During his 18-year Hall of Fame career, Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash researched and obsessed over any way he could gain an edge against the competition. He watched tape. He passed up the post-game pizza. And he's now brought that same detail-oriented approach to coaching, hoping to lead Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons, and the rest of the Nets back to the playoffs. Its a lot of work and stress, but Nash has found that eating well, getting consistent workouts, and playing soccer and tennis help him hold up to the grind.
GQ caught up with Nash to talk about his new training app Block, the fitness routine that helps him handle the 82-game season, and the joy of being able to move freely after struggling with back pain.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
GQ: Are you usually able to turn your mind off from basketball during the offseason?
Steve Nash: I wouldn’t say that was the case this year. Obviously, we had so many injuries and interruptions for whatever that might be. This summer, we just got to work just prepping and planning, and I’ve been happy to do so. But those little pockets in my day where I get a sweat or play my sports, allow me to bounce back quickly and be energized to do the work again. Work-life balance is so paramount for all of us for our quality of life and our mental health. For me, to go and get a sweat and to move and feel great about what I’m doing, it really helps me as a coach. It helps me lead, manage people, be organized, and do all those fundamental ingredients.
Your issues with your back towards the end of your career were well chronicled. Once you retired, when did you get to a point where you felt good again?
At the end of my career, it was a good year before I felt OK. I would go to play soccer and it was a struggle. I didn’t play much and when I did, it was a struggle. But all of my nerve systems have kind of settled down from the back stuff. All of the exercises, and all the methodologies that we put into the new app, Block, got me back to where I now feel good. I can’t play at the same level I played at, but I feel like I’m moving great, feel great, and can play every day if I wanted to. That’s just such a gift for me to have, but with the app, I just want to share the methodology and hopefully just tweak people’s habits. It’s just a change of habits. We’ll provide the template, and you can do what you do at such a more enjoyable rate.
How different is your diet now from your playing days?
I would say from a baseline level, it’s about the same. I’ll probably have a couple of more glasses of wine a week. I try and eat all-natural foods and not eat any processed foods. My diet kind of fluctuates from there on whether it’s more or less carbohydrates, proteins, or fats. Really, I just try and be sensible with my portions, and be as down the middle as possible with the premise of eating all-natural foods.
I remember NBA postgame spreads used to consist of chicken wings and pizza—now chefs are preparing postgame dinners. Do you sometimes wish you had that during your playing days?
Of course! I would have preferred that. I understand we evolve, especially with the evolution of science, and our understanding when it becomes more mainstream, and teams are more apt to adopt those things that I was already trying to adopt. The team might still be serving pizza on the plane on a back-to-back. That definitely happened in my career, but I choose not to eat the pizza. I always had that discipline to seek my own education on that stuff.
Nowadays, every team has dietitians, and chefs, and they’re sourcing their food from great sources. As a coach in the NBA, it’s dangerous because there’s great food everywhere. Luckily, there are a lot of healthy choices, but you can still overeat. It’s great that the players now have better choices, but it’s still up to them with how disciplined they are, how they choose to eat, their portion control, and snacking unhealthily at the wrong times. The ingredients are still there for you to make mistakes, but the table is set for you to have better options.
You mentioned Block, your new fitness app. Where did the idea come from?
I wasn’t the most explosive, biggest, fastest, or strongest. I was always trying to find a way that I could close the gap or find a competitive advantage, and I had to look in the margins of places where I had to be really curious as to how I could train better and train smarter. Whether it was strength and conditioning, skill acquisition, diet, recovery, and sleep—I was always curious to see what I could learn and implement into my training to improve and get better. That led to me working with some incredible people who are at the top of their field in strength and conditioning, physical therapy, or movement specialist. I got this incredible education through that process.
When I stopped playing, my wife used to take me to group fitness classes. I would go with her because it was something for us to do together. I would go to all the classes, and I got it—the branding, lighting, community, and it all makes sense as to why people like that environment. But I always felt like it was a better way. Knowing what I do, and what I’ve been exposed to from top practitioners, I felt like they lack some of the essentials and the sequencing in order for you to not only undo the flexor pattern or sitting disease that we all have because of using our devices. It’s hard to go from predominantly spending your day in a flexor pattern to going straight onto the treadmill or chin-ups. You’re going to plateau and you’re also putting yourself at risk. I knew there was a way we could give what a top strength and conditioning coach or personal trainer with degrees would give in how they would sequence, how they would emphasize different elements, and we could package it in a way to deliver it to the masses.
