1.
He's So Money
Athlete: Floyd Mayweather
On: Fighting ghosts
“Every day that I go to the boxing gym, I think about what my opponent is doing. In my mind, I’m trying to outwork my opponent. That’s what keeps me physically able to go out there and perform and not get tired. Each time I’m pushing myself more and more to the limit.” [Men's Health]
[caption id="attachment_205936" align="alignnone" width="625"] Image via ESPN
No Days Off
Athlete: Giancarlo Stanton
On: MLB off-season workouts
"The off-season is more weightlifting. Heavier weights. Playing every day, our main goal is to be as quick as possible. If you lift a lot of weights, it makes you quick but it also makes you slow as you recover from it. You gotta find that happy medium and exercises that won't carry on to the next day." [Sun Sentinel]
Who Gon Stop Me Now
Athlete: Colin Kaepernick
On: Pushing himself to the limit
"You have to train hard and be strong while staying flexible and limber, so I'm trying to find that balance. I've been trying to make my legs stronger and more explosive and build more fast-twitch muscles. I've been running with bands and chains, I've been pushing sleds, I swim tied to a bungee."
"When I lift, I try to do as heavy as possible until I can't do it anymore. That helps me endure a season, and that's what separates me. If we're doing sets of five, it's not, 'All right, that was good, I'm comfortable with that.' No, I'm going to do it until my arms are about to give out or my legs are about to go." [ESPN]
Don't Call it a Comeback
Athlete: Adrian Peterson
On: Recovering from his ACL injury
"It really just made me grind, just work even harder. When you're knocked down, you gotta start from scratch. I've learned it's a different sense of urgency, just a different mentality. I'm going to say the past six weeks been probably the hardest I've worked in my life." [NFL]
“The things you guys don’t see is how much I work and grind and fought through different situations to get back. Mentally, I was able to push through when I was tired and didn’t want to do anything. I definitely give credit to the things I put into my off-season.” [USA Today]
2.
No Pain, No Gain: The Snorkel Edition
Athlete: Michael Phelps
On: Olympic training
"For me, some of the most effective drills focus on vertical kicking and underwater kicking. It's painful, but very effective. Another important drill for me is sculling. It really helps me maintain my feel for the water."
"I use a bunch of Speedo training gear, like kickboards, pull buoys, training paddles, and snorkels." [Men's Fitness]
Biking The Tour de France For Funsies
Athlete: Zdeno Chara
On: Cycling as a training tool for the NHL
"Cycling has been a part of my training for as long as I can remember and eventually I talked a couple friends into riding some stages of the Tour de France. We pick either the Alps or the Pyrenees. We'll do five, six or seven stages. After we ride each one, we wait for the racers to come. I've been one of those guys running alongside the riders, trying to push them up the hill a little." [Bicycling]
Lob City Starts With a Strong Core
Athlete: Blake Griffin
On: Core strengthening
"One of the things I do is pushups on a basketball or medicine ball. That goes back to the whole core thing. Just keeping your body straight. With the basketball it really forces you to really grip. Use your forearms a little bit more."
"I'm not really using a lot of weights. I'm doing mostly body weights, high reps to build endurance." [Stack]
Sicker Than Your Average Punter
Athlete: Steve Weatherford
On: Being the fittest NFL punter ever
"It’s become a habit and a lifestyle now, waking up and training as hard as I possibly can, 5-6 days a week. I’ve been very fortunate because I’ve stayed healthy, but I have to attribute a lot of it to my maniacal diet and training regimen."
“I hardly do any cardio at all. My stance is, if I don’t take in a bunch of crappy food, I don’t need to burn it off. I do minimal cardio just to keep my legs in shape and retain fast-twitch muscle fiber.” [Muscle & Fitness]
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