WHOOP Podcast - Reggie Miller on the Importance of Practice, His New Athletic Era, and How He Stays Disciplined

Episode Date: October 11, 2022

This week, we sit down with NBA Hall of Famer Reggie Miller to discuss his 18-year career with the Indiana Pacers, including all of the mental and physical focus that went into becoming one of the best in the league. Since hanging up his professional hat, he's gone all-in on a sport that would surprise many: cycling. Reggie sits down with CEO Will Ahmed to discuss falling love with basketball (2:39), how he actually got a late start in basketball after exploring other sports (4:40), his journey to UCLA (8:15), how he started to build his confidence as a player (10:57), being drafted into the NBA (12:59), the differences in the game then to now (19:09), his approach to mindset (25:39), practice vs. game day (29:17), how he uses WHOOP  now that he's transitioned to cycling(30:30), what he's learned about his sleep (33:18), and what his typical day looks like (34:30).Support the showFollow WHOOP: www.whoop.com Trial WHOOP for Free Instagram TikTok YouTube X Facebook LinkedIn Follow Will Ahmed: Instagram X LinkedIn Follow Kristen Holmes: Instagram LinkedIn Follow Emily Capodilupo: LinkedIn

What's up, folks? Welcome back to the WOOP podcast, where we sit down with top performers, athletes, researchers, scientists, figure out what the best in the world are doing to perform at their peak. I'm your host, Will Amid, founder and CEO of Woop, and we're on a mission to unlock human performance. This week, I am joined by NBA legend and longtime Woop member Reggie Miller. Reggie was named to the All-Star team five times in his team. 18-year career, all of which he spent playing for the Indiana Pacers, known for being arguably the best three-point shooter of his time. Reggie went on to win a gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics. Since retiring, he's become a commentator for TNT and a college basketball analyst for CBS

sports. He's also added another sport to his resume, Cycling, picked up mountain biking in 2000, and since turned to the competitive circuit. He's even gone on to join the USA Cycling Board of directors. Reggie and I discuss growing up in an athletic family and how he found basketball, his 18-year career with the Pacers, how he prepared for his games mentally and physically, the role mindset played in his approach to the game. I think mindset is something that really differentiates Reggie from a bunch of other athletes. The transition to being on the other side of the game as a commentator, how he thinks about basketball today, how he sees athletes prioritizing their longevity in the sport,

mountain biking, cycling, what it's like to go from being a pro athlete to a complete novice in a new sport, how he prioritized his recovery and his whoop data, including how hard his training has been and what metrics have taken the biggest hit. Are you new to whoop? You can use the code will when you're checking out

to get a $60 credit on whoop accessories. You can use that credit for new bands, battery packs, whoop body apparel, and more. That is joined.woop.com to get started. All right, this conversation comes just in time for the start of a new NBA season, which I'm looking forward to.

Here is the great Reggie Miller. Reggie, welcome to the WOOP podcast. Thank you so much for having me, Will. I know we've kind of been doing a juggling deck to get on here, my camp, your camp, but guess what? We're here now. I'm excited.

Well, one of my favorite things about Woop is getting to discover the cool people who were whoop. And I was thrilled once to be watching TNT and see it on your wrist, and there we go. So pumped to have you on the platform. Let's go back in time. When did you know you had fallen in love with basketball? Growing up in Riverside, California,

my first love was baseball. I wanted to be the next Rod Carew. And obviously, I'm sure like you, playing Little League, I could throw with the best of them. I was a pitcher. I played center field. I played shortstop. And that was, I thought I was going to the major leagues.

I was on the smaller side back in Little League. So baseball was my first love. Once I started to grow a little bit and got out of Little League and got to high school, the baseball coach at Riverside Polly wanted me to continue pitching. And as you know, in Little League and in high school basketball, the mounds are further back. So I knew I was a good Little League pitcher, but there was no way I wanted to pitch in high school. So I informed him that. He's like, well, the only way you're going to play baseball with us is if you pitch.

