Kobe Bryant is often revered as the hardest working NBA player ever. But there was a method to the madness, Kobe was very ‘scientific’ in his approach as a basketball player. Apart from studying the game thoroughly, the Mamba also made sure that he was hitting the gym more than the others.
Advertisement
There are many stories of Kobe showing up at the Lakers’ practice facility before anyone else to follow his unforgiving training routine. As per three-time NBA Champion Bryon Scott, Kobe used a very simple logic behind his training routine.
On his Fast Break pod, Scott touched upon Bryant’s workout schedule. He recalled how a young Kobe used to wake up at 4 AM, lift weights for a couple of hours, followed by a shootaround session, conditioning drills, and then an additional evening workout session.
He revealed that Kobe always told him back then that he works out three times a day to get an edge on his competition. He knew that his opponents only allotted one session for practice every day, which is usually enmeshed with the team practice.
But Bryant worked three times a day so that in a five to ten year period, he would have worked on more facets of his game than his competition. Scott said,
“His [Kobe’s] method was scientific because he was like, ‘B, if I work out three times a day, and all these other guys who are so-called great players work out just for practise, just work out that one time a day. He said over a five-year-period, they can’t catch me.'”
“‘I’ve worked out that much. I’ve worked out on my footwork, I’ve worked on my shot, so 5 to 10 years from now, they can’t catch me, they that far behind me.’”
Scott was stunned by this explanation because he couldn’t believe that Bryant picked up such principles at such a young age. As per Scott, while Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter were more gifted than Bryant, the Mamba surpassed them through his hard work.
This is just one of many tales about his unparalleled work ethic. During an appearance on Thanalysis show in July, Caron Butler explained Bryant’s grueling ‘black out’ workouts.
He revealed that Bryant committed around three and a half hours to just conditioning drills. Then he used to hit the weight room immediately after the conditioning workout. To make matters more exhausting, he then participated in one more workout in the evening.
Butler admitted that sticking to these workouts meant blacking out at the end of the day. But he highlighted that his best seasons came after he followed Bryant’s workout blueprint.
