The Bruce Lee, Ayn Rand & Mike Mentzer Connection: Filmmaker John Little

John Little is an author and award-winning filmmaker considered by many to be one of the world's foremost authorities on Bruce Lee, his training methods and philosophies. John, who directed, wrote and produced the notable documentaries "Bruce Lee: In His Own Words" & "Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey" for Warner Bros, and authored the book "The Warrior Within, The Philosophies of Bruce Lee," is the only person ever to be authorized by the legendary martial artist's estate to review the entirety of Lee's personal notes, sketches and reading annotations.
John's love of philosophy also led him to direct and produce the documentaries "Ayn Rand, In Her Own Words," and "The Making of The Fountainhead" for Warner Bros, a documentary based on Rands's breakout novel of an iconoclastic architect whose designs are so innovative they offend the architectural orthodoxy and city planners, the "second-handers" who seek to snuff out Roarke's ultra modernistic vision and force him to comply with tradition.
John is also highly regarded in the world of fitness and bodybuilding, having penned numerous articles for the Joe Weider publications Muscle & Fitness and FLEX magazine. and has written some of the most well-respected books on the subject of high-intensity training including "Body by Science," "Power Factor Training," and more recently "The Time Savers Workout." However, some of John's most notable endeavors in the world of bodybuilding stem from time spent working with (and as a close friend of) Mike Mentzer, the legendary Golden Era pro bodybuilder from the late 70s and 80s who was the only Mr. Olympia competitor to ever achieve a perfect score of 300 in winning the heavyweight class at the 1979 Mr. Olympia. John authored the book, "The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer" and Co-Authored the book "High-Intensity Training, The Mike Mentzer Way" with Mentzer himself.
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Links:
www.alphahuman.org
The Alpha Human Podcast on Soundcloud: / alpha-human-podcast
John Little: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Little_(writer)
Bruce Lee, a Warrior's Journey: • Bruce Lee A Warriors ...
Ayn Rand Institute: www.aynrand.org/
Mike Mentzer: www.mikementzer.com/

[@LoonaSwan]

John Little really understand Bruce Lee. I like his works, it is so educational.

[@Wunderkinddd]

1:12:15 Bruce Lee did say that though... be like water, become the teapot etc... ????

[@scottishbanjo]

OMG I was thinking about the 1980 Mr Olympia and wondered about the different trajectories of Mike mentzer and Arnold . A documentary about this would be great viewing .

[@GungFuIsGungFu]

Lawrence, really interesting interview and talk with John ! I would highly recommend Charles Russo’s book “Striking Distance: Bruce Lee and the Dawn of Martial Arts in America” which covers a lot of Bruce’s connections to San Francisco and the Bay area, which includes the Chinese Kung Fu community and the Wong Jack Man fight - which Polly has borrowed a lot from in his book for that period (without fully crediting Russo). Russo also did a podcast with Shannon which is really great, and she really listens to him when he goes in depth about before (what led up to the challenge), what happened and after - even though he (respectfully) debunks Linda’s version. Here is a link to that podcast, which is very informative and interesting: brucelee.com/podcast-blog/2017/5/2/44-charles-russo-striking-distance

[@alphahumanpodcast]

Thanks for the insight Gung Fu!

[@alexchen5811]

Linda's version is more accurate than Wong's camp's version though. David Chin himself confirmed it a few years back - and David was originally siding with Wong's camp.

[@GungFuIsGungFu]

@@alexchen5811 can you elaborate exactly what of Lindas version are more accurate - as to why the challenge happen and what happened during the fight ? Did you actually listen to that podcast or/and read Charles Russo's book ?

[@truthhitman7473]

​@@alexchen5811 Linda was actually there with one of Bruce Lee's students.

