Kobe Bryant was one of the best basketball players the sport has ever seen, and there are a number of lessons we can learn from his Mamba Mentality. For Kobe, life was always bigger than basketball. Here are the lessons I’ve learned that every person should follow day in and day out.
But first to set the stage, let’s take a look back at my favorite Kobe game of all time.
The first thing that always stood out to me when I was watching Kobe was his confidence in himself. He always wanted the ball in his hands, and he always wanted to be the one shooting the most important shots. He once famously said, “I would rather go 0-30 before I go 0-9.” If you’re not confident in yourself, then who can be? Be willing to take chances and believe in yourself.
Work Ethic
You can’t start a conversation about Kobe without talking about his relentless work ethic. This man would spend hours and hours in the gym. Early in the morning when everyone else was sleeping, he was working on his craft. Talent will only get you so far. Hard work and dedication can lead you down the path of success.
Enjoy the Process
Remember a strong foundation is never built in a day. It takes time, but it also takes a person who is passionate about what they do. Kobe genuinely loved the grind because he always thought there was room to improve. The day to day grind can take a toll on some people, but the ones who embrace the process usually reach their goals.
Be Detail Oriented
As Bryant started aging, he knew that he couldn’t rely on his athleticism as much like when he was younger. So, he started focusing more on his footwork and the X’s and O’s. Never underestimate what the small details can do for you. They can begin to add up quick. It can be the difference between being a great player and a legend.
Set high standards
Don’t be afraid to set high standards for yourself. This sets the path, so you know where you want to go and what it will take. Kobe knew what his expectations were for himself and this helped him block out all the noise. The opinion of others shouldn’t impact you when your standards are already high. Keep your head down and keep working!
Mamba Mindset
Kobe always wanted to go out there and be the best. His thought process was if someone else could do it, so could he. The special part about Bryant’s mindset was how obsessive he would become about a certain thing. He tended to model his game after the greats that came before him. Modeling yourself after someone that you idealize can be a great idea. You may learn a new habit or skill that takes your “game” to the next level.
Family
As Kobe grew older, he became known more as being a family man. It was so heartbreaking to hear that Bryant passed away with his daughter during the accident. He described her as being a daddy’s girl. They shared the bond of loving basketball and were even seen at an NBA game sitting courtside a week before the accident. Never take family for granted. They are the people that love you the most and will always be there for you through it all.
You Can’t Play Sports Forever, Find Something You Love
For Kobe, this was writing children’s books and making a short film that won an Oscar. Even though Kobe was done with his basketball career, he still had so much planned, and that was why his death was so sad. Find something that you love to do outside your job. Having a hobby you enjoy can keep some fun in your life and help avoid burnouts.
If you’ve played football at any level, you understand the expectations and pressure put on athletes to be able to gain or drop weight quickly. While these pressures can be felt at every position, there’s no position groups that feel these demands more intensely than the offensive and defensive line, where size matters almost as much as talent. I’ve spent the last few years of my life as an NCAA Division I student-athlete, but it wasn’t until football was over that I was finally able to achieve my fitness goals.
First Things First
So I don’t think it’s a secret that a lot of football players (especially the dudes in the trenches) are just wired a little differently than your Average Joe. You’ve gotta be a little bit insane to voluntarily sign up to commit 40 to 50 hours a week (not including school or work) to a jam packed schedule of workouts, 4:45AM wake-up calls, film sessions, training room work, practices, meetings, yada yada yada, all for the reward of bashing your head into another 300 lb grown-ass man over and over again… but for whatever crazy reason, we did that… And that madness instilled a mindset in us that is different than most. A mindset that allows you to face any challenge and attack it without hesitation. The mindset that allowed you to achieve your goals in football is the same mindset that its going to take to achieve your goals after football. Commitment, self-disciple, and a whole lotta that WORK. Easy as that. And just like in football, you’ve gotta have a game plan.
Game Plan
Through hard work and dedication, I’ve been fortunate enough to drop 70+ lbs (in under 7 months) twice in the last 4 years and the things I can point to that contributed the most to my journey were:
Intermittent fasting
Working out with purpose
Keeping your eyes on the prize
Intermittent Fasting
You’re a former lineman. You love to eat. I get it. But believe me when I tell you that even though it sounds pretty intimidating, intermittent fasting is going to be your best friend in this whole process. In fact, if you do it right, you can still eat a lot of your favorite not-so-healthy foods somewhat regularly.
