Dwight Howard Workout Routine and Diet Plan

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Dwight David Howard II who was born on December 8, 1985, is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is an NBA star, 8-time All-Star, 8 time All-NBA Team honoree, 5-time All-Defensive Team member, and 3-time Defensive Player of the Year.

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Howard, who operates the center, gave his high school years at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. He decided to abandon college, joined the 2004 NBA draft, and was chosen first overall by the Orlando Magic. Howard set many rights and group records throughout his time with the Magic. In 2009, he guided the team to the NBA Finals.In 2012, after eight seasons with Orlando, Howard was sold to the Lakers. Following a one-year assignment with the Lakers, he worked for the Houston Rockets, the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets, and the Washington Wizards. Howard responded to the Lakers in 2019 and obtained his first NBA championship in 2020.

Dwight Howard Statistics

  • Position: Center
  • League: NBA
  • Born: December 8, 1985 (age 34)
  • Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia
  • Nationality: American
  • Listed height: 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
  • Listed weight: 265 lb (120 kg)

Dwight Howard Career History

  • 2004–2012: Orlando Magic
  • 2012–2013: Los Angeles Lakers
  • 2013–2016: Houston Rockets
  • 2016–2017: Atlanta Hawks
  • 2017–2018: Charlotte Hornets
  • 2018–2019: Washington Wizards
  • 2019–present: Angeles Lakers

Dwight Howard Awards and Achievements

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Nov 9, 2018; Orlando, FL, USA; Washington Wizards center Dwight Howard (21) during the first quarter at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports[/caption]

  • NBA champion (2020)
  • 8× NBA All-Star (2007–2014)
  • 5× All-NBA First Team (2008–2012)
  • All-NBA Second Team (2014)
  • 2× All-NBA Third Team (2007, 2013)
  • 3× NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2009–2011)
  • 4× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2009–2012)
  • NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2008)
  • NBA All-Rookie First Team (2005)
  • 5× NBA rebounding leader (2008–2010, 2012, 2013)
  • 2× NBA blocks leader (2009, 2010)
  • NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion (2008)
  • Naismith Prep Player of the Year (2004)
  • McDonald's All-American Game Co-MVP (2004)
  • First-team Parade All-American (2004)
  • Mr. Georgia Basketball (2004)

Dwight Howard Workout Routine

Since Dwight Howard doe not does all his training at home, a lot of credit goes to Orlando trainer and coach Joe Rogowski, who joined the team two years ago. Ever since Rogowski has laid out a practice regimen that's continually improving Dwight's harden up and obtain energy. "Joe has done an excellent job of staying on me about lifting," Dwight says "I told him I want to be a great player, and we decided that lifting weights is something [to] help me achieve that in the long run. Since he got here, he's provided me with a schedule that makes sure my body is always on point. A lot of people tell me that I don't realize how strong I am, but I know that I haven't come close to my peak strength yet."Rogowski never met the slender Dwight Howard, but he's more than affected with the most advanced variant. "Dwight is unique in that he's got that genetic ability to do pretty much anything we put in front of him," he says. "He's naturally strong and naturally gifted in every sense. He's just a freak when it comes to strength, power, and speed. You couldn't ask for a better physical specimen."

Dwight-Howard

Dwight gives Rogowski a lot to operate with, but his freakishness does feign one intricacy—a good one. "It's tough to set goals for a guy like this, because there aren't any other athletes who are where he is," Rogowski says. "He has already broken every physical goal imaginable for an NBA player. And as he gets older, he gets more powerful naturally. So we do our best to keep him strong and on the court through injury prevention."Dwight desires heavyweight, so once a week he and Rogowski head to the Magic weight room to complete the subsequent massive lifts. "This training is a pure strength and power workout," Rogowski says. "Sometimes Dwight likes to meathead out and lift a lot of weight and get strong. I let him know that lifting these heavyweights is good for his strength and psyche, but we need to counterbalance it with some stability, balance, or proprioception exercises, which we do once or twice a week."Here are some of the moves that Dwight Howard performs every time that he hits the gym:

