Grant Hill – NBA FIT Team Member
Phoenix Suns forward Grant Hill has enjoyed a marvelous career throughout his entire life. He has reached great heights and achieved many honors throughout this time as well. From a stellar high school career at South Lakes High School in Reston, VA which led to him to being named to the 1990 McDonald’s All-American Team. From there he went on to attend Duke University. Hill played four years at Duke, winning national titles in 1991 and 1992. Despite losing key contributors on those championship teams, Grant led Duke to the national championship game once again in 1994, but ended up losing to the Arkansas Razorbacks. During his collegiate career, Hill became the first player in ACC history to collect more than 1900 points, 700 rebounds, 400 assists, 200 steals and 100 blocked shots. As a result of his successful college career, he became the 8th player in Duke’s history to have his jersey number (33) retired.
Grant was drafted 3rd overall in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. He entered the league to high expectations, where many expected him to be the future face of the league in a time when Michael Jordan was retired. In his first season, he averaged 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.77 steals per game, and became the first Pistons rookie since Isiah Thomas in 1981–82 to score 1000 points. Hill ended up sharing NBA Rookie of the Year Award honors with Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks, becoming the first Piston since Dave Bing in 1966–67 to win the award. After signing a lucrative free agent contract with the Orlando Magic, Grant was hampered by career-threatening injuries. Overcoming adversity, Grant worked his way back through strenuous workouts and rehabilitation. In 2007, Hill signed a free-agent contract with the Suns. Since being with the Suns, Grant career has been turned back around. In the 2008–2009 season, Hill appeared in all 82 games for the first time in his career, and averaged 12.0 ppg, 4.90 rpg, and 2.3 apg, scoring 27 points and 10 rebounds in the Phoenix Suns season finale.
Off the court, Grant’s life is equally interesting. He is the son of former Dallas Cowboy Calvin Hill, a 3-Time All-Pro running back and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1969. His mother, Janet, was a Wellesley College graduate who shared a suite with Hillary Rodham when both were freshmen there. Grant Hill has been married to R&B singer Tamia since July 1999. They have 2 children: Myla Grace, 5, and Lael Rose, born August 9. Along with being a 7-time All-Star and a 5-time All-NBA selection, Grant is also known for being active off the court. He won the NBA Sportsmanship Award in 2005 and 2008. Hill also has a great love for the arts. He owns a substantial collection of African-American art, centering on the work of Romare Bearden and Elizabeth Catlett. A selection of 46 works from the collection was featured in a touring exhibition at a number of American museums from 2003 to 2006.
Living a healthy lifestyle is important to Grant as well. Recently, Grant sat down with NBAFIT.com for a Q&A to discuss fitness, nutrition and tips on living a healthy and active lifestyle and how fitness and nutrition has played a major part in his career.
Below Is Questions & Answers
The NBA is known for its tough 82 game schedule. With all that goes into completing an NBA season, how important is it for you to remain active during your downtime during the season and during the off-season?
It’s very important to stay active and busy in the off season to stay in shape. As soon as the season ends, I try to participate in sports and activities that I don’t normally get a chance to do during the season. I do everything from playing tennis to cycling, paddle surfing, swimming, chasing around my 7-year old and two-year old daughters. I find those recreational activities to be fun, I like being outdoors and it’s a way of working out and getting your body right as you prepare for the upcoming season. As the summer rolls into late July and August, I start to get back on the courts and play basketball, but there never is a downtime. I’m always doing something; the body was made to be active. The reasons I do it are to stay in shape, it feels good, and its fun and I enjoy it.
What you put into you body is very important to your overall performance. What foods or beverages do you incorporate into your daily routine that helps you perform at your maximum level?
I drink a lot of water and I think that a lot of people miss out on drinking enough daily. It’s important to stay hydrated. For me it’s been a staple of my diet for a very long time. I try to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and some sort of protein like fish and chicken. You can eat healthy at your meals, but your snacks can get you in trouble. I have incorporated a lot of nuts, goji berries, and just healthy snack items. I try to eat organic, but that’s not always possible and much easier when I go home than when I’m on the road. I eat a lot, but the key is to make healthy decisions. You want to say no to something that’s unhealthy. I was just in Philadelphia, and a lot of the guys wanted to eat Philly cheese steaks, but I know if I eat it, I’m going to feel horrible. I am pretty disciplined what I eat, not everybody has to be that hard core, if you eat healthy the majority of the time, I think you’re on the right track.
NBA players are some of the best conditioned athletes in the world. Other than playig basketball, what would you say are some of the benefits of being and eating healthy?
I think other than playing basketball, in general you feel good when you work out. When you work out and eat right, your body is feeling better. If I go a day or two without working out or if I have too much birthday cake or put something in my body that’s not the best for me, I feel it. I like to feel good; I like the release of the endorphins that naturally occurs when you work out. I like the feeling of my body not being sore and tired. I like waking up early in the morning and having the energy to start the day. It’s pretty simple I enjoy how I feel when I eat right and work out.
Many people around the world do not eat healthy and that goes for athletes as well. How have you changed your diet since becoming an NBA player?