And I'm like, well, that kind of diverted my attention more so towards basketball, which was more recreational playing with my brothers and sisters, playing pickup. but I wasn't heavily invested like I was in baseball. So I shifted my freshman year in high school to basketball. And that's probably to your question where the love affair started because I just put all my energy into what was it going to take to become a great basketball player. I know a lot of people want to identify with the shooting.

I wanted to become a complete basketball player. So the love affair really started the summer of my eighth grade year going into my freshman year of high school. So you're 13 years old, 14 years old, which to be fair is maybe a little on the later side for someone to go on to have a Hall of Fame career, wouldn't you say? Yes. And I think that probably benefited me because there was no burnout. And back in the late 70s, early 80s, it isn't like it is now with the AAU circuit. there's games after games you have traveling teams east coast west coast north south there's so many of these young kids when they're starting at nine 10 11 and this is where burnout can kind of creep in i didn't have that situation because i wasn't on aAU teams i practiced and played a lot I played in summer showcases, but I wasn't on a traveling team.

But 13, 14 was perfect for me because I found the love a little bit later, if you consider 13 or 14, old in terms of, you know, basketball. I found that love just a little bit later personally for myself. And when did you start to realize that you were really good at basketball? I would say my sophomore year in high school, because I dedicated myself to shooting. And I said to myself, if I can shoot anywhere in the half court, how is anyone ever going to be able to guard me? So I would just master shots all over the court in the half court situation. And I knew then by my sophomore year in high school, I could shoot better than anyone.

It was all about honing in the rest of my game. And that kind of gave me a glimpse of, well, where can basketball take me? It's no secret. I was living across the hall from the greatest women's basketball player of all time in my sister, Cheryl. So I knew what greatness look like because she was by far the best male or female player in Riverside and in California. and probably in the country, and she's one year older than me. So I knew what it was going to take

to reach her level. I just had to continue to work harder because she was taller than I was. She was faster. By the time I got to high school and started to grow and catch up to her, that's when our skill levels started to kind of merge a little bit.

And I saw how great she was. She was the motivating factor personally for me to jump on that train in terms of greatness. And probably kept you humble and motivated despite a lot of people being like, oh, Reggie, you're so good, you're so good. It's like, well, actually, I'm not even the best person of my family. Yeah, I was always Cheryl Miller's little brother. And to a certain degree, that was always motivating to me to try to get out of that shadow, right?

But it's funny when people say that, she used to beat the crap out of you, too. so don't give me stuff she's beating you guys too so it's funny when we would team up together there was no stopping us and people always kind of wanted to pit us against one another when we were younger where we were much stronger together and i think us pushing one another to become great was probably the best thing in our early careers was having that voice from Cheryl or me being in her ear trying to just better ourselves and you go off to UCLA and at what point in your career there are you thinking I'm going to do this professionally this is this is going to be my career as you know when you take different progressions from middle school to high

school for those four years and then when you take that leak and you get that college letter and I always wanted to go to UCLA. Every kid in the Southern California area always wanted to play for the great UCLA, the period of success. So I was honored. But my freshman year was a little bit of a struggle. I played in every game.

I never started. Maybe played five to seven minutes. But the best thing that helped me was every summer, And this is when the Lakers were, it was the Showtime Lakers, was Magic, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper, Kareem, James Worthy. So when I was at UCLA from 84 to 87, every summer we had, it was called Open Gym. So the Lakers would come up to work out. They would be a team.

Our UCLA had a team. And then you had a team of other professionals, Isaiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Barry Byrd, Dominique Wilkins, all the great players of the 80s would come so you would have three teams and we would just rotate. Yeah, that's not a rec league. No, that's not a rec league.

No. Yeah. Those Summer League games and those open gym runs is what piqued my interest and made me think I could play this game professionally because after my freshman year, I got stronger, I got faster

by watching Byron. and Michael Cooper pulling me aside and say, no, no, work on this, do that. And then I was holding my own against them in these open run gyms. So that kind of got the belief thinking, okay, I can play. Because I knew I could shoot with anyone. And my first step evolved. I started to play a lot of one-on-one versus Kiki Van dewey, he was a former pro went to UCLA.

