There are a lot of great athletes who stop working out, and they get out of shape like everybody else in their 30s and 40s.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
A true athlete is someone who doesn't just stop training when they stop competing. It's a way of life, and they keep in shape just to keep up that standard.
Fitness is a curve. You can be Lance Armstrong, or you can be really out of shape at the opposite end. People enter the curve wherever they are and then they can move up the curve, by better nutrition and better exercise.
I think one has to understand that there are stages in life, and that the life of an athlete has its limits. It's short, and then it stops, and sooner or later you have to accept that.
Athletes are sort of part of the community at large. They have to be dedicated to what they do, and go through lots of peaks and valleys. And there's a lot of training that goes into their careers. It's a struggle. Very dramatic.
My guess is many top athletes, distance runners included, use performance-enhancing drugs, enough so that the problem must be tackled.
I want to be like the athletes who seem stuck in time. When you see them at 50, you say they probably can still run like a champ.
I always find sports-related ways to stay in shape.
A lot of us lead relatively sedentary lifestyles, so you have to motivate yourself and force yourself to go to the gym and do active things. The folks that have figured it out, found that thing that they love and made it a big part of their lives, it's easy for them to stay in shape.
In many ways, I feel I'm still as physically fit as I was 20 years ago because I've always been athletic.
It's important to remember that because these athletes exercise so beyond what even a normal active person would, they generally must also supplement their diet.