18 Examples Of Kobe Bryant's Insane Work Ethic
He ran on an anti-gravity treadmill all summer to stay in shape without hurting his Achilles.
He decided to lose 16 pounds for the Olympics in 2012.
Kobe has never been out of shape, but he decided to change himself as a precautionary measure. He told the Guardian:
"With summer basketball leading directly into the season — and I'm expecting to play until next June — I have to take some load off my knees. I've got to shave some of this weight."
Source: Guardian
He'd make high school teammates play one-on-one games to 100.
Kobe played a bench warmer to 100 multiple times when he was in high school.
In Kobe's worst game, he still won 100-12.
Source: SI
He used to practice by himself without a ball, says Shaq.
Shaq wrote in his book:
"You'd walk in there and he'd be cutting and grunting and motioning like he was dribbling and shooting — except there was no ball. I thought it was weird, but I'm pretty sure it helped him."
Source: LA Times
He had Nike put 'sutures' on his new sneakers to remind him of his injury.
He goes through super intense workouts on game days.
From ESPN's Rick Reilly:
"Among a dozen other drills, Bryant does suicide push-ups. At the top of the pushup, he launches himself off the mat so hard that both his feet come off the ground and his hands slap his pecs. He does three sets of seven of these. This makes me turn away and whimper softly."
Source: ESPN
He is on a crazy strict diet right now.
He has eliminated sugar and pizza and only eats lean meat.
He told ESPN:
"There aren't really any supplements that I'm taking from that perspective. What I've done really is just train really hard and watch my diet. I think that's the thing that catches guys most. They don't do self assessing."
Source: ESPN
He ices his knees for 20 minutes three times per day and does acupuncture so he doesn't get hurt.
Source: ESPN
He watches film of himself at halftime.
According to ESPN's Jackie McMullen in 2010:
"He often corrals teammates, fires up the laptop, and shows them precisely how they can carve out easier shots for themselves."
Source: ESPN
He had Nike shave a few millimeters off the bottom of his shoes in 2008 to get 'a hundredth of a second better reaction time.'
Source: SI
He says he taught himself to play Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' on piano by ear.
Source: @KobeBryant
He trains for four hours a day during the season, and more than that in the offseason.
Source: Men's Fitness
He keeps players after practice as 'guinea pigs.'
In 2008, Sports Illustrated reported that Kobe will keep random players after practice so that he can try out new moves on them.
Similar to what he did to bench warmers in high school.
Source: SI
This quote from an NBA scout in 2008: 'Allen Iverson loves to play when the lights come on. Kobe loves doing the s--- before the lights come on."
Source: SI
He figured out how to do Dirk Nowitzki's unblockable one-footed stepback jumper in 2012.
This quote about how he wants to be remembered: 'To think of me as a person that’s overachieved, that would mean a lot to me. That means I put a lot of work in and squeezed every ounce of juice out of this orange that I could.'
Source: Yahoo!
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