And he always used to destroy me in one-on-one. my freshman year. And then by the time I got to my sophomore year, when he came back after the season, the tables kind of turned a little bit. And that is what kind of got the ball rolling of, I think I could play at the next level and play professionally. Well, part of what made it so fun to watch your career as a fan

was the obvious confidence and swagger that you played with. And I'm curious, did you have that from high school on, from when you just picked up a basketball? hey, I'm going to be in your face. I'm going to be talking to you. I know I can make this shot. Or was that something that you developed? I'm just imagining you

like your freshman year after UCLA. You've played five minutes a game. And now you're about to post up Jordan and magic and you're in their ear or not. You know, that's what I'm asking myself. I think it's probably a combination of both. But I think growing up in a household of five siblings, two older brothers, an older sister and Cheryl and a younger sister,

in any board game, in any card game, there's competition, right? And with competition comes talking. You know, you're always evaluating your competition and trying to get into their head. So it really started at a young age, and I think reverting back to my former story with Cheryl, when I would go on the road and the opposing fans, you know, Cheryl, the chance and the taunts, that was, to me, I didn't know it then,

but that was building up that inner strength, that mental toughness to go on to the road into a hostile environment to be locked in for those, you know, 45 minutes to an hour, which was high school games, hour and a half for college games, it was training me to be locked in and focused in. and of course you hear certain things and to give it to them back. So maybe that's where the banter started of engaging and trash talking certain people.

You're going to talk to me. Well, I'm going to bring you into my world a little bit. You want to talk? Okay, we're going to have an open dialogue during this game. So I think that kind of was built up at a younger age from those card games and board games with my brothers and sisters

and it led to the athletic field of baseball and basketball from high school to college and to the professional ranks. I love that. So you get drafted by the Pacers. I mean, you have an amazing 18-year career with the same franchise, which today in the era of superstars seems impossible. Just talk about those first few years with the Pacers and what it felt like to be in the NBA. It's interesting, Will, because draft day in today's world,

when a draft happens, you see the spectacle. They're either at Madison Square Garden. All the athletes are there. Everyone's in a nice suit and all that. I was home on my couch with my family. We had a live feed with TBS. It was on TBS at the time. Cheryl and I were the only ones who had our IFB, you know, headset on

so we could kind of hear what was going on. And I believe it was being done in New York. the time and we heard whoever the director or producer was saying oh we're going to the miller family he's getting selected so we had maybe 10 seconds head start that i was being drafted by indiana and i had gone on a visit to indiana and they barely said two words to me will hello how are you i'll taller you how much do you weigh and shook my hand and i was out the door that was like three months leading up to the draft. So when I heard that it was Indiana, I looked at Cheryl.

She's like, surprise. And I was like, okay. And I was saying to myself, man, they barely said anything to me. But in all my journeys now, I heard that was a ploy now because they didn't want to show any interest because I found out later there was teams that were before and after that wanted to draft me, but they didn't want to tip their hand. So I'm drafted by Indiana, and I'd heard of the Pacers, but I didn't know a lot about them.

I knew they were somewhat of a seller-dweller-type team. The year before, they had drafted Chuck Person, and he was rookie of the year. So I had heard of him, and Byron Scott of the Lakers, Michael Cooper, they kind of gave me a breakdown of what the Pacers' Jack Ramsey, Hall of Fame coach, Jack Ramsey, was my very first coach and who drafted me. I kind of knew his style when he had won a championship with the Portland Trail Blazers when he had Bill Walton. So I was familiar with their style.

It was going to be a perfect type style for the shooting guard and small four because it was catered around shooting. So I was excited and I was blessed. You know, you're blessed to be drafted, first of all, because there's 30 teams and it didn't matter where I went because I was going to give 100%.

I was just blessed that it was Indiana and let's face it, everyone's seen Hoosiers, right? Everyone knows that it's a basketball state. They live and die and breathe basketball. What better place could I possibly be going to than a state and city like Indianapolis that just loves basketball?

So I was, where do I sign up? Where's my contract? Let's go. So you're the 11th overall pick, 1987. Pretty exciting time, by the way, to join the NBA. I mean, it probably felt that way then, but even just looking back on it now, the amount of talent in the NBA at that point probably rivals any period of time ever in the history of the game, wouldn't you say?

