Chinese-born martial artist legend Jet Li (Li Lianjie, 李连杰) may be in his 60s now, but in his younger years, he was certainly a looker. However, he claims he sacrificed a lot for his looks, including his health, at one point.
One thing we expect from martial artists is muscles, or more specifically, a six-pack. However, according to Jet Li, what he risked to get good-looking abs was not worth it. Especially not after it made him faint!
Jet Li was recently on the show “Yahoo!TV 茜问” when the host wondered why martial artists don’t have six-packs. As it turns out, the respected martial artist had his own reasons for not trying to work on his abs, not after his last disastrous experience in his younger days.
The actor claimed he had once wanted to be very muscular for a film. He aimed to have almost no body fat, hoping to make his body lean. “However, when I turned around, I breathed out and passed out on set,” Jet Li recounted. “Later, when a Chinese medicine doctor checked my pulse, they said my vitality was severely damaged.”
He added Westerners likely had a different physical constitution thanks to their high-fat and high-calorie diet. “Clearly this method isn’t for everyone, so I never dared to do it again!” the 60-year-old admitted wryly. The actor cheekily added that now, since he’s sixty, he no longer has six-pack muscles, only a belly.
That isn’t the only change in his life. Since devoting himself to Buddhism, Jet Li has adopted a new outlook: “Treat every day as the last day, so that you will cherish every day.” He’s also reportedly been very indifferent to death, having already sorted out his simple funeral arrangements with his wife.
Well, regardless of whether the martial artist had six-packs or not, there is no denying his martial art skills were impressive. At the very least, we’re happy he prioritised his health over his looks!
Source: Oriental Daily
