Professional athletes dont get to the top by accident. It takes superhuman levels of time, dedication, and focusand that includes paying attention to what they put in their bellies. In this series, GQ takes a look at what fit people in different fields eat on a daily basis to perform at their best. Heres a look at the daily diet of Iman Shumpert.
Earlier this year, GQ crowned Cleveland Cavaliers guard Iman Shumpert and wife Teyana Taylor the Sexiest Couple on Earth. But after a tough loss to the Golden State Warriors in his third straight NBA Finals, Shumpert had took a month off to decompress. That allowed him to enjoy some of the comfort food he has to mostly avoid during the rigors of the NBA season. We sat down with Shumpert earlier this month at his sixth annual Iman Shumpert Youth Basketball camp held at his alma mater (Oak Park River and Forest High School) to discuss how he approaches dieting, fatherhood, and the particular eating habits of some of his teammates.
GQ: Youve enjoyed three straight extended postseason runs. You mentioned to the campers that you do take a month off to allow yourself to be regular and eat anything you cant eat during the season. What exactly are you putting into your body during that month off?
Iman Shumpert: Im a taco guy, so I like Mexican food and any form of a taco, Im going to eat it. During the season, Ill make it a grilled chicken taco. But after the season, give me a regular beef taco and fill it to capacity. I need meat, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, Pico de Gallo, and everything you got. Theres fried chicken wings; I eat a bunch of those. Hot wings, pizza puffs, Italian beef with lots of peppers, just tearing my stomach up and making it hard for whoever has to use the bathroom after me. Thats my goal in the summer. [laughs]
How long before your body starts feeling the effects of that?
It takes about a week. I can have a milkshake and I can feel it just sitting there [in my stomach]. I dont know how much of it is just me getting older too. But I didnt feel it early on. Now, I can feel it for a while. My stomach will be all messed up, no control over the bowel movements and its just all bad.
So right from the rigors of an extended season to your family facing the rigors of your upset stomach?
[Laughs] You have to think, all year, Im eating great. Im eating so clean and drinking so much water. Even with the bad food I might eat, Im getting it out of my system quickly. I go from that to not working out and eating terrible, its a bad combination. So Ill reset my body. Ill do a cleanse where Ill do all juices for a week, all water, grilled and baked chicken and fish, and if its not organic, I dont eat it. That will be for a week to reset my body. Then I can have the Caesar salads, the sandwiches.
But even that first week, I might not have the bread or pastas because Im not playing in games to run that stuff off. Once I get into the latter stages of my training going into the season, now I need the pastas because Im doing hard three-hour sessions to prepare myself for in-game action. Its a process but the older you get in the league, you start to realize how to do it, when to turn it off and on, how to be a family man and have that balance.
"Hot wings, pizza puffs, Italian beef with lots of peppers, just tearing my stomach up and making it hard for whoever has to use the bathroom after me. Thats my goal in the summer."
How difficult was applying that process of knowing what and when to eat when you first entered the league?
I never cared much about my diet until the summer before I dislocated my shoulder [in 2014]. I had gotten a chef because I was very irritated all the time because I wasnt eating on time. I might not eat breakfast and Ill start my day and Im already irritated. Whether it be my wife, mother, coaches; people begin to complain and they were asking me Are you alright? This is before the day has really started and Im thinking maybe its because I just got up. But its really because I didnt eat breakfast on time, or I didnt eat lunch because I only ate breakfast, something came up and Im eating lunch at 5 in the evening. To get that better, I was willing to do whatever it took. I had a chef at first who would commute from LA and it just wasnt working out. My father took over and when he did, I got my weight down, I felt like I was eating on time, I was a nicer person, my wife wasnt complaining and I figured this is how were going to do it from now on.
Speaking of your wife, what has it been like to have a wife in Teyana Taylor who takes fitness and nutrition just as serious as you have to?
Well, she doesnt take nutrition that seriously at all. She still eats terribly but shes always been active. Shes always big on whether youre working out, dancing, playing a sport, or just hustling to get things done; you should be exercising to get things accomplished. You should be exercising because youre walking 20 blocks in New York to make it to your next meeting. In her mind, thats how you stay in shape. You should be doing all these things to where theres no time to get fat. If you are one of those people who has a job where youre in a situation where you got overweight, and you want to fix that and have a healthier lifestyle, she believes you have to find a way to make that happen. We were talking about friends who had gotten out of shape, and had all this time. The reason they run away from working out to drop the weight is because theyre at a place where if they work out, tomorrow, theyre going to be so sore that they cant get their work done. So they dont give up because they dont want to lose the weight, theyre worried about hurting because theyre accustomed to not doing anything and they back away from it.
So shes made a dance routine, where youre having fun, and even if youre sore the next day, you can do it because in your mind, youre thinking, I can do this because Im only dancing with Teyana. Having her around me, its more of the hustle in her that motivates me. With her, its always constantly, How can I do this, add a creative spin on this? She makes me feels like there are no closed doors. People always talk about a small window of opportunity and in her mind that whole notion of a window doesnt exist. Its either I can do it, and theyre going to follow because Im doing it, or Im not going to do it. I love that mindset of her's because not many people can stand in a room full of people saying what they cant do and tell them Yes I can. To have her around is dope.
