Damian Lillard details diet and training changes after ‘toughest year of life’ with money | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard says he’s making changes to his diet and workout routine after enduring “probably the toughest year of my life” during the 2023-2024 season, according to Fox Sports’ Melissa Rohlin.

Lillard’s trade from the Portland Trail Blazers last fall, which came after the preseason had already begun, led Lillard to distance himself from his three children while he negotiated a divorce, he told Rohlin.

His production then dropped from a career-high 32.2 points per game in Portland to 24.3 points per game with the Bucks.

“When there’s a lot of pressure on you, your best foot forward isn’t what it is when you’re your clear, free self,” Lillard told Rohlin. “I think that was the kind of year for me. But everything passes. I think those times are over.”

Lillard responded this offseason by training with a former Navy SEAL and changing his diet to include no dairy, no gluten and no processed foods, he told Rohlin.

The Bucks star told Rohlin he would travel with his own pre-made frozen meals when he left town after starting the diet, which he said took “a lot of responsibility and discipline.”

“It was hard at first… but I was able to stick with it,” Lillard told Rohlin.

His off-season training, meanwhile, involved endurance athlete and former SEAL David Goggins, who has experience in ultramarathons and ultratriathlons and set a world record in 2013 by doing 4,030 pull-ups in just over 17 hours.

Lillard has shared footage of his workouts with Goggins throughout the offseason.

Lillard recently discussed these workouts with Nabil Karim for Bleacher Report, saying his offseason routine included working with a nutritionist, chef, strength and conditioning coach, speed and agility coach, physical therapist and basketball coach in addition to Goggins.

“It was more of a mental challenge than anything, and I think that’s my biggest lesson,” Lillard said of training with Goggins. “The mental strength, you realize there’s a lot more of it when you think, even when you’re tired, and you’re just dying in the middle of it.

“So to come out on the other side after spending time with him, it really did something for me mentally.”

The Bucks entered the postseason as the No. 3 seed in the East during Lillard’s first campaign with the team, but were unable to overcome injuries to both him and Giannis Antetokounmpo as they lost to the Indiana Pacers in six games of the first round.

Lillard will now hope his new offseason routine can lead to better results as the Bucks work to enter the 2024-2025 season as title contenders, starting on Oct. 23 with a season-opening road game against the Philadelphia 76ers.