous for his one-finger pushups. Moh doesn't touch those, but he does do standard pushups, archer pushups, and Superman pushups to prep to play the master.
But, at the end of the day, you can only really play Bruce Lee if you have a set of abs rippling just below the surface. So Moh has incorporated hanging leg raises and windshield wipers into his workout to achieve the correct look.
Moh finishes his workout by honing his hard-earned martial arts techniques with punches and kicks — and focusing on control. Brad Pitt is also in the movie, and the last thing Moh wanted to do was hurt his co-star. “For filming, we had to make sure that I was not only looking powerful and fast like Bruce himself, but also that my kicks were one-hundred percent controlled," he says. "The last thing I wanted to do was break Mr. Pitt’s ribs.”
Before he's done, Moh wraps up the workout with some old-school conditioning, in the shape of 3 sets of burpees. However, he throws in backflips after several of his burpees. We did say he was inspired by the Power Rangers too, right?
MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES GETTY IMAGES
Mike Moh's Bruce-Lee-Inspired Workout
by Men's Health UK
Skipping, 100 reps
Grab the rope at both ends
Use your wrists to flick it round your body, jumping to clear the rope as it hits the ground
Make the move more intense with double unders – letting the rope pass round your twice for every jump
Standard Pushup, 30 reps
Set up with your weight supported on your toes and hands beneath your shoulders, body straight.
Take care to keep your core locked so a straight line forms between your head, glutes and heels.
Lower your body until your chest is an inch from the ground then explosively drive up by fully extending your arms.
Isometric press-up wipers
Archer Pushup, 20 Reps
Get into a press-up position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Shift your body weight to one side, flexing the elbow on that side to lower your body until your chest almost brushes the floor.
Push yourself back up to the start position and repeat on the other side.
Superman Pushup, 10 reps
Get down into a press-up position with your hands placed shoulder-width apart.
Lower your body until your chest is an inch from the ground then explosively drive up elevatig your whole body above the floor.
While in mid-air extand your arms and legs out to your sides before returning to the centre to land softly with flexed elbows.
Continue the downwards momentum into your next rep.
Hanging Leg Raise, 20 reps
Grab a pull-up bar and lower yourself into a dead hang.
Let your legs straighten and pull your pelvis back slightly.
Tense your core and raise your legs until your thighs are perpendicular to your torso.
Hold then lower slowly back to the starting position.
Windshield Wipers, 10 reps
Holding a barbell or kettlebell or dumbbell above you, or while gripping a pull-up bar, keep your legs together and as straight as possible
Raise your legs until they are parallel with the floor; then, maintaining this angle, bring your torso up to parallel with the floor.
Your legs, still forming a 90-degree angle with your torso, should now be perpendicular to the floor. This is your starting position.
From this position, keep your core braced and lower your legs with control to one side.
Pause for a count, then bring them over to the other side. That’s one rep.
Shadow Boxing, 3 rounds, 3 minutes each
Adopt a fighting stance and bounce on your toes as you shadow box.
Dip and weave to your heart's content.
Cycle between low- and high-intensity punching for a HIIT style cardio workout.
Burpees, 3 sets, 1 minute each
From a standing position squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor and place your palms on the floor.
From there kick your feet back as far as you can while keeping your arms extended.
As soon as your feet land jump them back in towards your hands, then jump up into the air.
Land and immediately squat down to go into the next rep.
A solid core is key to avoiding sagging hips when you kick your feet back.