How Did LeBron James Become The NBA Scoring King?

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At long last, the King of the NBA scoring has been crowned. On Tuesday night, LeBron James scored his 38,388th point to overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the game's all-time leading scorer.

James was drafted first overall in the 2003 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers and has since established himself as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Throughout his career, James has consistently been one of the top scorers in the league, using his athleticism, versatility, and basketball IQ to score in a variety of ways. In addition, he has also been durable and has managed to maintain a high level of play even as he has gotten older, allowing him to accumulate a large number of points over the course of his career. James currently stands as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, a testament to his impressive skill and longevity in the league.

So how did he get there. James credits his success to the grueling workout regimen that has allowed him to sustain his greatness over an extended career. Even now he is playing at an All-NBA Level at the age of 38. With almost superhuman physical gifts and abilities, it would be understandable for him to take the easy path and not put in the normal work needed to achieve legendary status.

However, that is not the way James approaches thing. Instead he invests an ungodly amount of time and money into ensuring he can maximize his abilities while at the same time keeping open a longer window to perform at an elite level

As you would expect, James has a first class home gym and employs a veritable army of professionals chefs, trainers, and massage therapists to keep him firing on all cylinders. For his strength and physical conditioning program, LeBron uses of mixture of heavy weights, body-weight exercises, and cable work to ensure a strong core, flexibility, and superior mobility. It is a balanced approach that doesn’t lean heavily in any one area, but mixes all methods into the ideal one for promoting the stability and endurance needed to go toe-to-toe with some of the world’s largest athletes on the hardwood.

When it comes to his diet, James has experimented with modified versions of the paleo diet that limits the intake of processed foods and high carbohydrates options, that is not his year round agenda. Instead he keeps a general focus on getting a good amount of lean meats and vegetables as the staples of his food regimen. So while the lifting and diet regimen are about what you would expect from an elite athlete, it is the exotic treatments that James utilizes that really set the bar for a premier training plan for for a King!

Cryotherapy is a treatment method where extremely cold temperature is used to reduce inflammation and pain while speeding up standard recovery time. It has been defined by some as “an ice pack on steroids”. With this treatment, the subject enters a chamber where liquid nitrogen is released to drop temperatures as cold as -250 degree F. It is a somewhat trendy recovery method used not only by James, but elite athletes like Floyd Mayweather and Antonio Brown. It can be pricey though ranging up to $100 for a session that generally lasts only a few minutes. It is not without its dangers either, as Brown recently reported some frostbite damage to his foot after undergoing a similar cold treatment.

With the use of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, air pressure is increased up to three times higher than normal, which in theory allows your lungs to gather more air. The result is that your blood carries oxygen throughout your system to fight bacteria and stimulate growth hormones and stem cell regeneration. Normally found in hospitals, elite athletes such as James can afford to build such chambers in their home at a cost of several hundred thousands of dollars. Obviously not a standard feature in most homes, but one that elite athletes swear by in the search to get that elusive physical edge over your competition.

Compression gear is a unique type of garment that fits tightly against the skin and is specially designed to enhance athletic performance during short exercise sessions by improving blood flow and improving oxygenation of muscle tissue. While compression gear is not overly expensive, some of the more high end and cutting edge devices can be pricey for the average user.

Electrostimulation therapy is used in a number of different devices to provide electric energy for focused treatments. It is used to alleviate muscle spasms, combat atrophy, increase range of motion and address chronic pain. These devices can range in price as low as $100 for cheaper options up to hundreds of thousands for medical grade versions. As you can imagine, an athlete the level of James, has the resources to get world class treatment options.

Most people, if any, are not ever going to perform physically at the levels James has achieved. Still, you can utilize some more affordable versions of his unusual therapies to promote good health and improve your own athletic performance. For those of us with more modest resources, who want to maintain peak athleticism, enjoy faster recovery time, and use cutting edge techniques to be our best physical selves, these are still some excellent options.

Combined with a healthy diet and the right combination of performance supplements, you can live your best life by applying smart fitness principles and making them a part of your every day regimen.

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