Tessa Blanchard Quotes

It's definitely a necessity to make split-second decisions when you're doing gymnastics because things don't always go perfect.

My body is a vehicle for the mechanics of my sport.

Being explosive, quick, elusive and fast helps my game, so I do tons of lunges, leg press and different explosion type of runs.

Anything you train can be improved upon. If you do it over and over again, your body is going to remember these moves and not be surprised in the game.

Hand-eye coordination and reflexes is something I work on more than anything.

I think when I move well, that's the key for my best tennis.

I can't do much about my height, but I can do a lot of things in strength and speed and work on that. I'm going to try to do that the best I can to make me a better ballplayer.

Boxing, mixed martial arts and tennis are the hardest sports to train for.

I'm not privy to the English set-up, but at the academies in Ireland, there is a huge focus on the weights room as opposed to whether they can throw a 10-metre pass on the run. They should be rugby players becoming athletes, not athletes becoming rugby players.

I could jump, I was quick, I could catch and all those types of things, but when it came to just flat out speed, that's something I had to work really hard at.

Obviously, the difference between a game and actual training is you're using your whole body, so in that sense, maybe not, although maybe something to do with reaction, the speed of reaction, maybe that was of use during the training.

Tap dancers find it very difficult to do anything other than tap if that is all they have been trained in because, again, it's a whole different ballgame that you're constantly working on - bent legs, loose ankles - which you cannot afford to do when you're doing jumps or anything else.

I think the two most important parts of any athlete's workouts are his leg workouts and his core training.

When I go to the gym, stretching is very important. For polo, you don't need too much strength so you don't want to build yourself up too much. It's all about flexibility.

Gymnastics is the type of sport where you can't take something that gives you more energy. Something may be great for the vault, but then you have the bars after it and you have to be more sedate for that.

Those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.

Football shape is one thing, and then 'futbol' shape is a completely other thing. It's a whole other level of fitness that you have to work to maintain.

In the game of football, you need to be strong, and at my position, you need to be able to put up a good fight. So I work on my upper body and lower body strength because your body's got to be able to last.

I think that for my sport, the core is the most important. I mean, really in all sports, but especially in the sport I play, I keep my core right and try and keep that up no matter what I'm doing.

I think overall body awareness and knowing exactly where I need to be makes a big difference. Knowing how much weight to put on each foot or where I need to put my hands are things I'm very good at. Obviously with the wrestling background those are things that come naturally.

Wrestlers tend to do good in MMA because they tend to be just some tough guys. It's not a karate situation where they grew up their whole life punching the air; in a wrestling situation, you grab a hold of another human being every day.

For a gymnast to be successful, she needs to strike a balance of everything within herself. She needs to be graceful, flexible, perform all elements, turns, maintain co-ordination - she has to have all of that. If, for example, she only has co-ordination and nothing else, she will not succeed.

Fitness is the key. You need to have strokes and stamina and agility; you need to exercise really well. On-court and off-court are equally important.

Overall strength work - if you can do it regularly - makes a massive difference on the pitch, especially when you are fatigued. If you are stronger, it helps you deal with that.

I'm adding moves to my post game. I'm really working on staying low. I'm working on my strength overall, especially my legs. That's going to help me defensively as well.