[John Peterson]

Hey Friends,

Check out this clip. At about 54 seconds you'll see the awesome shape that Steve McQueen was in 24/7.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYUc325fx4k


---John Peterson

[Greg Newton]

John,

Steve McQueen looked good in a rugged, athletic way. From what I was able to find out about how he trained, he worked for an overall athletic look combining martial arts, bag work, running, light weight training, and calisthenics like we do. He would workout hard, two hours a day.

Unfortunately, like a lot of actors from that time Steve was a heavy smoker and died way too young, although he contributed his cancer to asbestos removal when he was in the marine corp. Also, according to Chuck Norris' biography, he had a lot of trouble with his flexibility. For a time he and Chuck were close friends, although by Chuck's admission McQueen was often paranoid of people trying to upstage him and was a hard guy to get to know.

All in all a great actor. The moody, tough and sometimes whimsical loner, he basically played himself on the screen. My wife and I watched box set of his movies this weekend. Lori had never seen some of his greatest movies: Papillon, Tom Horn, and the Getaway, and she fell in love with him immediately.

Steve McQueen, the King of Cool: he defined what the American male wanted to be in the 60's and 70's; self-confident, self reliant, and depreciating. You might not have liked the way he came off, but he was the guy you wanted in a tight spot. May he rest in peace.

Greg

[Andy62]

In addition to his physical qualities Steve McQueen's aura projected an image of strength,individualism,and non conformity which were qualities that a lot of men subconsciously if not consciously wished that they had in the 60s and 70s.

[isorez]

I read a biography of him quite some time ago. He was also a pretty funny guy. He grew up on a farm and rode horses early. During the filming of Magnificent Seven he was always trying to get Yul Brenners goat. Brenner was very cautious around the horses because he wasn't used to them so McQueen would ride circles around him . Also Yul was only 5'7" and McQueen was taller. When they filmed scences together they made Yul somewhat of a platform made of dirt so he appeared talker. Steve would casually keep kicking the dirt away time and time again causing a lot of retakes and really pissing off Brenner. Just a couple of things that I remember from the book.

[John Peterson]

Hey Isorez,

I have a friend that owned Santa Monica studios and won an Oscar for special effects for the movie 'Independence Day'. His wife is friends with Steve McQueen's first wife. He had asked her several questions for me about how Steve McQueen trained. It seems that Steve was obsessively concerned about his physique and the image he projected on screen. He was very proud of his ultra lean, lithe, and sculpted look. He thought bodybuilders looked totally repulsive and were incapable of doing anything truly athletic. It was for that reason that he trained like a boxer from the 1950's era. That meant lots of Push-Ups, Chins, and ab work. He also liked training on the heavy bag. He had trained under Bruce Lee for 10 lessons at $500.00 each back in the late 1960's right after Bruce Lee had co-starred on the Green Hornet TV show. He liked that Bruce Lee did not teach Kata because Lee believed that it ingrained patterns of movement that could be detrimental in a real world fight. Lee trained men like Steve McQueen and James Coburn for 10 lessons max because he believed that everyone could develop a solid base in 10 lessons and then take that knowledge and train themselves to their own highest level as he had done. Most people don't know this about Lee but Bruce Lee spent very little time under anyone's martial arts instruction. He learned the basics and then took it from there totally on his own. This is exactly why people had never seen his style of martial arts previously. It was simply because it did not exist. Another thing, it was because of his training with Steve McQueen that Bruce Lee then decided to go for the ultra lithe, lean, and sculpted look. When he was on the Green Hornet he did not have that same look he became famous for later and it was because of Steve McQueen's influence.

Truth to tell, Steve McQueen was the biggest star in the world at that time and Bruce Lee wanted Steve McQueen to open doors for him.

---John Peterson