Contrary to popular belief, the entire idea behind intermittent fasting is NOT to starve yourself. With intermittent fasting, you’re still supposed to take in the same amount of calories you would normally, but instead of taking in those calories through the traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner, you instead give yourself a 4-8 hour window (depending on what you can handle) each day where you scarf down an entire day’s worth of calories. After a few weeks, your body will eventually get used to your new eating pattern and you’ll start to not even get hungry outside of the window that you’ve set for yourself. Not only does intermittent fasting offer weight-loss benefits, but there are also cognitive and cell restoration benefits that come along with fasting regimens as your body enters into a state of ketosis.
As great as the benefits of intermittent fasting can be, it is definitely something that you shouldn’t jump into without doing your research first and making sure it’s the right weight loss method for you. Below are a few links to videos and podcasts to help you begin your research and better understand exactly how intermittent fasting works.
So obviously, throughout this process, your workout regimen is going to need to be pretty gnarly if you want to see real results fast. It’s crucial that you’re able to hold yourself accountable to not only get in the gym everyday, but also to work your ass off while you’re there! You don’t have your coaches to yell at you anymore, no more teammates to hype you up when you’re not feeling it, no real consequences for skipping a workout. IT’S 100% ON YOU NOW!
So now that you’re in the gym, you’ve gotta figure out how to transition from the year-round swoll-sesh that is lineman workouts into a workout that’ll get you slim and trim. I get asked all the time what my workout routine is and the answer varies but the one thing that is always a constant is CARDIO! I know… as a big guy, cardio is your worst nightmare and rightfully so! Even when you drop the weight, cardio still sucks but like I said before, you’ve gotta embrace the challenge! If it was easy to drop 85 lbs, everybody would do it!
While I 100% encourage you to attack the gym, it’s important to make sure you’re smart about your cardio and that you don’t try to do too much too fast! You can definitely put yourself in some sketchy situations if you’re going all out too early in the process. Nobody wants to be the guy that passes out at the gym because he was hitting the elliptical too hard so make sure you know your limitations, but cardio definitely needs to be the focal point of your workouts. Everything else is supplementary. You’ve been big as hell your whole damn life, you don’t need to lift anymore! Go ahead and hop on that treadmill big fella!
#NipSlip
As many big guys do, I’ve always had some pretty serious knee issues and I know jogging isn’t too easy on the ol’ joints, especially when you’re pushing 300 pounds. I’ve found that the stationary bike is a great alternative to the treadmill and a much more comfortable place to knock-out a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) session. I bike at least one hour (22-25 miles) on the stationary bike 5 to 6 times a week, alternating between 30-second and 90-second working sets with 30-second resting sets in between. It’s the worst thing in the world for the first few weeks but it’s a freakin’ game changer once you start getting comfortable with higher-intensity cardio! Find some good thermogenic pre-workout, search for a good playlist, and get crackin’ on that thing!
The first month or so of daily cardio is gonna be killer on your lungs and your legs. Your heart is going to be beating through your chest. You’ll probably be the sweatiest guy in the gym and I promise it won’t be a pretty sight. But as you gradually start to shred more and more, you’re gonna realize how worth it it was and be stoked that you did it!
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Just like chasing any other goal in life, its super important to be able to see the big picture and remember what you’re working towards. The biggest challenge you’ll face in this whole process will be the mental battle you’re going to be fighting with yourself to keep pushing your limits. It’s key that you don’t let yourself get discouraged or lose sight of your goals if you aren’t seeing the results that you want right away! Keeping the right mentality can make ALL THE DIFFERENCE!
You’re not gonna lose 10 lbs in a week and you might not even lose 5 lbs in a week, but you’ve always got to remember to keep a level head, put your head down, and keep on grinding! You’ll only get out what you put into your workouts and dieting, so if you give a shitty effort, you’re bound to get shitty results. At the end of the day, nobody else can want it for you. If you want it bad enough, you’ll make it happen! No excuses.
I hope this helps you in your journey! Good luck, be smart, and get after it!
The amount of times I have heard “I’m not a runner” or “I’m not built like a runner, therefore I can’t run” has really started to piss me off and honestly, whoever I walked by this weekend saying these things, thank you for the inspiration to prove you all wrong.
I’ll start by being completely candid, I am a bit biased to the whole physical activity hoorah. I grew up playing competitive soccer up until the day I left for college. I mean, yes, it’s a lot of running and disciplined conditioning, but I never had to run longer than 3-4 miles at a time in those 15 years of playing. I should also add that each of those miles had to be in 7 minutes or less (the struggle was totally real).