Think about this. Being drafted in 1987, it. It was the Showtime Lakers versus Larry Bird and Celtics, right? Television ratings were through the roof. The summer runs against Magic and these pros, they prepared me for this. I'm not going to be in awe. If I can go against Magic and the Great Lakers in Showtime, surely I can go against anyone.

So the talent level each and every night, especially at the shooting guard position, one night it's Michael Jordan. The next night it's Ricky Pierce. The next night is Joe Dumars, Mitch Richmond, Reggie Lewis. I mean, every night, Randy Whitman, you had your hands full. And it was the challenge of competing. You had to give it. It was sink or swim, Will.

And they were going to find out quickly. And these are grown men you're going against. And here I am a 20, 21 year old rookie looking around like, you know, let's go to work. My saving grace, which was great. And it was a lot like my freshman year at UCLA. I never started one game. And I had a chance to learn, but I played in all 82. John Long, who was a 37-year-old NBA lifer,

had played with Isaiah in Detroit for so many years and was a tough rugged shooting guard. And he took me under his wing. And every night we would read the scatter reports. we would watch game film he would point out things I was doing right all the things I was doing wrong this is how you guard this guy

if it wasn't for John Long taking that interest because a lot of rookies it's sink or swim you got to play and if you don't produce you're gone thank God the patience of the pacer's of allowing me to grow and by the end of my

rookie year the last month, they increased my minutes from 15 to 17 to about 25 to 30. The big jump, which means you're playing maybe like half the game. And depending on your matching up, you're finishing games. And that just catapulted me into my sophomore year where things should, the reins came off. I was an all-star by my third year. And the Pacers were often running after that.

You touched on the intense rivalries of your time period. I remember as a basketball fan of the 90s was really loving the intensity of the competition. Like, the top athletes seemed to genuinely dislike each other. And there was something really exciting about that. And if you compare that to today, I think it's clearly different. You know, you get the sense that after a game, you know, a lot of these top players are friends, right? And it's a different vibe. Now, I think the sport is still in a great place.

But I'm curious how you, as a student of the game and obviously, as a terrific commentator, how you feel about that and do you agree that it's different? It's definitely different. And a lot of that has to do with you heard me talking about I didn't grow up in the AAU generation

because a lot of these AAU players that you see today, they've all played together. All of them switch teams and build super teams, which you've kind of seen superstar players leave one team to join another team

to build a super team to dominate. And that goes back to AAU. And there's nothing wrong with that. And I'm just saying, I could be friends off the court, maybe, but it was more combative between certain teams and certain players.

Like, you really knew the Lakers and the Celtics hated one another. You knew that the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons really hated one another. You knew that my Indiana Pacers and the Knicks, we hated one another. We did. I'm not saying we didn't respect them. Absolutely we respected it.

But you build up and people forget what competition is all about. You're competing for something. When you are trying to win a championship at the highest level, you will almost do anything it takes, especially when you're so close to it. When you're in the Final Four situation or in the final. and you're a rebound, a loose ball, a miss free throw, a dive on the floor for a ball away from advancing. Those little, it's the little things that make the big things happen

in any sport, in any walk of life. If you can do the little things and you build up such animosity and hatred, I'm not saying like afterwards you can't let it go, but you remember a lot. And that's no knock on today's generation. It's hard for me to be buddy-buddy with someone when I'm trying to rip out your throat. I just can't do it.

We can't break bread. We just can't. Too many things are going to be said between the lines. I'm going to say a lot. You're going to say a lot. And you build up a memory break of all this. But again, I respect today's players because a lot of them

can shelve that animosity at times and continue to go out and play. I just wasn't built that way, Will. If Michael Jordan's in front of my way, I'll give you a dab. Dude, I'm trying to destroy you like you are destroying me. Well, I think Jordan came out as one of the most negative voices when it came to the super team concept. And I think it was shortly after Durant joined Golden State

where he said, like the idea of joining that, team and his shoes seemed completely crazy because all he wanted to do is go ahead and kill the other guys. There's no way he could have joined their team. What do you think people would have said if he would have joined Detroit back to the day when Detroit made up, they did a whole book on the Jordan rules. He couldn't even fathom that. Now, I will say this for Kevin Durant and what people's idea of that, very much the same way LeBron joined Dwayne Wade in Miami with Chris Boss and formed a super team and won a couple championships. Yeah.

