Jock Stein Quotes

You can't play when you're not 100% fit especially at this level.

I just want to be in the best shape I can be. Not to stand on that start line and say: 'Oh my God, I have this injury and that injury.' I just want to be able to go out and race.

I have always maintained a high level of fitness, and that is why I am still able to handle the demands of playing in the Premiership. People have always commented on my fitness, and it's something I pride myself on.

I don't need to practise. The only thing I need to do is build up my match fitness.

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.

You must be in supreme physical condition. If your body isn't right, you cannot play in the Premier League.

Players don't change drastically. Maybe they get more in form if they're a goal scorer, or they get healthier if they've been injured.

Energy is connected to physical fitness. One of the reasons I stayed at the top so long is that I was tremendously fit. At 36, I was fitter than most opponents ten years younger.

What I've been telling everyone that loves Carolina football is that we are going to put a team out there that, number one, is in good shape. We're going to be fit, we are going to be able to play the whole game and we're not going to poop out.

I train like a pro-athlete, not like an actor who's just trying to look pretty.

I wasn't as fit as I would of liked to have been, going to the World Cup, but I'm not sure what difference that made.

Being an athlete, you know how to train and prepare your body for a performance and you're able to do it under pressure.

The reason why I have lost weight is that I looked at the international schedule and thought that I wanted to play for another two years. It is a very hectic schedule and if I want to get through that then I have to be in the best shape that I can.

Basically, I really like to train. That's what keeps me busy during the offseason - just training and getting my body right and getting ready for the next year.

I played high school football at a hundred and eighty-five pounds and played big league baseball at a hundred and eighty-two. I'd get up to maybe 188 in the off-season because every summer I'd lose eight to ten pounds.

The big goal is playing in June, so I'd rather be in the best shape I can be in health-wise than be dragging with nagging injuries or not being 100 percent trying to get to the Finals.

It's not easy, but I play with my body, and I can feel how important it is to get 100 percent fit to play. This is an important thing to play in the Premier League.

I am used to training 10 to 12 sessions a week, so I have the physical and mental endurance that comes with being an athlete.

The double sessions are tough. The manager wants us to get fit, wants us to work hard. And that's because the Premier League is so tough. We need it. Something we have to do.

Fitness for us on match day is paramount.

Players can play bad, and certainly when you have only three days or six days training sessions in your legs, and you have to play 45 minutes. Everybody can say that it's easy to step in, but it is not easy.

Put on about 10 more pounds, that'd be good for me and the development of my game.

It's always difficult not playing games and that match fitness and sharpness is something you always lack when you don't get that opportunity.

I think any time you can go out and put pads on and practice before the season, I think it's a good sign. It's a good sign.

In games, you notice there's more sprints than in Bundesliga. It takes a while to get used to.