[@paulpolpiboon9535]

@26:55 John Saxon @46:35 I feel you're quite wrong or we just don't have the same definition as Canada for the word cocky. Because Lee was definitely Cocky. Meaning he was sure of himself and heavy in confidence that it manifest as Swaggering. One who walks the walk and then talks the talk is called cocky. One who walks the walk but doesn't talk the talk is experienced. One who has NEVER walked the walk but still talks the talk is called ARROGANT. Arrogant means you don't deserve it, haven't earned it, yet you still demand it. The nerve to demand something with your mouth that you haven't earned. So Cocky is different from Arrogant. Lee was a cocky son of a bitch, but he wasn't arrogant. Two different things. Talk the Talk yet never Walked the Walk: Arrogant. Talk the Talk cuz have Walked the Walk: Cocky. So thats Lee. He was just plain fearless, exactly like a super hero

[@paulpolpiboon9535]

@37:00 a tornado interrupted your report of WJM?? That's gotta be some kind of sign @44:55 Tarinintino CRAP @1:12:00 Siliphint wrote the plot and the lines of the other characters, Bruce wrote his own lines. Prove to me Siliphint wrote that line and not Lee. Prove it

[@stind1299]

I always saw Mentzee as the thinking man's bodybuilder. Mentzer and the Bodybuilding fraternity was royally screwed in the 1980 Olympia. Arnold was a great Bodybuilder and I loved the Conan film. Fortunately Arnold was highly directed (more so than any other actor),and had a fantastic supporting cast which made up for his deficiencies as an Actor. I would love to see a film about the 1980 Olympia which would be similar the 2013 Documentary 'The Armstrong Lie' by Alex Gibney. Just as the cycling business interests lay in the promotion of the Lance Armtrong narrative, the same is true of Bodybuilding and the return of it's favourite son. Arnold has a win at all costs drive and considerable business savvy, resulting in his meteoric rise. I'm so glad I have a number of Mr Little's bodybuilding books in my collection.

[@carvedouttastone]

Superb interview. Thank you

[@MikeS24-v4s]

That was very enjoyable and insightful.

[@vic19644]

Truly Excellent interview!!! Thanks for this!!!

[@mikomon309]

I wonder what Mr. Little thinks about Quentin Tarantino's recent portrayal of Lee.

[@truthhitman7473]

Who did Bruce Lee spar with ?

[@chrisbach1533]

Mr. Little is gonna publish a new book in September this year. "Wrath of the Dragon: The Real Fights of Bruce Lee". I posted it including a linke but some times if you post a link comments are invisible. This is the description: "Bruce Lee remains the gold standard that all martial artists are compared to. But could he actually fight? World Champions in karate competition have gone on record to point out that he never once competed in tournaments. Were his martial abilities merely a trick of the camera? For the first time ever, Bruce Lee authority and bestselling author John Little takes a hard look at Bruce Lee’s real-life fights to definitively answer these questions with over 30 years of research that took him thousands of miles. Little has tracked down over 30 witnesses to the real fights of Bruce Lee as well as those who were present at his many sparring sessions (in which he was never defeated) against the very best martial artists in the world. From the mean streets of Hong Kong, to challenge matches in Seattle and Oakland, to the sets of his iconic films where he was challenged repeatedly, this is the incredible real-life fighting record of the man known as the “Little Dragon,” who may well have been the greatest fighter of the 20th century."

[@Bronxboy]

Great guy , I love his work , he should be given more exposure

[@travels129]

His voice sounds different then the video i saw on bruce lee and brandon lee years old but

[@evilxmetalband6532]

One of the best podcasts ever!!I too got into weight lifting because of Bruce Lee and came across Mike MENTZER and have studied both for 25 years and still do! Outstanding!!!!🏆🏆🏆

[@michailsemyonov9426]

Hello! Please forgive me for my English! Perhaps I will make mistakes. I am not a native speaker of this language, I do not know it at a good level, but I hope that the knowledge that I have and the Google translator will be enough for us to understand each other. I would like to know if there is any way to contact Mr. Little? I would like to ask him some questions about training, but could not find any of his public contacts.

[@robins5314]

He is on Facebook

[@michailsemyonov9426]

@@robins5314 Thanks! I found him on Facebook. Perhaps I missed him before.

[@theironforce3000]

Great interview with fantastic trivia. Solid points about Mentzer regarding HIT training.

[@connorjamesgill7614]

Why is only one person supposedly allowed access to Lee's notes? And why is it someone who's not familiar with the famous footage of Lee literally saying the "be water" quote?