If you're the media, which one are you valuing now? Because you want to knock Kevin for joining a 73 win team, but he had no rings, right? So you knock me, Alan Iverson, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing,

for staying loyal but not winning championships. But here's a guy, KD, wins two and two finals MVP's But you're knocking up because, oh, he had to join the 73-win team to get those. Well, which one is it? Do you want to stay in Oklahoma City and be loyal and continue to lose or win championships? So which one is it, people?

That's why I don't discount the knock that KD gets. I think a lot of times his mouth puts him in trouble because he answers back when he doesn't have to because he's one of the greatest to ever play the game. When it comes to criticism, he takes it too personal, and you can't do that. Yeah. Because he's too great of a player. He can let his game do the speaking.

But the old head, like myself, people will look at him like, well, anyone who could have joined Michael Jordan's 73 win team and got a championship. No, I would much rather want to beat Michael. Like, that was the whole thing, Will. His last season, the year, in 1999 when my beloved Pacers and his Bulls,

we were the only team to take it in the seven game in the conference finals, right? Right, yeah. Our whole mission, my whole mission, I shouldn't say our, because this was my thinking. I don't want to put it on the rest of the guys. But I wanted to retire Michael Jordan. That was my thinking. I'm going to retire the great Michael Jordan.

Obviously, he had other ideas, and the Bulls had other ideas, and they beat us in seven, went on to beat Utah in the next series. But that's how my thinking was. And I don't know if that's into today's game. I would much rather beat Isaiah or beat Michael Jordan or beat Patrick Ewing, beat Alan Iverson as opposed to go join them.

But again, I don't want people to think that's a knock on LeBron or KD because which one are you valuing people? It's different. It's totally different. So I respect that, you know, if you want to do that and you get your championships, by all means necessary. Let's talk about just mindset in general. Like, I'm curious how intentional or deliberate some of these mental states were that you would put yourself in.

Was that something that you did prep work on? Would you spend time alone thinking about these things? Is it just that you're so wired that the voice in your head is always doing it? How much of it was learned and developed versus something? that came to you naturally. I think a lot of it came naturally and a lot of it came growing up in a big household with five other kids and who's the first to the dinner table. You know, so you build up certain characteristics as a kid and you just transfer them into whatever walk of life you're going to go. You know, I would study up on my opponents. I was huge on

watching film and reading tendencies. And I think I do that as a broadcaster now because I can read people's body language before it happens. So being able to read someone's body language when they're tired, when they're upset, when they're on the verge of cracking, when things are going well, when to shut up sometimes.

Sometimes shutting up is good too. So I could read people's body language, which became an art of mind. And a lot of that went into my prep work each and every night of which buttons could I press. Or if I had to even press, sometimes not saying anything, being silent is that, you know, you never wanted to talk to Michael Jordan. There was times where you could say something, but why poke the bear? You know, everyone knows he's the greatest player of all time. And I got to guard him for 40 minutes out of 48.

So why am I going to poke him? But there was little things you can do here and there. Little subtle jabs you could whisper, you could say, or you could direct whatever you're saying to a teammate of his knowing he can hear it. There's a lot of games that you play out there, and it's a chess match. And it's who wants to play chess and who wants to really play checkers. The great ones know how to play chess. and there are three, four, five moves ahead of you.

The good players play checkers. They're worried about the next move. I'm thinking four or five moves down. That's how I approached it. So that's kind of how I built it up from a young age of being in a big family to always watching film, always doing my homework, and being prepared.

