Photo Credit: ShutterstockWashington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook may soon pass basketball legend Oscar Robertson for the most triple-doubles in NBA history. Beating this record was thought to be untouchable, but Westbrook’s athleticism and all-star energy levels continue allowing him to average triple-doubles during multiple seasons. Of course, the 32-year-old athlete maintains his power and physique thanks to his clean, varied diet and grueling fitness routine.
For starters, Westbrook arises out of bed around 7 a.m. and begins his day with push-ups to wake up his body—anywhere between 25 to 50 reps gets his blood flowing. Interestingly, he only gets about 5-6 hours of sleep each night. “I feel like when I sleep longer, I don't feel the best,” Westbrook told GQ. “I’ll get seven or eight hours of sleep every once in a while, but that's not my norm by any means. I've always been kind of like this: stay up late, but I'm up early.”
A bit later, he looks forward to his favorite meal of the day: a really big breakfast. It varies among fruit, green juice, orange juice, omelets, avocado toast, pancakes, waffles, or hash browns. Meanwhile, his go-to snacks include peanuts, parfaits, yogurt, and smoothies. Yes, the man boasts several meal options.
However, Westbrook likes to stick to fish and salad for lunch. For dinner, he consumes lots of veggies and pasta. Right now, he is ultimately avoiding meat in favor of fish. “I wanted to lose some weight, but also keep my strength and body together,” he said. “Especially throughout the season, as I get older, I have to figure out better ways to keep my body in the right shape and healthy, to be able to do what I want to do, especially while playing.”
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Though Westbrook keeps a pretty steady routine pertaining to his diet, he still learns new ways to stay healthy. “The only thing that I would say I've learned more about... [is] what I drink. Me being an ambassador and partner in Flow, that was an important thing, and having alkaline water and seeing how it's better for your body, for recovery, being able to use that,” he said. "I'm drinking Flow all day long just to stay hydrated.”
Though he doesn’t lift a lot of weights, Westbrook said he focuses his exercises on movement, stretching, stability, and strengthening. “That's kind of where I been throughout the week, just making sure my body is up to tune, consistently working on things that need to be worked on so that I can perform at the level that I feel like I'm supposed to perform at,” he said.
A staple workout includes his sand dune workout, which involves running drills up sand dunes in the outdoor heat. “I’ve been doing it for so long, so I know how to manage it, and how much I need and how long I need to be there,” Westbrook said. “So it's not painful at all. It definitely helps—in my legs, in my endurance.”
Like any pro athlete, Westbrook needs to recover. He likes to drink shakes and smoothies with peanut butter because it provides immediate replenishment. Even on game days, he doesn’t abandon his peanut butter and jelly sandwich — in fact, he eats two of those — with some fruit and plain pasta without sauce. “[I’ve been doing that] since I was in high school,” he told GQ while laughing. “The pasta came a little later. The PB&J has been like that since I been in high school.”
