Today, Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love welcomes Architectural Digest to his home to tour his personal wellness room.
The toll of a 12-year NBA career demands a dedicated routine of treatment and recovery, focusing not just on physicality but also centering the importance of mental health.
From red light therapy panels to a hyperbaric chamber, Kevin pulls out all the stops in maintaining his health.
- What's up AD?It's Kevin Love, I'mhere in Cleveland, Ohio.I'm really excited to showyou guys my wellness room.Let's go check it out.I've been in this house sincemy second year in Cleveland.I'm on year six now, obviously on hiatusthroughout COVID-19.But you know, really tryingto utilize this spaceas much as possible.The idea around it was to have somethingthat was gonna supplementeverything that I do outon the basketball courtand keep me feeling young.This is my 12th year in theleague so I think there's thingsthat you have to figure out coming event.I mean, it's not like youcan just roll out the balland play anymore.This room as far asrecovery, is very paramountin everything that I do.Alright, so this is my first modality hereand my Joov red light.It helps promote reallygreat sleep and it has this,you know, like a heatingfactor to it as well,that really gets the body movingin the morning gets the joints lubricated.It's really, really userfriendly, easy to use,as you can see here, it'sgreat for inflammationit's something I do whenI wake up in the morning,or after a long flight for the sakeof this video I'll turn it off.So the next piece of equipment I wanna goto is the hyperbaric chamber.This is something that I really use a lotduring the playoffs orafter long road trips,because we are movingacross different time zones,we're super sleep deprived,even in quarantine now,I found myself pretty stressed out,I get worked up overthe unknown so for me,it's really trying to makesure that I'm catching upon my sleep, whether we're at home,whether we're on the road, justcontinuing to pay it forwardto our bodies and try tostretch our careers outas much as possible, keepsmy inflammation down,gets my red blood cell count up.This brand of hyperbaricchamber is actually soldto fit two people ata time, but being 6'9,it's a big enough footprintto accommodate me,but I've actually triedto be in there with Kateand there's not enough spaceto work for both of us.Alright, so as you can seebehind me, we're moving onto the infrared sauna.This is actually reallygood for cell regenerationand infrared sauna also is, you know,to that point really, really good for skinand for energy levels,it really picks you upthat's why coming home frompractice, I wanna make surethat I'm getting all thosebenefits and it's picking me upfor the rest of the day.You know, this is somethingthat we really utilize,especially with the seasons here.It's not like we're living inLA, we're not living in Miami,it's very seasonal, andit gets pretty cold hereduring the winter so it'ssomething really nice to usewhen you know the temperaturesget in that freezing level.Alright, so the next pieceof equipment we have hereis the wave bed.And there's my puppy Vestryright there she's usingit right now and it helps promote sleep.You know, it has differentsounds and different vibrationsthat when you sit down onit, you put headphones on,and then if I can move mypuppy here, you can seethat actually it has a wavecomponent to it, so when you siton it it's actuallyallowing you to settle inand those vibrations are promoting,you know really really healthy sleep.So there's a coupledifferent variations on here.It has touch like a littletouch up it has gentle, deep,that's typically the one thatI use because I lack a lotof deep sleep and thenthere's energy as well.Vetry's looking like sheneeds a little bit ofthat energy right now.The wave bed also acts asa massage table as well,so I'll typically jump on there.She also pretty much just lays on topof me when I'm eithergetting a massage or I'mon the wave bed so she has it pretty good.You know even for dogs too Imean it's their science sayingthat you live longer, youknow if you have a dog,you know it promotes getting outsideand I'm incredibly gratefulthat not that I was hurtbut that we had the time tothen take advantage of you know,training a dog and youknow kind of have her growas you know part of our extended familiesand this is all she wantsto do, she's a velcro dog.I don't think she'll everget out of that stage.It's every day we kind oflaugh at how she's close to usor on top of us no matter what.I use this vibrations fromthis power plate right here,especially on my lower half.Like I mentioned my feet,I hold a lot of my stressin my feet and we'repounding so much out thereon the floor, especiallyplaying heavy minutes.I play 30 plus a night.So the next piece ofequipment here looks likea giant bubble, but it's the Waff Max.It's something that superpromotes muscle relaxation.It's actually what I tend to meditate on.So I'll use headspace, I'llput my phone or my headphoneson, you know, maybe even aneye mask and I'll settle intothat with a weighted blanket and just gothrough my breathing exercises.You know, I could reallyactually get used to right nowand there's the puppyshe's checking it out.Atta girl.I was one of those people that gotinto meditation super late.I had kinda preconceived notions about itor made assumptions but it was somethingthat I just had an open mind forafter I started doing you know, therapy,start peeling back layersof what I'd been feeling.I believe meditation as a great, great wayof making you look inwardand has a great wayof just having you beingmindful and stay in the present.If 2020 has taught me anythingespecially in the NBA,you know, with the passing of David Stern,with the passing of Kobe,and then the game justbeing taken away from us,it's just to stay in the present.The mental health aspecthas been somethingthat's incredibly important tome and obviously I've talkedabout at length and willcontinue to speak aboutbut I think more and moreplayers, athletes in general,are starting to open up andyou know, speak about the ideaof you know, taking care ofthe mental side of things,whether it be you know,their mental healthor just even their focustraining their mind just as muchas they're training theirbody in order to get an edge.Because if you wanna beat the top of your game,you have to do both.My parents were either childrenof the 60s or just gettinginto their 20s so obviouslywe have the incense.For me it's pine typicallybecause I grew upin Portland, Oregon,and then candles always.So that's what leads me into yoga here.I set up my computer rightthere, we get on the zoom call,and do yoga as a team.It's another way of staying connected,but you know, making surethat we're working outand taking care of our bodiesso that when we do come backto play, we'll be ready to go.Listen, a lot easier to stay in shape thanto get back into shape.I try to think of where I've had injuries.I've had a separated shoulderon the right side here.My left side I've hada shoulder dislocationand labral tear.So like opening thoseup, is paramount for me.I think something that'ssometimes overlooked,especially in this space is natural light.Now just being surroundedby the trees here makes mein some way feel like I'm back homein the Pacific Northwest.So not only the naturallight, but the treesand the greenery and justbeing around the elements,it's very key.The true beauties of thisroom is that it allows meto spend more time at home.You know, it's really vitalto just making more timefor myself, especially duringthe season where we're notat home too much and we'respending over half the yearon the road.Okay everybody, so thanks forchecking out my wellness room.I hope you guys got something from this.Stay safe, stay healthy, andI'm gonna go get a workout in.I'll see you later.