People don't understand that goes a long way, along with your physical ability. I knew I wasn't as athletic as Kobe and Dominique and Michael, but I knew I worked hard and I was meticulous in the little things that it was going to take to be a great basketball player. And on time, and you just merge that into a big gumbo pot, and hopefully something good comes out of it. You know, listening to you talk about preparation and studying tendencies

and just the enormous amount of work outside of the game. it reminds me of conversations. Michael Phelps on this podcast talked a lot about it. This idea where you've put in so much work before the thing that when the thing happens, it's like I've done everything I possibly can for this moment. I'm not going to be overwhelmed by the moment. I'm just in the moment. In a way, it makes you very grounded, very present, almost makes you less nervous. And when I think about your career, it's not surprising to me that that's probably how you felt in a lot of these big moments. Am I describing it fairly? Absolutely. And I listened to that podcast between you two, and it's almost like you're centered

once competition begins. Because to me, the hard work was all what I did during the summer. The games are the easy part. The training to me is the hard part, is once the games began, and I can revert back to those three to four hour days in the gym, this two and a half hour game means nothing. So when I listen to that conversation between you two, you know, I get it. This is coming from one of the greatest athletes of all time saying that. So him being centered, I could totally relate to that because you're almost let down come game time in the big moments. Because the sweat, the tears, being upset with your trainer or yourself, that all happened. three, four, five months ago.

The game, to me, is the easy part now. So let's talk about the human body for a little bit. How long have you been on loop? Two years, maybe. I was introduced to it. One of my riding partners, Isabel King,

she's a pro cyclist, and she always wore the band. And I was like, you know, I've seen another cyclist wear it. I'm like, well, you know, what is it doing? It's tracking your fitness, your sleep and I was like and I was hesitant at first will to tell you the truth because

I've got three kids almost nine six and an 18 month old I'm saying to myself well I know what is going to tell me it's going to tell me I need more sleep I know I'm grinding and I'm getting tired but I was like okay I'll give it a shot and it has been absolutely the best thing probably ever happen to me because it's taught me precious time, when to exert energy, naps. I was the king of naps when I played basketball. I always slept. But you get away from that with your everyday kids' life. You can't. You can't sleep because kids need attention. They need love. They need time. But it taught me the power of a 15, 20 minute nap versus a 45 minute nap or an hour and a half nap. So this has been a, it's been a saving grace, really.

the numbers that come from. And I'm not a tech guy. I know really nothing. Every morning I get up, I do all the check things that, you know, did you watch the screen device? You know, I do all my checks, my daily things. Yeah. You know, I always want to know what the health monitor,

the five things, the respiratory rate, blood oxygen, HRV, breast and heart rate and the skin tip. Because I want to know, did I get my numbers? Did I get my numbers? And for the most, even if I've gone on a four or five hour bike ride, you know, I got to know, did I hit my numbers the next day? And for the most part, yes. Right now it's a little different because I'm in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, getting ready

for a 100-mile bike race on Sunday. So I'm at elevation right now. Yeah, altitude will mess up your numbers. So it's messing my resting heart rate right now. It's a little bit elevated because I have only been here three or four days. So sleep has been a little bit. it like, whoa, but it's great every morning checking your numbers. That's what's cool about it. And how can I go from red to yellow, from yellow to green, and what's it going to take?

It's fascinating to hear you talk about it, especially in this new chapter of your life, which is to train as a cyclist. And I wonder, what do you think you would have learned from it as an NBA player? Do you think you might have done a couple things differently? Oh, absolutely. It also is taught us. because when those kids go to bed, the house shuts down. It's time for everyone to go to bed. When I played, I was a night out because you're always thinking, stressing, next game. And you're watching, and being in Indiana, you're watching West Coast games, which start later.

So you're, you know, you end up staying up at 1, 2 o'clock to get up to go to practice at 10 o'clock, 10 a.m. in the morning. And what this has taught me is sleep is golden. So when the kids are in bed by 39, for us, it's lights out by 10 at the latest by 11. I'm a good, by 11, and just patterns, trying to repeat patterns, a lot like a basketball player or cyclist, repeating how many shots, how many footwork drills, trying to find positive patterns probably I would have done a lot different I wouldn't have stressed about games I'll worry about my prep work the next day sleep is more important I wanted to hear you talk about just a day in the life of Reggie Miller and you know all the the little habits and behaviors and lifestyles that you have this is something that the whoop audience tends to

gravitate too because it's a very deliberate audience. All right, everyone. I want you guys to grab a pen. That's right. This is the day in the life. I'm normally up by 5 o'clock. I like to always be up before the kids are up because I'm an early riser. And I like to prep things before they go to school.