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Along with my partner Kit, I realized that there are 60 million Americans playing sports once a week, or that want to play sports and continue to be on their field of play. Even in the beginning, kids can learn the right habits to set themselves up to succeed for longevity. But people that are post-peak—to be part of a community, because they get tons of enjoyment from it? It can be hard. For example, you can’t play soccer or basketball to get in shape, because you’re going to get hurt if you go out there and play without any sort of conditioning. That, to me, was something that I could hopefully impact a lot of people with in sharing what I’ve learned and allowing them to be out there doing what they enjoy with the people they want to be with and compete with. I put our workout up there with anyone’s workout as far as our methodologies and what it provides you with. We think it’s a fitness solution. Our real mission is we’re creating a new space for the masses to be in touch with these tools that will allow them to play sports for life, move well, feel great and raise their quality of life.
Aside from the group fitness classes with the wife, what else do you do to keep yourself in shape?
I’ll fit in the group class when I have time if we have a day off, or it’s in the summer and my wife is going. I try and stay pretty diligent with what I do and it’s all with the ingredients of Block. I’m obsessed with tennis, and I love soccer. If soccer was easier to get 10-20 guys together all the time, I would play a little bit more. I play on a couple of teams with a couple of pick-up groups. In the summer, I’ll play once a week. During the season I might play once a month, but I play tennis year-round.
I love it and I’m obsessed with it but it’s a grind to put your body through that. I’m getting close to 50 and to be able to sustain it and feel as well as I do, not get hurt, and still play at a high level gives me so much joy. That takes away all of my anxiety, my stress, and whatever it is that I’m carrying. I also love to compete and challenge myself and I love to learn a new skill. Being able to play those sports regularly, I have to do the prep work because I’m coming off of a career after having pretty serious back situations. I’ve had to manage that throughout my career and with all of the things I’ve done to get through my career, I know what I have to do to keep playing. This is really what I do in life to continue to play and enjoy myself. I don’t want to be out there in pain. I want to be able to play the way I want to play for as long as I can.
Most PopularWhat does a typical day of eating look like?
Usually, at the facility, I’ll have some eggs, yogurt, and some sort of healthy granola. For lunch, it’s usually a big salad, a clean protein, and vegetables. At night, it just depends on whether we’re eating out or in, but I always try and eat healthier options. That’s not as straightforward when you dine out. It depends on how deep into it you want to get, like what oils are they cooking with at the restaurant—all those things that are really important that we really don’t talk about in the mainstream that are kind of swept under the rug, but it matters. It matters if you’re constantly eating out and they’re cooking with canola oil. We would never know that, and most people aren’t aware of that, but that’s not necessarily good for you to be putting in your system day after day and year after year.
What’s a cheat meal look like nowadays?
I very rarely eat dessert but that would be one cheat for me—some wine or some other beverage but I’m pretty disciplined. I would say where I slip a little is snacking throughout the day. Even if it’s healthier choices, if you count it all up at the end of the day, you may have overeaten. That is probably my vice as much as anything.
Any favorite spots to eat on the road?
We kind of go to similar spots for team meals. It’s more group-determined than, “This is my thing.” We just go to the old faithfuls that our team books. Very rarely am I going out for dinner unless it’s a team dinner. I almost rather have room service, watch film and get to bed early. Sorry that’s a boring response!
Can you detail what game day looks like for you?
I get up in the mornings and I have the kids getting ready for school and trying to help that process. I’m usually leaving out before or with them. We have a coaches' meeting a couple of hours before shootaround and we go through that process prepping for the shootaround and the game that night. We’ll have our shootaround and we feed the guys the information that’s pertinent for that game. You have a few hours off before the game and I try and get a sweat in and get away for a couple of hours.
We’re back to the arena about four hours before the game, just following through with our prep work, making sure we’re dialed for situations that might come up. For two years with our group, it was literally different almost every week. I think we had 45 different starting lineups last season [Ed: 43], so that’s something that has been a factor. With about 30 on the clock, we talk to the team, and watch a short edit so they can go out on the court with some reminders. They go out on the court and the coaches get ready to go out.
Most PopularThen we close the game, come back in, address the team, speak to the media, and make sure your computer gets loaded with the game to either start watching it, or go home and start watching it. You get some food in you and you either finish the game or most of it. You get to bed and it’s much of the same the next day with practice but with a slightly different cadence.
Players have recovery after a game. How does a coach wind down?
Some nights are easier than others. You put so much into that day. Whether it’s prep the night before that day to coaches meeting to shootaround to game prep to game to post-game. By the time you get home to start watching the game, you’re tired. Hopefully, you’re going to fall asleep and not be kept up by stress or whatever it may be. If you put the work in every day, and I always try and get my sweat in as well—usually by the time I start watching the game back—I either get through it or fall asleep and finish it in the morning. I’m not a great sleeper but I actually sleep pretty well because these are full days and you definitely hit your limit at some point.
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