Lonzo Ball On How Ball Brothers Trained For The NBA: 'Military Discipline'

Lonzo Ball recently opened up about the intense training regimen that shaped the Ball brothers into NBA-caliber athletes, attributing their success to a strict, almost "military discipline" instilled by their father, LaVar Ball. On an episode of Gil’s Arena, Lonzo detailed the rigorous schedule that dominated their summers and laid the foundation for their basketball careers.

"Our summers, I aint gonna lie, it probably why if I have off day now, I'm sleeping the hell in cuz like we was waking up bro at 7 o'clock man every day."

"We got to go start on the hill after we run the hill which is about a mile give or take about a mile, then we run depending on the day, either 12 to 18 sprints up the half of it pretty much so that s**t going to take at least an hour and a half once we get back home, we gonna to do our situps."

"After we do our situps then we either going to do depending if it was a Monday, Wednesday or Friday then we gonna do weights if it's Tuesday or Thursday then we going to do pull-ups, that's another about hour right there and after we done with that we finally get to hoop which was about two hours."

"So I would say we was moving around from like 7:30 to about 11ish in everyday and s**t, that was how we would start our days off and then we would eat after that and then s**t, we had so many people at the crib. "

"We had a swimming pool you know thank God so we were just s**t, all go crazy in the pool man, and the rest of the day was ours to have we go play football we continue to just play pickup and we can do what we want but you know it was kind of like real militant." 

"We was on the schedule our whole lives no matter what like we really ate dinner at the same time every day near ate breakfast at the same time every day worked out at the same time every day everything was just you know set up for us to best."

This regimented lifestyle wasn’t just about staying active—it was about building habits and a mindset geared toward excellence. The Ball brothers, Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo, all followed this routine, creating a bond through shared discipline and hard work. For Lonzo, that early foundation was instrumental in preparing him for the demands of the NBA.

Looking back, Lonzo credits the demanding schedule for not only honing their basketball skills but also teaching them the value of structure, persistence, and accountability. While the discipline was tough, it’s clear the Ball brothers wouldn’t be where they are today without the "military discipline" instilled in them from a young age.