So I'll go downstairs and unload the dishwasher, fold the laundry, get breakfast prepped ready to allow a mama bear an extra hour, hour and a half of sleep, because let's face it, we all know that mama bears are, they run the show. The kids will come down, they'll eat, I'll take them to school. What are you eating? Coffee, food. No, I don't, I've never done, I'm not a coffee drinker, never have. I, for breakfast, I normally like to do either, Mama Bear will make a McDonald's sandwich with ham and cheese. or scrambled egg whites, or waffle. I'll go up and get bike ready because now I'm retired now.

So I'll get bike ready with my kit and stuff. She'll get the kids dressed and ready for school. And then I'll take the kids to school. And then I'll go and ride for three hours, four hours, depending on what type of structured cycling day it is, intervals or just a long endurance, And I'll just comment for a second on your training because you shared the last 30 days of your data with us. Like, you've got 12 activities between 18 and 21 in the last 30 days. You got 10 activities between 14 and 18 strain, eight activities over 10.

I mean, that's, you know, 30 activities that are pretty strenuous activities in the last 30 days. So when you say you're going out for rides, like you're doing. doing it. Yes. Yes. And a lot of those rides, because it's the last 30 days, to put into context, I am training for something because I have a hundred mile gravel race coming up. So a lot of those rides are a little bit on the longer side because I'm trying to build up that endurance that's going to happen in about four or five days. And by the way, I hope you're getting a little rest right now because for the last 30 days, it's been a bit of overreaching, right? You've got two green recoveries, 21 yellow, eight red.

So, like, you're pushing it, for sure. I'm pushing it. And I'm here in Steamboat alone, no family, no kids. So it's just riding and resting. So even though I'm still, like, in the red a little bit, it's because of altitude, number one. But I am getting rest. Like, today was a dedicated rest day for me,

which is why we're doing this. Yeah. But I'll ride, I'll come home by 11 or 12 and eat, have lunch, you know, whatever, and then go get the kids by 3, 3.30. Are you doing any kind of like stretching Norma Tech, any of that type of stuff? Norma Tech and Hyper Ice, I probably would not even be able to get on the bike if it wasn't for, I definitely have to have the Norma Tech boots. And that's almost an every day or every other day occurrence.

And right after you train or later that day? No, definitely. It depends on what I have going on. Either later, the last thing at night when I'm laying in bed, I'll put them on for 45 minutes. Or post-ride, I'll take the gun, the hypergun, and stretch while I'm doing the hypergun on the legs, the lower back, or put the hyper-ice back strap on that vibrates.

So I'm doing all this while I'm stretching, stretching, and hyper-ice. Now, that is one thing, along with this, I wish. Sure. Because, you know, when you, in basketball, on back-to-back nights or four games and five nights, we didn't have that. Your best, you would just put ice on your knees and they'd say, go get them. But in today's game, all these guys have privy to all these wonderful tools. like this and hyperice. Hyperice is a godsend. So I live with hyperice. All right. So you like your whoop. You like your hyper ice. All right. So you do your workout. You're now picking up your kids.

What's next? Daddy time. So homework, playing with him. My son is nine. You know, he wants to be a baller, baseball. So we'll work, we'll play. We'll go skateboarding. He likes to ride bikes to. play with my daughters. So it's all about kid time all the way up until 6.30, we'll have dinner. And then I do the nighttime stuff of showering them or bath for the younger two. And then it's nighttime.

Mama bear will take the little one, the 18-month-old. And I call them the big littles, the nine and six-year-old. Storytime by 738. lights out by 815, and then I'll go down and help Mama Bear clean up. And then I'm normally upstairs getting ready for bed by 845, 9, brushing my teeth. Then I'll do a little stretching before I go, get in bed, because I like to stretch before I'm in bed. And then maybe I might normally check then. I'll read what's going on on Twitter, do some homework, read my games.

that I, whatever two teams are playing, I'll watch a little bit of tape and lights out by 10.30, 11 o'clock to turn around to do it all again the next day. You take any vitamins, sleep supplements, anything like that? Not sleep supplements, vitamins. There's a pack from GNC that I take for like 55 plus year old guys that have a little bit of everything in it. Before races and stuff, I do take magnesium so I don't cramp. But that also helps me sleep. a little bit, too, the magnesium. For sure.

