Laird Hamilton

Traveling throws your body totally out of sync. It limits your access to healthy foods, sends you into different time zones that alter your hormonal balance, disrupts your sleep, and stiffens your muscles and joints.

What separates great athletes from mediocre ones isn't only talent and training - it's also how well they can handle discomfort.

I love swimming in rough water, usually along cliff lines and places where the waves are really banging on you.

Sharing is how I learn.

When we work out, we think about pushing ourselves muscularly or cardiovascularly, but why not also challenge yourself neurologically?

Nobody should try to be the best at every discipline, especially not you. If you are, you're bound to plateau.

Everyone's dietary needs are different, and it has taken me decades to develop nutritional habits that work for me.

I love food. Not just because it tastes great, but because it's fuel for my body.

The first time you do some new exercise, you're sore and tired in a way that you hadn't been before. But do that same exercise for three or four months, and you have to do twice as many reps and with more weight to feel as though you've accomplished anything.

I don't eat energy bars when I'm out on the water all day. In fact, I don't need to eat anything. My body runs off its body fat.

There isn't a sport in the world - including swimming - that doesn't involve the foot, so when we train the whole body, we have to include the complex system of muscles, tendons, and joints around the ankle and foot.

Being upside down is the ultimate counterbalance to the repetitive motions we do in our vertical lives - walking, standing, paddleboarding, sitting upright.

A big part of protecting yourself involves devel-oping range of motion. Work on increasing mobility wherever you happen to be tight. Each body is unique, so your stretching routine will likely look different from someone else's.

I've dealt with plenty of injuries in my career, including six broken ankles and a torn ACL.

I always eat dinner with my wife, Gabrielle, and on most nights we have a smoked or roasted meat like lamb with a lot of veggies. My favorites are broccoli and brussels sprouts drizzled in olive oil, or cabbage and butternut squash tossed with coconut oil.

Your body is smarter than you give it credit for.

Though I try to take a rest day once a week, I let my workload and how I'm feeling dictate my routine. I know I need downtime when I don't have any high energy left to tap.

Everyone gravitates toward what they're good at. If you've got big legs, you're going to go squat. If you've got big pecs, you're going to go to the bench press. It's just what we automatically do.

To me, there's nothing worse than waking up and realizing that the sun's already been up for awhile. I feel like I've missed out, like I'm only getting three-quarters of the day.

I can't sleep in, even if I stay up late the night before. So if I begin the day with a sleep deficit, I try to listen to my body and maybe take a 20-minute power nap later on.