Bench Press

• Lie with back on the bench, gripping bar slightly wider than shoulder-width• Keeping lower back on bench and elbows tight to sides, slowly lower bar until it touches the chest• Drive bar up until arms are straight• Repeat for specified repsCoaching Points: Keep core activated and don't arch backSets/Reps: 1x10, 1x8, 1x6, 1x4, 1x2 (increase weight each set)Rogowski: The bench press is about total upper-body power and strength. Dwight uses this pyramid rep scheme to build endurance, strength, and, most importantly for his position, the power of his fast-twitch muscle fibers. In basketball, we're not trying to overdo it with weight, especially in season. That's why we don't do maxes with one rep. The last set of two reps is generally a weight Dwight can handle comfortably while still stressing his muscles.

Lat Pulldown

• Sit on Lat Pulldown machine and grip bar overhead, slightly wider than shoulder-width• Without rocking back, pull the bar down in front until it almost touches the upper chest• Allow the bar to rise back to start position until arms are straight• Repeat for specified repsSets/Reps: 2-4x10-12Rogowski: This is one of the main rebounding exercises Dwight does. When you're getting close to 20 boards a game, you have to be strong with your upper body, pulling down. This also counterbalances any chest exercises we do that day. We always like a 1:1 relationship with chest-to-back work. We really work on good posture and balanced strength with our guys so we can avoid any shoulder injuries.

Leg Press

• Assume position on Leg Press machine with feet slightly wider than hips• Lower weight sled with control until knees are bent 90 degrees• Drive weight up by extending legs to start position• Repeat for specified repsSets/Reps: 3-4x6-8Rogowski: We like to do multi-joint exercises when possible, and this is a great one for the lower body. It gets all the muscles around your hips, knees, and ankles stronger. We generally go heavier on this, because it is a safer exercise. You're not putting them back at risk, like other exercises do, such as the squat, [which makes] taller players' backs go into hyperextension. For someone like Dwight, who already has back hyperextension, we try to stay away from that. We keep the reps low since we go heavy on this.

The Perfect Push-Up

Even when he's at his house, Dwight is practicing to get more real. "I do a ton of push-ups at my house," he says. "Perfect push-ups." Dwight's pointing to a new training device that utilizes rotating handles to produce a more consistent push-up action. You've most possibly seen the advertisement by now.Dwight combines his push-ups into video game settings. For instance, when he's performing a boxing game (his preference), Dwight does a set every event he hits someone out. Role-playing sport? Every moment he dies, he draws out as numerous push-ups as feasible.Give it to Dwight to go past the standard. Rather than doing sets of regular push-ups, he practices some of the more challenging conditions with the material. Check out his picks later.

Reverse Grip Push-Up

Perform push-ups with hands rotated on handles, so that palms face forwardSets/reps: 3x15-20Dwight: I really feel this in my biceps.

Squat with Push-Up

From a standing position, squat down and place the handle on the floor in front of you. Kick feet back and assume a push-up position. Lower body while rotating hands to face each other; then drive up and rotate hands back to start position. Jump feet to hands and stand up. Repeat.Sets/reps: 3x15-20Dwight: This is great cardio and works my whole body.Dwight Howard is a famous American expert basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the NBA (National Basketball Association). Howard has won numerous honors for his game and had served Team USA to win gold in the 2008 Olympics. "I work extremely hard in the weight room, and also on the court to get better and make sure I keep my body in shape," Dwight says. He equated 18.3 points and 13.2 rebounds per game for the 2009-2010 NBA season. Let us take a look at the Dwight Howard Exercise program.

