Lee felt that many martial artists of his day did not spend enough time on physi cal

conditioning. Bruce included all elements of total fitness muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. He tried traditio nal bodybuilding techniques to build bulky muscles or mass. However, Lee was car eful to admonish that mental and spiritual preparation was fundamental to the su ccess of physical training in martial arts skills. In his book The Tao of Jeet K une Do, he wrote Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the indiv idual for participation." "JKD, ultimately is not a matter of petty techniques b ut of highly developed spirituality and physique.[37] The weight training program that Lee used during a stay in Hong Kong in 1965 at only 24 years old placed heavy emphasis on his arms. At that time he could perfo rm bicep curls at a weight of 70 to 80lbs for three sets of eight repetitions, a long with other forms of exercises, such as squats, push-ups, reverse curls, con centration curls, French presses, and both wrist curls and reverse wrist curls.[ 38] The repetitions he performed were 6 to 12 reps (at the time). While this met hod of training targeted his fast and slow twitch muscles, it later resulted in weight gain or muscle mass, placing Bruce a little over 160 lbs. Lee was documen ted as having well over 2,500 books in his own personal library, and eventually concluded that "A stronger muscle, is a bigger muscle", a conclusion he later di sputed. Bruce forever experimented with his training routines to maximize his ph ysical abilities, and push the human body to its limits. He employed many differ ent routines and exercises including skipping rope, which served his training an d bodybuilding purposes effectively.[39] Lee believed that the abdominal muscles were one of the most important muscle gr oups for a martial artist, since virtually every movement requires some degree o f abdominal work. Perhaps more importantly, the "abs" are like a shell, protecti ng the ribs and vital organs. He trained from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., including stomach, flexibility, and running, a nd from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. he would weight train and cycle. A typical exercise f or Lee would be to run a distance of two to six miles in 15 to 45 minutes, in wh ich he would vary speed in 3 5 minute intervals. Lee would ride the equivalent of 10 miles in 45 minutes on a stationary bike.[40] Lee would sometimes exercise with the jump rope and put in 800 jumps after cycli ng. Lee would also do exercises to toughen the skin on his fists, including thru sting his hands into buckets of harsh rocks and gravel. He would do over 500 rep etitions of this on a given day.