Muscle size verse muscle strength.

[Jasonw1178]

Size does not equal strength. Especially when it comes to raw power. Some of the hardest hitting fighters aren't always the biggest fighters in boxing or MMA. Look at crossfit, or even the strongman competitions, the biggest don't always win.

[SuffolkPunch]

Size does not equal strength. Especially when it comes to raw power. Some of the hardest hitting fighters aren't always the biggest fighters in boxing or MMA. Look at crossfit, or even the strongman competitions, the biggest don't always win.

Winning is not purely down to strength. Mariusz Pudzianowski started fighting but still got beat - and there is no disputing he was the strongest guy there.

What about: experience, technique, stamina, conditioning, limb speed, reaction speed etc.

[Jasonw1178]

Winning is not purely down to strength. Mariusz Pudzianowski started fighting but still got beat - and there is no disputing he was the strongest guy there.

What about: experience, technique, stamina, conditioning, limb speed, reaction speed etc.

True, but I was talking about the hardest hitters, they aren't usually the biggest guys. Of course there are plenty of other factors.

[nicky_hansard]

Bruce Lee weighed 130, had little muscle mass and he is much stronger than the average bodybuilder.

A lot of information about Bruce Lee is actually outright false. Basically urban legend type things. No doubt he was a freak but most of the things you hear about him aren't true.

[nicky_hansard]

That's not true. He actually weighed closer to 165 where you see him in films where he has an impressive physique (from weight training) - which is a big number for a short guy.

Super fast twitch fibers exist. Olympic standard sprinters and similar athletes often have them in much higher than usual concentrations than regular people. It's possible his strength (or at least relative strength) was pretty high due to this.

Bruce Lee was a strong believer in functional strength. He did have a period of mainly bodybuilding type training but I have read a quote from him somewhere that he said he was getting bigger but not proportionately stronger, so he backed off from that type of exercising a bit and focused more on strength. He dropped some weight after swapping but stayed the same strength.