Monday- Chest, and Triceps

  • 5 sets of bench press of 10 reps (increase the weight with each set and decrease reps)
  • 3 sets of incline dumbbell bench press of 8-10 reps
  • 3 sets of two medicine ball pushups of 12 reps
  • 3 sets of dumbbell fly of 10 reps
  • 3 sets of crossover pushups of 12 reps
  • 3 sets of EZ-Bar triceps extension of 10 reps
  • 3 sets of abs plate twists of 20 reps
  • 3 sets of cable crunch of 20 reps
Dwight-Howard

Tuesday- Legs

  • 3 sets of reverse grip pushups (perform pushups with hands rotated so that palm face forward) of 15-20 reps
  • 3 sets of squat of 4-6 reps
  • 3 sets of hang clean of 4-6 reps
  • 3 sets of single-leg dumbbell calf raise of 12 reps with each leg
  • 3 sets of burpee of 15 reps
  • 3 sets of mountain climbers of 20 reps

Wednesday

Rest

Thursday- Shoulders, biceps, and Back

  • 3 sets of wide-grip lat pull down of 10 reps
  • 3 sets of Arnold press of 10 reps
  • 3 sets of pull-ups of 5 reps
  • 3 sets of dumbbell front raise of 6-85 reps
  • 3 sets of dumbbell rear lateral raise of 6-8 reps
  • 3 sets of alternating dumbbell curls of 6-8 reps
  • 3 sets of close-grip EZ-Bar curls of 8reps
  • 3 sets of Abs plate twist of 12 reps
  • 3 sets of weighted Swiss ball crunch of 20 reps

Friday

  • 3 sets of the squat with pushups of 15-20 reps
  • 3 sets of jump squat of 10-12 reps
  • 3 sets of power snatch of 8 reps
  • 3 sets of plyometric lunges of 6 reps for each leg
  • 3 sets of burpee of 15-20 reps

Saturday and Sunday

Cardio exercises, rest

When Dwight Howard first came into the NBA, he was big but he still had to put on some weights and muscles to beat the players. There were a few adjustments that he had to do that were not necessarily big but he made some changes to his existing plan. In his words. "Well, I love to eat, so that wasn’t the problem. The problem was coming out of high school and adjusting to playing against grown men. You can tell that most players today come in a little more chiseled because they start those weight-training programs earlier. Once I got used to lifting weights and eating the steak and potatoes, as they call it, I ended up getting a lot stronger."

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He says that he does not want to give away each of his secrets when asked about his fitness mantra. However, he does want to see everyone healthy. He says, "Oh, man, I don’t want to give my secrets away, but I do love to see people healthy. If you want a great body, the first thing you have to start doing is running. Getting up early, running, drinking a lot of water, and doing something that’s really going to push your body to the limit, like boxing. Or some type of crazy cardio, like spinning."He also concentrates on his diet which he feels is a big part of his daily routine. It is a great way to make your workouts efficient. He says, "Then, your diet. People think it’s all about what you do in the gym, but it starts with your diet. Once you get your diet right, you can start doing more running and different types of cardio."And push-ups! Lots of push-ups.

Dwight Howard Workout Tips

Dwight-Howard
  • Eat plenty of carbs like whole-grain pasts, fruits, nuts, and vegetables.
  • Drink at least 1 gallon of water regularly.
  • Consume 1.5 grams of protein per lb.
  • Stay away from saturated fats.
  • Eat every few hours at least 6 small meals every day.
  • Eat more calories than you burn.
  • Always exercise under the guidance of a trainer.
  • Keep building weight after each set while doing bench press this will build power to a high degree.
  • Eat like a king but constantly eat healthily.