Once college started, all concepts of physical activity went out the window and I was now struggling to run 1 mile, on a Sunday, while trying not to gag over the smell of Captain Morgan and Fireball seeping through my pores. Cool.
Freshman year ended and those attractive 15 pounds needed to go (this isn’t where running saved my life, I just got cut off of my campus meal plan when I moved out of the dorms). Exercise became important again and I was back in shape but I still couldn’t run more than 2 agonizing miles, maybe 3 on a good day.
Come Junior year I accepted an offer for an internship in Seattle and decided I should find things to do that would let me see the city in a unique way. This is where running made my life great. I signed up for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Seattle, by myself. Turns out I wasn’t alone, a few of my friends had already signed up and planned on taking a road trip to run as well. Training became fun as we increased our distance by one mile each Sunday and spent the majority of our runs singing and talking in very breathy sentences. Come race day, 13.1 miles never seemed so doable.
To make a long story longer, I caught the running bug. Since my first half in Seattle, I have completed two more half marathons, improving my time each time.
The point of this was to show that anyone can lace up some shoes and hit the pavement. I can’t lie like some Pinterest post and say it’s as easy as that. Running is an investment in your time, your body, and your wallet. Ugly running shoes changed the way I felt about running. YOU MUST INVEST IN UGLY RUNNING SHOES. My GPS watch complimented my competitive drive by keeping my pace (so that I wasn’t trying to run 7 minute miles for 13.1 miles straight) and my running belt was crucial for holding my phone, keys and ID. Looking the part makes performing the part so much easier.
I’m not saying go sign up for five half marathons or to start out running 9 miles at a time. I challenge every one of you to start by going outside (weather is a horrible argument), plug in some pump-up tunes or grab a friend to distract you, and start off slow. If 1 mile is all you’ve got, then it’s one more mile than those sitting on the couch. Happy Running 🙂
*Serious about it? Comment below for more tips and help on joining a world wide community.
There have been a bunch of great looking jerseys in NBA history, and unfortunately there have been plenty that are less than pleasant. Here is my list of the top 7 ugliest NBA jerseys. Let me know what you think!
7 Golden State Warriors 2012
I won’t lie, I think all of the sleeved jerseys in the NBA are just hideous. But out of all of them, this orange one to go along with the pin stripe shorts are just the worst of the bunch. With how well the Warriors play, this jersey seems to misrepresent them.
6 Charlotte Bobcats 2007
This jersey was the terrible idea of some Charlotte designer that went along with their “NASCAR Night” in ’07. The finish line checkers on the sides of the jersey do not mesh well with the pin stripe design of the rest of the jersey. While Charlotte was named the Bobcats, they only had a winning record 2 years out of the total 10 years, this jersey kind of fits with the ugliness during that decade for them.
5 Sacramento Kings 2005
The Kings made gold and purple jerseys in ’05 as alternate uniforms, seemingly forgetting about that powerhouse Los Angeles team to the south. These were only used for two seasons, which in my opinion, is two seasons too many.
4 Cleveland Cavaliers 1994
The stripe going across this jersey just doesn’t look right, not to mention that the colors have nothing to do with the Cavaliers logo or primary colors. Even the word “Cleveland” looks ugly with the red font. Compared to today’s Cavs jerseys, I’m glad these will not be making a comeback any time soon.
3 Dallas Mavericks 2001
This metallic looking jersey was only used for one game in the ’01 season before owner Mark Cuban gave them the boot. I honestly can’t blame him because these things just look downright awful. They almost look like a shiny trash bag, and that’s where they belong; in the trash.
2 Los Angeles Clippers 2006
This jersey is a throwback to their days as the Buffalo Braves. It’s hard to make an orange jersey look good and the weird stripes on this one just didn’t do it. The “B” also looks totally out of place, similar to the stripes. Clippers fans weren’t too proud of these jerseys and were happy to see them go after only two seasons of being in use.
1 Milwaukee Bucks 1995
There are a bunch of ugly Milwaukee jerseys that I could have chosen because most of them look bad, but I think you can tell why I chose this one! There are so many things wrong with this jersey, so let me start with the obvious; the deer. Damn this thing looks pissed and awful, and it takes up basically half of the uniform! Next let’s look at the primary color; that may very well be the worst looking green I have ever seen. Now the text; with the faded white to purple lettering, it just tops off what was already an ugly jersey.
