Training and preparation are fundamental to the individuals who make up a winning team whether it's a family or a business. For an athlete, you have to be at your best. You build your body up and get it strong to take the pounding. So, when it's time to play the games on Sunday, you know, as an athlete, you can give it your all. Do what you have to do to get the best out of yourself.
You prepare yourself mentally as well as physically. If you don't have the mental side of having a game plan, as for what you are trying to accomplish, it's not going to come together. If I didn't visualize what I wanted to do for the coming season, then the training and preparing was not going to help me. You've got to have direction. You've got to have a focus.
I was able to have that focus for 11 years. I always tried to have something different to motivate me each year, and it kept me excited about playing the game of professional sports. Now you bring that focused attitude to the team. For myself, when I worked out with the 49ers, I was always sprinting my plays eighty yards. Every time I touched the ball, even if it was only a five-yard pass. Jerry Rice started doing the same thing after he saw me doing it. Now it's a way of life with the 49ers.
I still run six miles and work on cardiovascular. I lift just enough weights to keep toned. The only thing that I worry about now is to be well conditioned. I've been retired for ten years. I don't think that I've lost my endurance and I feel great. I escaped the game injury free. A lot of the reason that I came out of the game healthy is because I took care of the maintenance side of my body. You know: getting chiropractic care, getting massages, eating right, not drinking, taking the right supplements, and doing the right things. That's the reason why I'm healthy today.
Keeping your body in shape is a key part of having a great life. The better you feel the better you will live. IF you take care of your body your body will take care of you for many many wonderful years.