Dwight Howard Diet Plan

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Dwight-Howard

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 08: Dwight Howard #39 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on against the Golden State Warriors during an NBA basketball game at Chase Center on February 08, 2020, in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)[/caption]Dwight Howard when first joined the NBA, although he was not fat, he was extremely unhealthy. He explains in his own words, "I got rid of all the things that had a lot of sugar in them from last season when I started the diet. I didn't drink a lot of water. I would eat candy and just drink Gatorade. That's a lot of sugar to be putting in your body."However, he did get rid of all that stuff quite early when he joined the NBA. He has eliminated all the sugar and even fruits from his diet. He has a valid reason for it. He explains in his own words saying, "I just got rid of all that stuff. I started putting things in my refrigerator like pecans, almonds, stuff like that. And I really just stopped all the junk food. I had to really cut back on fruits because of all the sugar. The sugar, what does is, sits in those joints. And once it gets in your blood, it sits in your joints and those joints start to hurt and ache."One thing which he did was juicing which he said was pretty beneficial for him. In his words, "I also juiced a lot during last season, and that kind of just gave me more energy and the ability to play back-to-backs."

Dwight-Howard

He doe not eat carbs that much but loves having pasta once in a while. He has also cut out red meat. In his words, "I don't eat bread but pasta maybe once or twice a week. I don't eat a lot of steaks, so it's fish and chicken and stuff like that."

Dwight Howard talked to ESPN Los Angeles’s Mason and Ireland about the nutrition that he practiced to lose all of that weight in just a short span of period. For 30 days, he confined himself to only one wholesome meal a day, all while staying on a running, workout, and weight training regimen. Dwight Howard definitely had his own opinions on how fasting worked for him.

“It was really good, it was something that really just tested my mind and my body,” Howard said on the show. “Fasting is not easy, and when you only have one meal a day — especially how I was training — it’s like, ‘Man, what am I doing?’ But it really just helped me get over a lot of mental barriers that were in the way of me getting to where I needed to get to as a person.”

Howard described Graham Bensinger that he would normally eat his one meal a day nearby 7:45 or 8:00 p.m. In betwixt meals, he would extend his diet with green apples, which he was told improved in the functioning of flushing toxins out of the body. In his interview with Graham Bensinger, Dwight Howard went into intricacies on what worked as his go-to pregame meal.“My routine one season was McDonald’s before every game,” Howard replied with his trademark smirk. “I would get two double cheeseburgers, a large fry, a small fry, a strawberry-chocolate milkshake, and a large coke.”
More lately, Dwight Howard’s vices have been Chick-Fil-A and candy. He spoke about how he managed to eat as many as 12 candy bars a day and managed to keep a closet full of confectionery. “I used to have a big pantry full of candy from Sam’s Club,” Dwight Howard revealed. “We would get tootsie rolls, lollypops, Skittles, Starbursts, Twix, Snickers, every candy you could think of. It was like a gas station at my house!”When Dwight Howard first came, he used to have a playing weight of 265 pounds. Amidst the Los Angeles Lakers, his 6’11 structure is taking only 225 to 230 pounds. The difference makes him less powerful power down low. But it also enables him to run up and down the field, vital quality for big men in today’s NBA, which supports fast opportunities to the set plays that were said to be more frequent. He seems wholesome on the inside, and bearing less weight should support him to withdraw the wounds that have tormented him during his career.
Having a single meal a day might be too intense for many of us, but we could all gain from trading a few bonbon bars and fast food excursions out for some healthful green apples.It came out that Dwight Howard was actually consuming the sugar equal to 24 Hersheys bars in the day in the form of candies and aerated drinks. He was also eating a lot of empty starches which eventually converted to sugar. In his words, he explains his addiction to sugar, saying,
Am I a big candy person? That's an understatement. My pantry is full of candy. Skittles just sent me 30 pounds of Skittles. I have a nightstand full of every candy you could think of. Skittles, blow pops, Laffy Taffy, Reese's Pieces, Kit Kats, all types of candy was in the drawer.

