I Followed Kobe Bryant’s Daily Routine for a Week (Training, Basketball, Diet, Mamba Mentality)

Joe Natian
7 min readMar 21, 2023

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Kobe Bryant was a legendary basketball player, with arguably the greatest player of all time.

His mamba mentality has inspired millions of fans, including myself, to be our better selves.

I wish I could afford to watch Kobe play live when I was a student.

I wish I hadn’t missed his final game for being too busy as an entrepreneur.

I wish I can say thank you to him in person one day.

But all of this can no longer be realized…

So, three years after his passing away, in honor of him, I am going to try his daily routine for a week, and see what I can learn.

From his iconic 4 o’clock wake up, to his picturesque jumper, his workouts, to his diet, and his creative mindset training, I am gonna try it all!

Let’s do it!

At 4:00-Wake Up

Kobe Bryant typically woke up at 4:00 AM, and started every day by meditating for about 10–15 minutes.

He said meditating helped him set up the rest of the day, it was like having an anchor, it helped him control and dictate the day, instead of constantly chasing the day.

Instead of worrying about falling asleep again, I found meditating in the morning quite inspiring.

I Felt good physically and mentally.

At 5:30-Track Work

At 5:30, he transitioned to his daily workout.

Kobe Bryant had a unique way of training which is best known as the 666 workouts, because he worked out 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, and 6 months a year.

Everyday’s 6-hour routine is divided into 2 hours basketball skills, 2 hours weightlifting, and 2 hours track work.

His track work includes High-Intensity- Interval-Training like sprints, jogging and walking for 100, 200 and 400 yards every morning.

Like I said, Kobe Bryant did interval running, changing his pace and speed through his running.

I don’t do much variable speed running in my usual training, so I was pretty exhausted…

At 8:30-Breakfast

It is time for the first meal of the day.

Kobe typically ate eggs and Oatmeal for breakfast. Which is a healthy dish sided with fruits, nuts, and milk.

Kobe Bryant is quite particular about the foods he ate, that means no coffee, no alcohol, no fast foods, and no baked goods.

I felt like for many people, the no coffee part kinda sucks. Luckily for me, I don’t drink coffee, I don’t drink alcohol, I think I can do this.

At 10:00-Basketball Skills

At 10 am, Kobe started his insane Basketball drills which include shooting at least 700–1,000 shots per day.

He also performs at least 10 minutes of defensive slides, 20 minutes of dribbling, followed by an intense 90 minutes of shoot-around.

The hardest part is, Kobe shoots from five specific areas of the court completing enough 10 shots from each location before moving onto the next one.

As I expected, I really sucked at first.

But I remember Kobe saying it’s always the next shot that counts.

And I started to yell “Kobe” before every shot.

It really worked! Finally I completed his goalscoring mission in every position.

At 12:00-Lunch

It is 12 am, and it is time for lunch.

I got right here a classic Green vegetables salad, with Chinese cabbage, and broccoli.

And a piece of baked wild-caught fish with Olive oil.

Kobe took his nutrition much more seriously later in his career.

That meant cutting out sugar cookies, and his famous pre-game meal of pizza and grape soda, and adding in a lot of lean meat, fish and vegetables.

I am from China, and I have been living in Shenzhen and Hongkong area for years, where people eat fish and vegetables a lot.

I am pretty sure, I already eat the same type of lunch meal as him every day.

At 13:00-After-lunch Work

After lunch, Kobe will work for a couple of hours on his books or other creating projects.

We often forget that, Kobe Bryant was so much more than just a basketball player.

He was a writer, an investor, a storyteller, an entrepreneur, a pioneer for inspiring people to become the best they can be.

His work ethic was relentless, and I can tell from his routine that, it wasn’t motivated by fame or money. It came from his purpose, which is To inspire future generations of people to be the best version of themselves

At 15:00-Weightlifting Session

At 3 o clock, it is time for the weightlifting session, Kobe’s main workout.

Right here, we have Kobe’s real workout routine.

You can see right here, all the excises Kobe did, number of sets, number of ponds, and number of reps.

Kobe’s weightlifting routine is a blend of traditional weightlifting and Olympic style lifting.

While the former increases muscle strength and stamina, the latter focuses on explosive movements and high verticals.

To build strength and elasticity without gaining too much mass, it is said that, Kobe focuses more on lower weights and higher repetitions, though.

In my opinion, the weights are still pretty dead heavy…

At 18:00-Dinner

At 6, he had dinner, where he will eat quinoa and some lean protein.

Afterwards, he will spend time with family and play with his kids.

Every time I think of his once perfect family, it makes me sadder.

I believe that he and GIGI just went to the basketball court in heaven, and he must be the MVP in heaven’s league.

At 21:00-Read & Write

From 21:00 to 23:00 pm, Kobe Bryant will read and write.

Not only did he heavily trained his body, but also his mind.

He has published several books, and boarded the New York times bestseller list.

I think it is really good to have dedicated time like this, to expressing oneself, to telling a story, to learning by reading, and to being creative.

I think that is a really good way ending off a day.

Reflection

I learned a lot this week.

I learned that, I need to workout more.

But the biggest lesson though, is got to be, to be the best that you can be.

No matter what we do, basketball, working out, writing, filmmaking, we should all have a work ethic like Kobe.

We‘ll never be able to play basketball as well as Kobe.

But we can always do everything we can to be our best selves.

And I think that is the true meaning of Mamba Mentality.

Appendix-Kobe Bryant’s Workout Routine:

Monday & Thursday: Upper body

Bench press: 8–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Lat pull downs: 8–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Incline press: 10–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Military press: 8–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Biceps curls: 10–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Iso hold push-ups: 10–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Tuesday & Friday: Olympic lifts

Stiff-legged deadlifts: 8–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Romanian deadlifts: 8–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Clean pulls: 8–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Lateral dumbbell raises: 8–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Bar dips: 8–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Triceps press-downs: 8–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Wednesday & Saturday: Lower body

Back squat/front squat: 10–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Leg curls: 10–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Leg extensions: 8–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Calf raises: 10–12 reps x 3–4 sets

Ab crunches: 10–12 reps x 3–4 sets

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Joe Natian
Joe Natian

Written by Joe Natian

Founder & CEO of AI-T Edtech | Book Author | Youtuber

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