[@brucefly3612]

Because you don't want everyone knowing that Bruce Lee did drugs and probadly have more embarrasing stuff on it, its very personal dude, I'm sure you are smart enough to get that and hence why all of it shouldn't be in the public eye to begin with, to protect his family firstly and secondly to protect his legacy.

[@bruhmoment3731]

Great interview! Thanks for this!

[@chrisbach1533]

Maybe interesting for some viewers here: Mr. Little is gonna publish a new book in September this year. "Wrath of the Dragon: The Real Fights of Bruce Lee". I posted it including a linke but some times if you post a link comments are invisible. This is the description: "Bruce Lee remains the gold standard that all martial artists are compared to. But could he actually fight? World Champions in karate competition have gone on record to point out that he never once competed in tournaments. Were his martial abilities merely a trick of the camera? For the first time ever, Bruce Lee authority and bestselling author John Little takes a hard look at Bruce Lee’s real-life fights to definitively answer these questions with over 30 years of research that took him thousands of miles. Little has tracked down over 30 witnesses to the real fights of Bruce Lee as well as those who were present at his many sparring sessions (in which he was never defeated) against the very best martial artists in the world. From the mean streets of Hong Kong, to challenge matches in Seattle and Oakland, to the sets of his iconic films where he was challenged repeatedly, this is the incredible real-life fighting record of the man known as the “Little Dragon,” who may well have been the greatest fighter of the 20th century."

[@scottishbanjo]

Did this book get published ?

[@chrisbach1533]

@@scottishbanjo Yes in September this year.

[@luciano-km7mq]

arnold*******

[@trondyne3513]

Freedom yes, but also a daily REDUCTION not a daily addition.... And yes you absolutely MUST study "styles" because if you don't you will have nothing to refine and reduce.... John be carful advocating something that Bruce didn't himself do because it's not reality.... Dan Inosanto makes this clear, yes Bruce said break free of the cage but first you have to study the material... We don't start off running we finish running.... "Learn the method, abide by the method, dissolve the method..." Fighting without fighting is more like "Fitting in" with the opponent...

[@bryanholloway3241]

Hey Bryan Holloway here The Mentzer Fan. Is the Muscle Builder Magazine with Mike's Profile on the Cover available and can I get one ?

[@paulpolpiboon9535]

@18:18 "The Art of fighting without fighting" It means a warriors highest Victory is winning a battle without even fighting. If you PSYCHED your opponent out before the fight begins and he changes his mind and goes home then THAT was fighting and winning the battle without fighting. If you preyed on an invading armies religious values and convinced them their God would not be happy if they invade your village and superstitiously they all go home then you won a battle you didn't even fight. If Bruce Wayne wears a costume of a bat creature and attacks criminals thus from that created rumours of a Boogeyman who haunts Gotham city and now half the criminals don't go out at night, then Bruce has prevented crimes before they even happened. So Lee in that scene you were inquiring on has defeated the Irish prick but he did so without actually fighting. So the scene's ending was supposed to answer your question

[@jonathannoerr5997]

Bruce,,,, also was a Minimalist!!! Aka. Simplist! He kept the Definition of "Martial Arts",,, Simple!!! Martial ARTS,,, ARE,,, about Mastering Combat! So ALL form of Hand-to-Hand Combat,,, APPLY!!! The Result then IS! One IS more Adaptable to MORE Combat situations!!!!

[@swedd2]

1:36:50 Documentary interest. John Little if you were to make a documentary of the 1980 Mr. Olympia, please read this article if you already haven't. www.slideshare.net/salaocosta/the-intangible-arnold Also its a shame the footage ABC World Wide of Sports never was shown. There is a documentary produced by Paul Graham called "Total Rebuild" then later renamed "The Comeback" which could be used as a reference as well. Cheers

[@andriygriffin4782]

1:11:20

[@swedd2]

1:36:48 1980 Mr. Olympia - Documentary interest

[@robins5314]

Thanks for the video, I could listen to John all day long.

[@eddietours3728]

John Little the man

[@americanubermensch9090]

Brilliant!