Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash discusses his fitness philosophy with IMPACT.

The Philosophy

Steve Nash was in Vancouver to celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of the Steve Nash Sports Club on Saturday, August 2, 2008.

At thirty-four, Nash is widely regarded as one of the most important basketball superstars of the modern era. Point guard for the Phoenix Suns, named the National Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player two seasons in a row, 2004–2005 and 2005–2006, and named by ESPN in 2006 as the ninth greatest point guard of all time, Nash is revered for being one of Canada’s demonstrable success stories, and the good feelings attached to his name are especially delightful because his success has been earned in a U.S.-dominated game.

When the Steve Nash Sports Club first opened, the promotional literature sent out by the club’s public relations agency indicated that Nash wanted to be part of the project as a way of expressing his personal fitness philosophy. Nash apparently takes a holistic approach to fitness, incorporating what the literature described as a “total mind-body” experience at the health club, encouraging overall well-being through fitness, nutrition, and a healthy environment. And that’s still high on Nash’s agenda.

“You should approach everything with passion, commitment, and an open mind,” says Nash, “and always be striving to learn and get better.

The club fulfills Nash’s comprehensive approach to fitness by offering multiple services.

“Our facility—for a downtown city facility—provides an incredible opportunity to learn and train with renowned fitness experts, to have the space and equipment and facilities to meet all your training needs in one setting,” says Nash. “And so it’s exciting to have it here.”

The Routine

Nash tries to incorporate his fitness philosophy into every part of his life.

“During the season, recovery is extremely important,” he explains, “so I spend a lot of time trying to be as focused as possible, and maximizing as small amount of time as possible training, so that I can recover and play.”

Nash takes the opportunity to indulge his passion for fitness on the streets of Manhattan, where he lives with his wife and daughters.

“In the off-season, I’m out there all the time training,” he says. “You know what? I like skateboarding a few miles to a gym to shoot ... and I do plyometrics between shooting reps with my trainer … or playing soccer three days a week or climbing the stairs in my building. I’m always looking for ways to train, and I kind of feel like the world is a training ride; the world is an opportunity to train. I drive my wife crazy when I decide to do lunges all the way home from a restaurant on a Wednesday night, but you know sometimes I feel like you should use that energy.”

The Kids

In 2001, Nash established the Steve Nash Foundation to provide a broad range of programs for the benefit of underprivileged children. One of those programs, Steve Nash Youth Basketball, is “designed to develop fundamental skills, sportsmanship and a love of the game,” says the program’s Web site. The program is still in the grassroots stage, but Nash looks forward to the day when the program can incorporate the breadth of his approach to total fitness.

“We’re definitely open to education and health care. It’s part of our foundation as a part of development. Youth Basketball offers kids activity, fitness, wellness, leadership, and the ability to work with other people—be a teammate. So it provides a lot of things, but the structure is there overlapping education…. Now nutrition is something that I think is not only a part of education but a part of health care. So, nutrition would be a very logical next step for us, but, you know, its still in some ways in its infancy rolling out across the country, but in time it would be great if the educational materials and model could work.”

At the time the Steve Nash Sports Club opened, Nash expressed the desire to have the club work to improve the fitness of underprivileged children and youth in Vancouver, partnering with the Steve Nash Foundation. So far, the club has not acted on that initiative, but Nash remains committed:

“As we get more and more stable at the club and start to get more concrete with what our mission is—or at least develop the reality of our mission—we would love to have a kids' program that works with the Foundation that can allow kids this kind of venue and opportunity that other kids—-myself included—don’t have, and just to get the opportunities to learn about fitness training and a place to go develop their bodies and have access to it.”

Back at the party, at 4:15 p.m., club staff opened the conference room doors to the lineup of children. The children entered the room single file. Club staff handed a miniature basketball to each child as they filed between velvet ropes toward the folding table where Steve Nash sat, his Sharpie ready.

Nash’s eyes met the first girl in line, a girl of about eleven or twelve, tall, skinny, dressed in white. Nash beamed. He called her forward, and he began doing the second best thing he’s good at in life—engaging with children. Nash is a calm, personable, quiet man, whose sincere good nature is obvious, but children appear to bring out the very best in him. From the moment the kids entered the room he lit up. He was engaged and helpful and genuinely interested as he signed miniature basketballs, t-shirts, jerseys, and other mementoes.

And the children returned his real warmth and affection. He was their hero.

What does Nash think of that?

“You know, for me, there are people that are a lot more heroic than athletes,” he said after the autograph signing. Nash’s idea of heroism extends beyond mere skill—even extreme skill—in a game.

“I am fortunate enough that I am going to direct a documentary on Terry Fox for ESPN, so that’s the type of person that comes to mind, someone like him with vision, toughness, guts, and the foresight to pick a country up and create a legacy for himself—that’s the type of person that I admire.”