I was one of the people who did not eat healthy first coming into the NBA. I ate a lot of fast food, but everything I eat now, I pretty much did not eat then. It’s been a learned process, but my dad (NFL legend Calvin Hill) was always particular about what he ate and exercised. I certainly have picked his brain and people in my life over the last 16 years of my playing career have influenced me to eat right. At first it was all about becoming more efficient on the court then it was about learning about nutrition and diet. Finally it was about an overall healthy lifestyle. I want to be active when I’m 50 or 60 years old and play with my kids and grandchildren. It didn’t affect you before to have 3 Philly cheese steaks like it would now so I’m glad I’ve learned and spoken with a variety of people and tried different things. My teammate Steve Nash is very particular as well about what he eats so we bounce things off each other. What works for him works for me sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s process of elimination and what works for you. Generally, the thing that’s similar between the two of us is that we’re both conscious of what we put into our bodies.
The NBA game is fast paced and physical. As an NBA player how important is it to develop a strong core since running, jumping, physical play, endurance and athleticism are key to having success?
My 20-year high school reunion is this year, and when I think back to high school, the workouts are somewhat archaic. They didn’t focus in on the core, and certainly a lot has changed since that period of time. Now, we understand just how important the core is. You don’t have to go to a health club and bench 300 pounds; it’s about having functional strength. In terms of basketball, there is a lot of running, jumping, cutting, and a lot of very intricate movements. It’s imperative that you work on core. The core is what holds you together, the core is what enables you to land and to jump, and it’s your power base. That’s something I spend a lot of time on every day. Every NBA strength coach now understands and realizes the importance of core work across the NBA.
As an NBA player how important is sleep to your overall performance?
Sleep is very important! The older you get it’s harder. When you’re getting the right amount of rest, your body heals and recovers. It’s tough because of our schedule and late nights. In essence, we’re really nocturnal. We perform at night; sometimes travel at night after games. You arrive at home; you arrive at hotels at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. You certainly learn how to nap and get your rest. It’s important and you have to get rest in general, not just as an athlete. So many people are sleep deprived. Whether you’re running down the court playing with the world’s best athletes in the NBA or you’re in corporate America, you have a family and kids at home, if you’re not getting the right amount of rest, it will affect everything you do. A lot of people talk about diet and exercise but somehow, some way sleep gets lost. I think sleep is just as important as those two.
In order to reach your maximum performance level for games, what meals do you eat pre-game? Post-game?
It’s easier at home to control what you’re eating. At home I eat an oatmeal batter made into a waffle and use agave nectar as a syrup. Agave is a natural sweetner that doesn’t have the rise in sugar levels that syrup or honey has. I tend to eat that in the morning for breakfast and usually a salad and some sort of fish, a sea bass or salmon. I may have that once or twice before a game, and then usually an hour or two before the game and in the locker room we have a fruit platter or tray of some sort. That’s what works for me. Since I’ve become really particular in the last few years about what I eat, my energy level and my recovery level post-work out are so much better. I try to eat afterwards a salad and try to get some protein in my body, but keeping it simple, staying away from heavy pastas, sauces, butters, all those types of things I feel great. I feel better now than I did 5 years ago. My body feels better as I go through the season. I’m not as tired and sluggish and I sleep better. I’m not sore. A lot of that has to do with what I eat.
It’s harder to nap now. You might have a game in Phoenix late tonight and tomorrow night in Portland, you don’t get to Portland until 4 in the morning and then you have a breakfast meeting at 11am. There have been times I can’t sleep in the morning after that meeting. I am sleep deprived before the game. There are times in the morning when I’ll get up and go for a nice walk before the game. We played a back to back in Washington and then Philly. I woke up in Philadelphia and went on a 20-block walk and went to a bookstore just to get out and get the body moving. It generally helps me feel better later on in the game. Even if I’m not out sweating, I’m getting the body moving. I tend to feel better after that.
Growing up, what kind of exercise activities did you participate in? How often did you go outside?
Growing up exercise and strength training were pretty archaic. I think back to when I was a child and I compare it to my children’s experiences. I had so much more unsupervised playtime with my friends. We would go out at night, and not come back until you heard your mom calling your name. Football, hide and go seek, dodge ball – we had all these different activities we’d do in the street. We were getting a great level of fitness by working out, by being outdoors, by playing. We were developing ourselves as athletes; I think that was a time of innocence. My 7-year-old can’t go anywhere unsupervised. She has a bike, and she can ride it, but it’s hard to go anywhere. Times are a little bit different, and it wasn’t as organized, having individual instruction and if you played outside you were active. That’s the one thing as I look at my life from childhood, through adolescence and now, I’ve always been active. My wife calls me a busy body, I’ve always been active. Even on vacation I don’t want to just sit by the pool, I want to hike or swim in the ocean or scuba dive or try my luck at surfing. I have to stay busy, and I ask myself why, but it’s because I enjoy it and feel good as a result.
As you played basketball in school, what kind of routines did you perform in order to stay in shape?
Basketball wasn’t my first love; it was my first love during basketball season. I was always active; it might be racing somebody during recess or the whole classroom playing soccer, basketball, dodge ball or kickball. I think it helped that I was a gifted athlete so you tend to gravitate toward something you’re good at, but I was always developing myself as an athlete. I never thought or dreamt that I would become a professional athlete, I was just having fun. You know what? I’m still having fun. When I’m done playing basketball and hang it up for good, I think I’ll find a way to have fun with something else.
