Kobe Bean Bryant (August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Those times when you get up early and you work hard. Those times you stay up late and you work hard. Those times when you don’t feel like working. You’re too tired. You don’t want to push yourself, but you do it anyway. That is actually the dream.
THIS 1 QUOTE FROM KOBE BRYANT IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HIS SUCCESS | INC.
Workout and Diet
For the Black Mamba to maintain his MVP calibre playing over the stretch of two decades, he relied on a combination of intense off-season training, careful diet planning and regular recovery sessions; each varying in degrees as Bryant got older.
Tim Grover, who was the strength & conditioning coach for both Bryant and Jordan, explained how the two legends approached their training. “One of the biggest differences between the two is Michael always knew when it was enough,” Grover told GQ. “And he would listen to you. If you said, ‘That’s it,’ then that’s it. With Kobe, to him, ‘That’s it’ means that’s it for that moment, but three hours later, I can start back up again.”
When it comes to Bryant’s diet, the Lakers shooting guard began to take his nutrition much more seriously later in his career. That meant cutting out sugar cookies, Sour Patch Kids and his famous pre-game meal of pepperoni pizza and grape soda, and adding in a lot of lean meat, fish and vegetables. The low-sugar bottle of chocolate milk for his post-game meal stayed though.
“What I’ve done really is just train really hard and watch my diet,” Kobe told ESPN. “I think that’s the thing that catches guys most. They don’t do self assessing. They feel like they can go out there and do some of the things that they did when they were younger and eat some of the things that they’ve been (eating) and not accept the fact that what you put in has an impact.”
“I’ve been able to be honest with myself and have had to cut down on a lot of things and eat very healthy. It sucks, but it’s worth it.”
Diet is always the hardest thing. We’re accustomed to eating what we want to eat whenever we want to eat it. You become comfortable with that. A change in that is a change in your lifestyle. That’s been the most difficult.
LAKERS STAR KOBE BRYANT CONTINUES TO FEAST, THANKS TO DIET | LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
Sleep
Much has been made about Bryant’s insane sleep schedule, especially when compared to Lebron James who typically gets about 12 hours of sleep a day. During a 2006 interview on Stephen A. Smith’s former ESPN show, Quite Frankly, Bryant famously told the host, “I don’t need too many hours of sleep, man. I can go off of three or four hours.”
Later in his career, however, Bryant’s approach to his sleep routine changed, as he began to understand the importance of shutting off and winding down. In a 2014 New York Times interview with the sleep queen herself, Arianna Huffington, Bryant revealed that he was getting much more sleep these days, “I used to get by on three or four hours a night. I have a hard time shutting off my brain. But I’ve evolved. I’m up to six to eight hours now.”
Bryant also explained that he wanted to get more sleep to have more energy to play with his kids. “You know the other major thing about sleep? It gives me more energy to spend time with my family and have fun with my kids. As I got more rest, I could work and come home — and become the human jungle gym again.”
Kobe Bryant’s Daily Routine (post retirement):
- 5 am – Wake up, go to the gym
- 7:30 AM – Take the kids to school
- 8:30 AM – Make breakfast for his wife
- 9:30 AM – Go to work
- 3 PM – Pick the kids up from school
- 3:30 PM – Take them to practice
- 4 PM – Relax, read
- 5 PM – Make dinner
- 7 PM – Spend time with family
- 12 AM – Bedtime
Wake Up & Work Out
It is no surprise that Kobe Bryant still woke up long before the sun rose, eager to get his morning workout in. There are a few reasons why Bryant still maintained such a vigorous workout routine. He noted that one of the most challenging aspects of his new daily routine was finding something to work towards and creating specific, measurable goals. While playing for the Lakers, he was constantly striving to win the next NBA Championship. However, once his career ended, so did these goals. After giving his body a few months’ break, he ultimately decided it was time to begin working out again.
“For me, it was, ‘OK, I have to aim for something.’ So I said, ‘I want to aim for size. I want to aim for bulk. So that’s a tangible thing. I’m going to go for that.’”
This video covers his crazy work ethic
Sources:
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKmkpoEqg1sOMGEiIysP8Tw
- https://www.sportscasting.com/kobe-bryants-daily-routine-was-so-busy-he-barely-had-time-to-sleep/
- https://owaves.com/day-plan/day-life-kobe-bryant/
- https://www.balancethegrind.com.au/daily-routines/kobe-bryant-daily-routine/