Camara remarked how Howard seemed like a distinct professional once he improved his diet, including having more extra energy on the court. In antiquity, Dwight Howard was just one of various NBA players who didn't understand how to take charge of his body. But that has improved with the support of Dr. Cate Shanahan's guidance, a nutritionist from Napa Valley who has had a meaningful influence on the Lakers' eating practices. And it's an impression that simply resonates, as Howard has produced his newfound diet with him to Houston.

Getting inspired by Dwight Howard, Steve Blake said that his joints haven't felt sounder considering he was back at the University of Maryland. Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant are accepting in. Even Chris Kaman—the famous outdoorsman—spoke deeply of the innovative method.

That said, the biggest achievement story may apply to Lakers forward Shawne Williams, who lost 20 pounds and had to buy completely distinct clothes for his slender build. Here's the basic categorization of the food, per Berger, although the features are far more nuanced and complex.

[caption id="attachment_2227" align="alignnone" width="654"]
Dwight-Howard
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 13: Dwight Howard #39 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts to a play during the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 13, 2020, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: The user expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, the user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2020 NBAE (Photo by Chris Elise/NBAE via Getty Images)[/caption]The laker's program is known as the PRO Nutrition which stands for Performance, Recovery, and Orthogenisis. Orthogenesis is the term coined for the theory that the evolution of a human being is strongly influenced by the kind of environmental factors that he loves in especially diet. It seems fantastic because it has essentially changed the government's sacred food pyramid upside-down. Shanahan requires the professionals to get at least 50 percent of their calories from fat, and no more than 25 percent each from protein and carbs. Wait, what? That's true. Essentially the reverse of what you and everyone else living have been performing for years.

While it's still the Lakers' schedule, Dwight Howard has adopted the policies Shanahan addresses so quickly that Houston general manager Daryl Morey has contracted an agreement with Whole Foods. He wants to support D12's healthy habits, so he assured that the grocer would purvey Rockets' road trips. Not only is Dwight Howard much more salubrious, but he insists to have more power and stamina, all while decreasing his body-fat percentage from what was quite nice before- 5 to 6 percent- to an incredible and if you are conscious about your own body then you must stop reading- 3 percent! With this, it is quite ok to say that a superhero is back! Even Clark Kent wouldn't have thought of himself in that shape.