Helps me poop a lot, too, on regular. But yeah, those are the only things I take. And it's funny, and I know we're short on time, but I was a casual drinker when I played. I would have big nights, too. Sometimes when you go out and just be with the guys and get hammered. But now that I've been cycling and all that,

like I can't even remember the last time I actually drank. Well, whoop tends to pick on you when you drink alcohol. You've probably noticed that. But I don't think I've ever drank with who it's been literally like years since I even I don't drink. I don't drink and I don't do caffeine. So I don't do alcohol and I don't do caffeine at all. So those are two disciplines that I've always stayed away from.

And I think it's kept me looking young along with water and exercise. It just made me feel better. Not like I don't even have a casual beer does that. Why? Why nothing? it doesn't do anything for me so why do it if it's not going to benefit me do you ever get a call out of the blue from someone who you know maybe you knew or as a former teammate or something and you knew them at their peak and now they're at this later stage in life and you know their ex pounds

overweight and maybe they don't know what the hell they're doing with their career or they've been divorced or like what is the reggie miller pep talk for someone who's kind of going to going through that second half of their life and they're not that happy about where it's at. It's funny you say that because I get it all the time, but it was more prevalent. I was very honored and blessed this past season to be on that 75th team, the greatest 7th.5.

Congratulations. Thank you so much. So obviously at the All-Star game, that's when they introduced, I don't know if you watched it. It was pageantry, all the great players. Totally. We did a huge photo shoot.

We all had our blazers on, and, you know, I'm not going to say what player or players said this. But they all came up to me and was like, oh, my God, like, you could play, like, right now. You could go on. Yeah, you look good. Yeah, you look good. You know, we're giving each other as hugs, and they're hugging me like, oh, my God, like, you're going to be playing the second half from the all-star game. And they're like, what are you doing? And a lot of them knew that, you know, I was riding bikes, but they didn't know to the extent.

of what my journey had been. I'm like, get on two wheels, guys. It's less stress on your body. The cardio is unbelievable. And I'm not telling you guys to do an hour, two, or two, or three, crazy three hours. Get on a bike for 20 minutes to 30 minutes. And I know the whole Peloton thing is big as well

in today's age. That works too, you know? So it was funny seeing some of these other 75 greatest players that in their heyday, you wish you look like them. What are you doing? You look fantastic. And I'm like, I feel great. Thank you for saying that.

You know, I bike a lot. And they're like, really? So I'm trying to educate my older brethren, 75 teammates, and get on two wheels. And not only that, seeing what God has created for us out there, because that's the great thing about bikes. It takes you places. Here in Steamboat Springs, I've got to imagine this is what heaven's going to look like.

Knock on, right, get there. It is so beautiful here. The scenery and two wheels has brought me to this. And not only you're getting a great exercise, but you're seeing God's greener, and it is the best thing. Well, you got a great attitude, man. And it's no surprise to me that you've had enormous success in a lot of different fields. and I'm grateful that you're on Woop, and it's been a real pleasure hanging with you for the past hour.

Will, thank you so much. Again, for those of you, lifesaver for me. I appreciate that. I have not to say that just because we're doing this, but it will teach you patterns and discipline. That's all you want in life, and it's been a godsend. So thank you for having me, Will. Seriously, thank you.

All right. Thank you, Reggie. Thank you to Reggie for coming on the WOOP podcast. If you like the podcast, please leave a rating or review. Please subscribe to the WOOP podcast. You can check us out on social at WOOP at Will Ahmed. If you have a question you want to see answered on the podcast, email us. That's just podcast at WOOP.com or call us 508-443-4952.

And your questions may be answered on a future episode. New members can use the code Will W-I-L to get a $60 credit on W-W-A accessories. That's it, folks. We'll be back next week. Stay healthy and stay in the green.