Steph Houghton Quotes

After my first day of competition I put on compression socks. They help me recover for the next day.

I love yoga. There's a lot of stretching involved, which helps with my flexibility and injury prevention. Vinyasa is my favorite as a recovery tool and for me to continue having my legs feel good.

As a full-time athlete, you put your body through a lot. A foam roller works like a self-massage to roll out the knots in your quads, your hamstrings, and your back so that you feel looser and more prepared.

I went to Brazil to learn more about my body and my physique: what to do before training, during training, after training, even after the match.

I can touch my toes, but I bend in a strange way. I'll never be in the Olympics.

I carry a golf ball to put under my feet when they get tight, and a Thera-Band for general stretching.

Stretching was a major part of my preparation.

I came back from my ACL injury and won MVP. So, what's a groin? What's an adductor? That's how I look at things. I feel like if you just continue to take care of your body, working out, making sure you're in shape and you stay on top of your game, you can play as long as you want.

I think it's important to stretch as you get older, but I try to do basically all the things I did when I played, except I can't do them as well and as much.

I think I feel fortunate to have been very well educated in terms of strength and training while I was at school at Stanford, and I think our strength coaches here on the Colts do a great job. A big part of being able to withstand hits is making sure that you've got a good base.

I am lucky, I don't have aches and pains. I do Pilates regularly, which is a series of stretching exercises, and I recommend it to anyone of my age because the temptation is not to exercise when you get older. Well, you should.

I was religious with the way I stretched, the way I would do my soft-tissue work, whether it be massages or foam rollers. I was very good about getting in the hot tub and cold tub, and getting in the training room. I also love to do yoga, and I give yoga a lot of credit for my longevity in the NFL.

For me, what works is keeping training short but with high intensity and then recovering well. Physio, massage, icing, things like that.

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 always stretch after working out or training and then again before going to sleep. It keeps the muscles healthy and useful, reduces risk of injuries, and is a great way to wind down.

In the off-season, I train twice a day, five times a week with my trainer. Then, there's always massages and neuromuscular therapy worked in there as well on different days.

The older you get, it is harder to prepare physically, even if you have all the experience in the world. You're more sore the next day, you can't pack in as much, and you have to train smarter. You have to pay attention to more subtle things like your warmup routine or core work.

That's one of my focuses, is to increase my flexibility and strength and have greater range of motion.

I like to look after myself, so that's stretching or ice baths, and as soon as I get home, I just sleep anyway; it's all part of recovery.

I work a lot on my coordination and starting speed.

I do some yoga, but it's just about managing my back because that step up physically to men's football is big. I know I look big and strong, but it's still hard on my body. But I'm feeling stronger and stronger the more I play.

I take a lot of pride in being flexible, preserving my body. After a workout, I ice both feet, my calves, knees and stretch.

Take care of your muscles and they'll hold up.

The work I do with my physiotherapist has been instrumental in keeping me healthy, and it's a big reason why I'm able to continue to improve my game.

Pilates is an awesome cross-training exercise for any sport because it focuses on functional movement.