It was all when he first came to the NBA that he learned about diet and what he needs to put in his body to perform at the best level. He says, " When I first came into the league, it was okay for me to eat whatever I wanted. I realized that that wasn’t really going to help me in the long run, though, and that I had to learn about the right type of diet—the foods that give you more energy. But it takes a while. I think kids now have an advantage because they learn [nutrition] at a young age. We didn’t have that opportunity."A lot of newbies that join the games after they just came out of college feel that they can still eat whatever they want and burn it on the field. However, Dwight Howard says that there is a specific time for eating the way you want to. In his words,There’s a time and place for everything. There are times during the season when you want to eat the crazy foods, and I think the best time to do that is right after the season. Get you a good month in where you’re eating whatever you want.After that, you have to slowly change your diet and get your body ready for the season. It’s tough, and that’s where I’ve learned from what fighters do to their bodies. They have to go to extremes, where they lose something like 25 pounds in seven weeks. That’s where I would look for motivation: Learn what they do to really chisel up. Once it’s getting close to money time—when you really have to start training—you have to curb your diet and get back to eating healthy.There was a story that Dwight Howard used to eat a lot of candies and chocolate bars and to be honest, he had a reputation for that. The sweet tooth was said to be bad and here's how Dwight Howard explains and admits in his own words, "I don’t even know how they’re that accurate about me eating so much candy, but everybody likes candy. People love different types of sweets, and what I liked to do was eat candy."However, he was able to get away with it. He has left his sweet addiction or good. He says, "Was it hard to get off of it? Yeah, at first. Now I’m pretty much cool with it. It doesn’t really bother me. I don’t have to have any type of candy in my diet to feel a certain type of way. But there was a point in time when I just loved eating candy."Here's a list of what Dwight Howard loved to snack on before: "Skittles, and honey buns, and any chocolate... I had a busload of candy in my pantry. It was just filled with each type of chocolate, each type of honey bun, moon pies, oatmeal pies—all types of snacks. Now my pantry is filled with snacks you wouldn’t dare look at because…they don’t look like they taste good. [Laughs]," he says.The story of him leaving sweets is that he went cold turkey which is quite hard to do. He faced many challenges but he overcame them. He explains, "Basically, just trying to remove it from my house, so I wouldn’t get tempted by looking at it. It was tough at first. I’m not going to say it wasn’t, but I just had to take it out of my sight and tell my mind: "This is not good for my body.” That was kind of the process."He actually felt so many physical changes even in one week which helped him achieved success on the court as well as off-court. It was a huge challenge for him. He reveals, "Well, I wasn’t getting tired as fast during games. My body felt different. My face looked a little bit different. I felt all the benefits that happen when you take something bad from your diet. The biggest thing for me in games is fatigue. Usually, when you eat candy, you have a good rush. It hits you and it feels great, but then once you crash, you crash. Once I took that out, I was able to play longer."Now that he does not have sweets at all, he also has very different kinds of cheat meals. We asked him about the kinds of cheat meals that he has now, and he says, "During the season, I do a really good job of making sure I eat the right things. But if I did have a cheat meal or something like that, it would be ribs, collard greens, candied yams, and chitterlings."During the on-season, he has a great meal ready for him. He makes sure to eat protein for each meal. He eats eggs, fish, etc for breakfast. He eats throughout the day to make sure that he is full and full of energy and nutrients so that he does not get tired to play! Here's what he says about his whole day diet plan:
"Once I get up, I try to have some type of egg. It really doesn’t matter if it’s scrambled or an omelet. Maybe salmon, too—something that’s going to give me protein to fuel me in the morning. I try to have a pretty big breakfast. After that, depending on where we’re at, I try to get three small meals before I get on the bus and head to the arena: a small chicken sandwich, or something with carbs in it, or different types of fish. After the game, I try and load up on everything that I lose during the game. That’s probably the biggest meal other than breakfast."
Dwight Howard does whatever he can to stay on track. Diet plays a super important role for him and he does not like to deviate from the right track at all. He explains, "As far as my body goes, I’m pretty much a health freak when it comes to doing what I have to do to stay on top of my game. I make sure I eat the right foods, and I drink a lot of water. I like Core Water—they have regular water and different flavors that I’m always taking in. If not Core Water, I would drink a lot of coconut water. That’s the biggest thing for me: I don’t drink anything but water."In 2012-13, Dwight Howard had a lousy diet plan and it was seriously affecting his play in sports! He used to consume lots of sugar. But then Dr. Cate Shanahan and her partner Luke took the burden of making Dwight Howard’s diet plan alright and creating a new one that would help him put his best feet forward every single time he goes to the field. Here are some of the mandatory things that Dwight Howard does:
  • He avoids processed foods, sugar, and unhealthy oils – corn, canola, vegetable, and other chemically produced oils.
  • He restored empty starches with nutrient-dense food.
  • He eats beef which is from humanely raised, grass-fed cows with no extra antibiotics.

Basically, he had the wrong approach to his diet. He says that he thought, “Back then I thought I’d be able to play forever, though I could eat McDonald’s, chicken wings and honey buns every single day, I realized as you get older, you’ve got to really take care of your body, you’ve got to listen to your body."

Thus, in the end, Dwight Howard also gives important advice to people who are following him or want to go ahead on his path. He says that “So, my advice for anybody is trying to eat as healthy as you can. Health is wealth. A lot of people try to get rich with money, but try to get rich with your body.”Thus, that was all about the fitness mantras that Dwight Howard had to share with his fans and the following. He follows a pretty normal and healthy lifestyle in general too which assists him to play even better during his games! That was all about Dwight Howard's diet plan and workout routine.

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