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When you reach that elite level, 90 percent is mental and 10 percent is physical. You are competing against yourself. Not against the other athlete.

In my judgment, physical fitness is basic to all forms of excellence and to a strong, confident nation.

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.

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.

I went from a player who was never fit to a person who actually worked hard to get myself in shape.

The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.

Athletic ability can be taken away like that. It can all end in a heartbeat.

You must also give mental and physical fitness priority.

Fitness has always been one of my strengths. I can do all the long-distance runs. When I was at school and we entered the competitions, I used to do the 100m, 200m, and the 1500m as well, so it's never just been a pace thing.

Fitness is not about being better than someone else... It's about being better than you used to be.