9. Kobe Bryant — Pushing Himself to the Limit with “4 AM Practice” & “No-Ball Drills”
NBA legend Kobe Bryant is known for his overwhelming amount of practice and ambition, known as the “Mamba Mentality.” A symbol of this is his early morning training, waking up at 4:00 a.m. There is an anecdote from the Beijing Olympics training camp where other star players were amazed to see him get up early in the morning while his teammates were still asleep, practice alone, and then show up at the breakfast venue. When asked, “Why so early in the morning?”, Kobe replied that if he used his days to practice for several hours longer than others, it would make a big difference over the course of a year. He also did mental practice without a ball. According to Shaquille O’Neill, Kobe would sometimes practice dribbling and shooting without a ball in an empty gym. While it seemed strange at first glance, O’Neill recalls, “It probably worked.” In fact, there are countless anecdotes about Kobe from his high school days, such as “practicing alone in a dark gym” and “practicing shooting with only one hand even when injured.”
Key point: By pushing himself beyond common sense in terms of time and method, he cultivated skills and mental strength that were sharper than anyone else’s, which led to five NBA championships.
— Reference : businessinsider.com
