NBA basketball champ, Kobe Bryant, recently had some diet and fitness tips to share with anyone looking to lose weight or get in shape. The basketball star recently dropped nearly 20 pounds to prepare for the Olympics. While he was certainly not overweight, Bryant insisted he wanted to be in the best shape possible for the Olympics in London. With a rigorous workout routine and healthy diet, Kobe Bryant was able to shed those pounds, and was happy to share his tips to getting fit.
Diet Tips
Kobe Bryant’s diet and nutrition tips won’t look much different than the advice you have been getting for years; that eating healthy is most important to losing weight and getting fit. Bryant admitted in an interview with iVillage that he would eat pepperoni pizza minutes before NBA games, but as he gets older, this is becoming a thing of the past. The basketball star now tries to eat more frequently throughout the day, adding in snacks and smaller meals.
He recommends consuming fish and lean meat, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats like olive oil. He insists balance is key and you shouldn’t keep yourself from eating the occasional treat. He recommends eating 1 – 1.5 grams of protein per pound of your body weight if you’re looking to build muscle.
Fitness Tips
Kobe Bryant, as a professional basketball player, is someone who is naturally very active, both for training and for playing. During off-seasons, however, Bryant tries to remain just as active. He mentions he likes to go to the park or the track for walking, running or jogging. For workouts, Kobe recommends a combination of cardio and weight lifting for a balanced workout routine. He varies his cardio by adding in slow and long distance runs to fast, short and intensive running and sprints. He is not a stranger to running 4×400 meter sprints, 10×15 meter sprints, and 2 x 200 meter sprints, alternating them throughout the week.
Bryant also recommends weight lifting. Kobe enjoys going to the gym will visit it nearly daily, but he also recommends a weight lifting routine if you don’t have access to a personal trainer. One such example is alternative workouts on different days of the week, such as using the incline press, bench press, military press, and abdominal crunches on days 1 and 4, the lateral dumbbell raises, bar dips, and bicep curls on days 2 and 5, and back squats, front squats, leg extensions, and leg curls on days 3 and 6.
His final workout recommendation is to take one day off a week to let your muscles rest. While this workout is intended for gaining muscle, it can also be used for losing weight, if that is your goal.
