By Gabrielle Finora
Learn how Mike Mancias has kept ‘King James’ in shape for nearly two decades.
LeBron James isn’t just one of the best basketball players in the world—he’s one of the greatest athletes, period. James starts his 21st year in the NBA this fall with three Olympic gold medals, 40,000 career points, the most All-NBA First Team selections (13 if you were wondering), and countless other awards.
To be such a successful athlete for over twenty years, James requires a specialized nutrition and training regimen. With his dedicated trainer and nutritionist, Mike Mancias, the two perfected a schedule that drives James’ results. In this blog, we will review James’ training regimen, which focuses on five main components: mobility, cardiovascular conditioning, full-body strength training, recovery, and nutrition1.
Preparation
Mancias believes that training doesn’t start at the beginning of their session. It starts the night before1. James is responsible for eating a healthy dinner and getting a good night’s sleep. The next morning, James eats his first of five meals that day. A typical breakfast is an egg white omelet with a few pieces of French toast or regular wheat toast, and bacon or turkey sausage on the side. Throughout the day, he snacks on dehydrated fruits and mixed nuts2.
About 30 minutes before his training session, James has a pre-workout shake from Ladder, a company founded by Mancias and James1. The pre-workout drink combines caffeine, beta-alanine, creatine, theanine, and electrolytes to fuel James’ workout and prevent fatigue. Once properly fueled, LeBron heads into the gym for a carefully curated training session designed by Mancias to address all aspects of performance.
Training
On top of his basketball training, James works out six times weekly, with three days focused on cardio and plyometrics. The others are focused on weights and strength training3. James starts his warm-up with 8-10 minutes of foam rolling, followed by mobility exercises1. He focuses on hip mobility and core strength with exercises like Spiderman crawls.
Cardiovascular health is critical for James’s performance in high-intensity basketball games. Mancias recommends VersaClimbers for a challenging full-body warmup1. Bear crawls are a great substitute if you cannot access a VersaClimber.
Mancias follows this up with full-body strength training. For James’ upper body, he recommends 3 sets of 8-12 reps of inverted rows and landline rotational presses on each side. To build core strength, James performs lateral stance cable chops, which mimic the rotational movements needed for quick, on-court pivots. For the lower body, Mancias suggests 3 sets of 8-12 reps of multiplanar lunges to improve James’ stability throughout the constant shuffling, jumping, landing, and changing motions on the basketball court. Lower body training is especially important for knee and ankle injury prevention. After his training, James’ specialized recovery plan ensures he’s back on his feet in no time.
Recovery
The final aspect of James’ training is his recovery, which consists of nutrition, cryotherapy, and mobility. Immediately after a workout, James will drink a plant-based protein shake from Ladder to replenish his body and support muscle development. Cryotherapy involves exposing the body to extremely cold temperatures, which helps reduce inflammation, swelling, and muscle tension, and delays soreness and muscle damage from exercise4. For mobility, James stretches daily, focusing on his hamstrings, glutes, groin, quadriceps, and shoulders.
Nutrition
In general, Mancias recommends keeping nutrition simple, but consistent. “Sometimes the simplest routines and exercises are the ones that will be most beneficial to you”2. James is extremely consistent with his meals, regardless of if he wins or loses. According to Mancias, James eats a normal but health-conscious diet consisting of five high-protein meals a day with various snacks, like fruit, and protein shakes. He has tried diets like Paleo, but James prefers to stay away from trending eating patterns. During peak season training, like the playoffs, James strictly consumes 180 to 240 oz of liquids daily. But just like many of us, he saves some room for wine at the end of the day and the occasional chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream (James’ favorite).
While LeBron’s regimen is built for an elite athlete, many of these principles can be adapted to your own fitness goals. Instead of cryotherapy, cold showers can provide some similar benefits, and simple stretches can improve mobility. Mancias points out that everyone is different, so find a plan that works for you and stay consistent.
References
- Men’s Health. (2018, September 26). LeBron James Workout Explained By His Trainer | Train Like A Celebrity. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkmKUASy-p0
- Prakash, N., & Mancias, M. (2019, March 7). LeBron James’s Trainer Shares the Keys to the Superstar’s Diet, Training, and Recovery. GQ. other. Retrieved October 15, 2024,.
- Reid, C. (2024, March 8). Lebron James’ complete training routine and Diet Plan. Men’s Health Magazine Australia. https://menshealth.com.au/lebron-james-workout-and-diet/
- Dupuy O., Douzi W., Theurot D., Bosquet L., Dugué B. (2018). An evidence-based approach for choosing post-exercise recovery techniques to reduce markers of muscle damage, soreness, fatigue, and inflammation: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Front. Physiol. 9:403. 10.3389/fphys.2018.00403
