Andrew Flintoff Quotes

Any time you're recovering from an injury, your main focus is trying to get back into shape, really just getting healthy again.

I didn't think I was going to play that day. I'd have to thank the training staff for getting me on the field that day. They made a bigger deal than I thought it was.

I played tennis a lot when I had the skull injury. For the first two months of my preparation, it was all I could do. It is a great sport for me because it helps my hand-eye coordination, and you need quick feet, which is a good exercise for a keeper.

I'd heard other players talking about dark times when they were trying to get back from bad injuries.

The operations were big ones, so I knew it'd take a lot of hard work. It's hard, you know? You're in the gym for hours on end doing strengthening exercises, and that's just so you are able to start running again. You can't even think about getting on the pitch to start with.

When you first come back from a long-term injury, you're just trying to get your body in order and trying to get back into the training and match routine.

I know everyone thinks Dad is a little bit crazy with his training, because we train a lot harder and do more kilometres and stuff than most pentathletes. Training is full-on. It's seven or eight hours a day.

When I was getting injured so much, I spoke to my family and my manager and said, 'I need my body to recover.' The first thing I thought was that I needed to stay upright. When I went back to Brazil to play, after a few months, my body was perfect.

The return is one of the hardest shots to make when you come back from injury.

My knee is almost back to normal. I am back in training.

I spent a whole year when I was injured just trying to get my arm back to the point where I could hit a tennis ball for more than 30 minutes a day. I'd hit for 15 minutes and it would feel as if my arm was going to fall off.

I've played with IVs before, during and after games. I've played with a broken hand, a sprained ankle, a torn shoulder, a fractured tooth, a severed lip, and a knee the size of a softball. I don't miss 15 games because of a toe injury that everybody knows wasn't that serious in the first place.

Physical therapy is part of my offseason routine. That has helped me greatly.

I've had three broken legs and two knee replacements. But I'm very good at apres golf.

Injuries are a big factor when you're trying to go on a championship run.

My knee was torn up. I tore every ligament in my knee. It was a very, very bad injury. I had to do what the doctors told me to do, and I did that. The next year, I came back and led the league in rushing.

For much of the year, you're just trying to maintain your fitness. It's not often you get a lot of time to really concentrate on improving it.

I'm not a good spectator; I'm a nightmare when I'm injured and I'm not playing.

Little injuries are always happening, so you've just got to train through those. You've also got to have the right training partners, people you trust.

Every time I am not playing, I am training harder to keep myself fit.

It's tough to play with an injury.

It's always bad news when a player gets injured - dreadful news.

I've been through so much. I mean, after an ACL, you have to learn how to walk again, how to run again, you have to get your head strong again.

Every injury is specific to what has happened, but the advice that I will give is that if you have a lower body injury, to work your upper body out. If you have an upper body injury, work your lower body out. Again, move what is not broken and you will definitely feel better.

People probably don't realise, but you often train harder when you're injured than when you're fit.