Ryan Howard Quotes

I was always really strict on myself about doing everything possible to prepare for competition.

To be the best, you need to be the most well-trained and well-prepared athlete you can be. The pressure is going to be all around you. You just have to make sure that your body and mind is fine-tuned. Then you go out there and do it.

Truthfully, what we do in training is 10 times harder than what we ever have to do in a competition.

My job is to come out here and compete the best I can, get in the playbook, understand what they want from me, and the rest will take care of itself.

I always try to keep in mind the I do all that training for a reason, which is to compete to the best of my ability.

I love to prepare if it's something that requires training. But I don't like to prepare the psychology too much.

When I started studying for the arias it was like going into training for a heavyweight title fight.

As a competitor, you have to learn pretty quickly how to deal with pressure.

But if I played well and prepared myself properly, then all I had to do was control myself and put myself in a position to win.

To be number one, you must train like you are number two.

In training, you can push yourself to the limit and test yourself against the best players in the world. That is when the pressure is really on, and they are the moments when you either improve, or you don't.

You stay sharp. You go back into the gym. You work, put that work in, get that conditioning up, you lift. You pretty much know as a pro athlete what you need to do to get yourself back. But none of that, for me, means as much as playing.

If you don't train in a certain way because you think you won't play, you have to do more in the week to show why you deserve to play.

In training, for example, when you feel your position on the team is in danger then you have to be fully focused.

I just line up, and I compete.

You have to get yourself right for the Worlds. If you can't get yourself right for that you shouldn't be playing.

I've got to do everything extra to put myself in the best shape to get in the World Cup squad.

It's all about getting your head down, focusing, working hard, competing in training, keeping fit, and picking up points.

My improvements, my fights and the competition is going to get better. I'm going to be ready for it.

Every race is like training and preparation.

If I put things together inside the Octagon, I have everything to be No.1 in the world.

I learn how to put myself in situations at practice that cause me to zone in on what I'm trying to accomplish at meets. I try to make my practice surrounding as close to competition pressure to focus on what I need to do on the big stage.

I don't think you ever want to be too settled, because once you become settled, you lose a lot of your drive. I mean, I am settled off the court; the business side of things, the papers, contracts and all of that, but there are a lot things that I need to work on, on the court, like my free-throw shooting, which has been terrible. I need to work on being more demanding in the post. My teammates are going to come to me and I just need to go out there and score in the post, which will open up things for our guards.

The Grand Prix Final is an opportunity for me to go out and experience new jumping passes in competition. I put in a triple loop-half loop-triple Salchow in the second of the program. It's a very difficult jumping pass so this is a chance for me to try out the new elements and the adjusted jumping layout to get prepared for nationals.

When you’re out there partying, horsing around, someone out there at the same time is working hard. Someone is getting smarter and someone is winning. Just remember that.