Now with being a dad, does that heighten your concern about what foods your daughter is putting in her body? Because coming up in Chicago and Oak Park, theres nothing but fast food places and small restaurants that I know youve enjoyed. But now having the knowledge of how that food affects you, are you more concentrated on withholding certain things from her?
I know with me, until she reaches an age where shes on a day-to-day commitment with school, shes not going to be eating terrible anyway because shes going to be eating at home, or something weve made her. Im going to be big on making sure I make her lunch before school and thats going to be my thing. With the obligations that I have with basketball, Im going to miss a lot of things. So the least I can do is make lunches before I go to work... Even though my wife doesnt eat half the stuff me and my daughter eats, my daughter eats these things now because I think its ingrained in her from me forcing my wife to eat it.
I talked to your teammate Kevin Love during the playoffs about his diet and just how calculated and down to detail it is. With being a very nutrition-cautious team, how much fun do you guys make of each others diets?
Kevin has the fat-boy, drop-step build [laughs]. He has to stay on top of his [diet]. Kevin is such a professional in everything that he does. Even with basketball, he wont touch the floor until hes lifted weights, watched film. After a game, he needs a certain amount of time to take everything in and process what just happened, ice his knees and ankles. Having a routine makes for a better professional. All the guys that have a routine or insane diet have success. Ray Allens diet was insane. He was trying to break it down to me what he ate and how disciplined he tries to stay. When youre a 21 year-old, youre not used to that. He was doing Paleo and experimenting with all types of things.
The reason youre starting to see why these kids are doing these things at a younger age is because the older guys are telling them the information. The diet is a serious element. Their generation was like trail and error. We could research and get the information and be better earlier. Thats one of those things where you should talk to your vets and OGs. Theyll give you advice, recommend a chef and things to help. With Kevin, he always noticed that I eat a salad after practice, so [Tristan Thompson] started calling me Salad Shump. We joke on each other diets. Well laugh at Kevin for always having Almond Butter like hes too good for peanut butter. Same thing with [LeBron], who doesnt eat pork. Well be like, Your momma never gave you a piece of bacon, and you didnt get to the NBA without eating bacon? We all do it to each other but we all understand everybodys body is different.
Some guys can eat a terrible meal, be straight and go play. J.R. [Smith] can drink a pop and go play.
Thats what Im saying and everyone is different. Im cramping after drinking all the water and Gatorade in the world. Ive seen J.R., in his Sixth Man of the Year award season eat something, and didnt like the taste. He drunk water and Gatorade and said it made it taste worse. He downed a Pepsi and went out, played and got 30. So everyones body is different.
With all youve learned about developing a routine that worked for you as far as your diet, what advice would you impart to yourself when you entered the league in 2011?
Believe it or not, it wouldnt be anything to do with my eating. I think early on in the league, my biggest problem was I tried to put out what I believe was an innocent fire because I felt it was a conflict with other stars. Even with Melo, I felt I had to step back on certain things because he was already at that level. I would tell my younger self to Keep going. If you and Melo have to fight, you have to fight. But realize youre together and dont change who you are because youre not helping him by holding back. Thats some of the regret I have about my time in New York because I took a step back thinking I was helping and Im [made] it worse by doing that. I would tell the younger me, You know how to play, and thats why they picked you. Stop worrying about this other shit like trying to make the GM and all the coaches happy. Just play basketball and try and win every game.
Playing in pressure situations with so many stars like Jason Kidd, Melo, theres so many of these moments that you have where you know in your heart what you should be doing but youre thinking like Im on this rookie contract, so if I do something [wrong], I might not play again. Youre just trying to satisfy too many people.
You were also a guy coming to a team with playoff expectations in the biggest market in the league and with some established names, where a lot of guys are going to teams with guys still looking to establish themselves. Do you think it was more so stepping back because you thought it wasnt your place yet to be aggressive offensively or you just wanted them happy with you?
I had all those questions about why I was stepping back, being hesitant and the answer was it was all out of sheer respect to Melo, J.R. Jason Kidd, STAT (Amare Stoudemire). The guys that I was in a pool with, we had sort of the same complaints. They were able to figure it out because they didnt have a Melo, so they could just try things and get good at it. They had the freedom to do that. Do you know how many games early on where I would come down and not want to guard a guy like John Wall the way they were making me guard him? I didnt want to go under on screens because Im not going to get any steals and dunks that way. Thats six points a game for me. I remember watching John dribble to the elbow and all those shots he used to miss, having to deal with people saying he cant shoot. Now, you see hes trying to get to that spot and making it consistently because he didnt care what was said or what people might have been thinking when he kept taking them. I wish I would have gave myself that.
It took about last summer going into the season that [things] slow down, and to see I was overthinking things and just trying to please everyone. It had to go; the catching the ball and thinking about the time, score, thinking about how many threes weve shot when my defender is going under a screen, Im open for three and this is my one touch out of 20. I had to get out of that and just focus on making the right basketball play. I feel like I took a big step this year and thats going to continue into next year.
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The Real-Life Diet of Iman Shumpert - GQ Magazine
