Kobe Bryant is widely known for his work ethics and dedication towards his professional life. However, what’s less known is the rigorous physical training regimen he adhered to in order to sustain peak fitness levels throughout his two-decade-long career.
Much like LeBron James, the late Lakers legend was a fitness freak and liked to stay in shape. The secret ingredients that kept him so fit throughout his career and helped him drop outstanding performances each week have finally been revealed.
Kobe Bryant’s incredible diet and workout plan
In an interview in 2013, the Black Mamba revealed that he started focusing on his nutrition. After going through practices and workouts, exhaustion took over after a certain age when he started paying heed to his diet.
To his surprise, Kobe began noticing the change. The 18-time NBA All-Star said, “I felt like I was in pretty good shape but I still felt a little lethargic in my condition. So let me give this diet thing a shot and you know it changed within a week for me, so I knew then the significance of it.”
According to the former Lakers trainer, Gary Vitti, the 5-time NBA Champion used to avoid sugar or junk food and relied mostly on green vegetables, chicken and eggs, pasture-fed beef, free-range chicken, butter, milk, olive oil and nuts.
As for his workout routine, he used to follow a 6-6-6 plan which meant training 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, and 6 months a year. The former MVP used to train hard in basketball practice sessions to perform like a beast on-court. So, he devoted the first two hours to his practice, while the weightlifting in the gym consumed his next two hours, and the final two were dedicated to outdoor exercises.
The Mamba did everything necessary to improve himself each day while maintaining the outstanding performance on-court.
Kobe Bryant once talked about his unhealthy food habit in the past
Kobe Bryant mentioned that he started focusing on his diet in the later part of his life while he ate a lot of junk food in his younger days.
Bryant admitted having pepperoni pizza and grape soda before scoring the historic 81 points against the Toronto Raptors in 2006. He once confessed per Basketball Network, “That night, I had my therapist come over and work on my knee because my knee was really giving me a lot of problems. So, I had my knee worked on and ordered a pepperoni pizza with grape soda. I finished it that night.”
He went for a change in diet because age catching up and he started “feeling bloated.” While undergoing the change in his diet, the legend found himself in a hard state, but he somehow succeeded in sticking to it.
Despite maintaining a disciplined lifestyle and cutting out on sugar items, the 6’6″ athlete still treated himself with a cookie once in a while. Justifying his cheat mean Kobe said, “Just trying to balance it out, sometimes I have a cookie now and then. But for the most part I stick to it pretty well.”
The Lakers vision to install three statues of the legend to honor him and keep his undying legacy alive has been widely appreciated by fans of the sport.
