Laird Hamilton

I think I've had a few lives already. I know I feel sometimes that I'm maybe like a cat.

The first thing I do in the morning is take a hot shower to wake myself up and shake off the slumber and stiffness that accumulates during the night.

Whenever I can get a nutrient or health benefit from a root, an herb, or a functional food instead of a pill, the effects will be stronger.

Omega-3s may be the single best supplement you can take on a regular basis.

If I don't get a chance to work out first thing in the morning, my whole day sort of goes awry.

I subscribe to the idea that energy perpetuates energy, and nothing makes you more tired than sleeping in or sleeping too much.

To me, there's nothing worse than waking up and realizing that the sun's already been up for awhile. I feel like I've missed out, like I'm only getting three-quarters of the day.

Almost every guy I look up to - everyone whose life is an example of how to live - is an early riser. All of them wake up in the dark, and they're just revved and ready to go.

I'll go out in the morning in the dark and sauna to start the day, a really hot one. I'll do something really hot, or you could also just jump in an ice tub and get the opposite of that. Either one of those kind of extreme thermal exposures is gonna boost the system. It's gonna rev you up.

There's a thing about discomfort. Maybe if we lived in a different universe, maybe discomfort wouldn't be so beneficial. But the universe that we live in at this point, we benefit from discomfort.

Coming up with new ideas keeps me young and excited.

I think my nature of competitiveness is such that it's not meant to be used in sport. It's meant to be used in survival.

Definitely the ocean was my saviour. It saved me from a lot of destruction. Or I'd say self-destruction.

You don't want to put coffee on an empty stomach - too much acid.

I love espresso... You could give me five shots of espresso, a quarter stick of butter, a quarter stick of coconut oil and other fat, and I'll drink that. I could go for five or six hours and not even be hungry at the end. Because I'm burning fat.

If you're eating right, a triathlete can go for hours and hours on a couple tablespoons of almond butter and your own body fat.

I don't eat energy bars when I'm out on the water all day. In fact, I don't need to eat anything. My body runs off its body fat.

You want to have diversity in your diet. Too much red meat can leave me feeling sluggish, and sometimes my body will clue me in to the fact that I need to take a break from animal protein and go big with the greens.

I always eat dinner with my wife, Gabrielle, and on most nights we have a smoked or roasted meat like lamb with a lot of veggies. My favorites are broccoli and brussels sprouts drizzled in olive oil, or cabbage and butternut squash tossed with coconut oil.

Everyone's dietary needs are different, and it has taken me decades to develop nutritional habits that work for me.

When you weight train, take your ego out of the equation. If you pick up a giant rack and start squatting, you can throw out your back in a heartbeat, but you'd have to do hundreds of bodyweight squats with poor alignment to hurt yourself.

The potential for injury from outside forces is everywhere - so don't contribute to it with bad training.

Despite consistent morning habits, my training changes dramatically based on the season and the day of the week. My day might include surfing, weight lifting, or pool training, but I always make a point to warm up slowly, whether that's with light cardio or a session in the sauna.

I can't sleep in, even if I stay up late the night before. So if I begin the day with a sleep deficit, I try to listen to my body and maybe take a 20-minute power nap later on.

I always start my day well rested. I usually wake up around five or six o'clock, and I'm strict about getting plenty of sleep. Nine hours is good; ten is even better.

Usually, working out is about aesthetics - six-pack abs and biceps and pecs - instead of true functionality. True function has a different aesthetic appeal.

Walking in softer substances like sand and grass forces the feet to work to stabilize the body and really strengthens them.

There isn't a sport in the world - including swimming - that doesn't involve the foot, so when we train the whole body, we have to include the complex system of muscles, tendons, and joints around the ankle and foot.

I learned about the importance of feet the hard way - by breaking my left foot more than 10 times, as well as all the metatarsals and arches in both feet. I know that if your feet are hurt, you're done; without them, you're immobile. And now I appreciate them and treat them with the respect they deserve.

There are lots of aspects of our lives we don't have control over, but we do have control over ourselves. That's one thing you can own.

Whether we're trying to cut out processed foods, get fit, or lose one bad habit or another, the biggest obstacle is always mental.

There hasn't been one diet in the history of diets that has worked on a large scale. That's because good nutrition has to be part of a whole lifestyle shift.

All the exercise in the world won't get you into good health if you eat nothing but sugar and carbs.

Paddle boarding is like walking on water. Standing atop a board in the middle of the ocean, you see everything from sea life to the coastline and across the channel. Having that sweeping expanse in front of you, you just want to go exploring.

While swimming is a great workout, it's also one of the best activities for recovery. It improves the flexibility in your arms and shoulders, and surrounds your body with pressurization.

Swimming is the root of surfing. The first board you ever have is your body.

I love swimming in rough water, usually along cliff lines and places where the waves are really banging on you.

If I'm doing serious swim training, I like fins, a snorkel, and a mask.

My morning sets the tone for the whole day, whether I'm gearing up to work, surf, or spend time with my family.

Once you start being conscious of the repetitive motions that we all just accept as part of being human, you realize how little we do to counteract those motions. Instead we usually go out of our way to do more of them. Think of working out in the gym. All the movements are about folding inward.

When we work out, we think about pushing ourselves muscularly or cardiovascularly, but why not also challenge yourself neurologically?

I've always had a huge pain threshold - I've broken legs and dealt with it - and the ability to deal with the pain of injury allowed me to heal faster.

Cultivating a relationship with discomfort will help you discern the difference between good pain and bad.

When I've helped out-of-shape friends get back into shape, the first thing we do is get them more accustomed to struggle. You train hard, which is uncomfortable, and then you get sore - and then you're uncomfortable because you're sore. But you have to keep going.

What separates great athletes from mediocre ones isn't only talent and training - it's also how well they can handle discomfort.

Most people don't stretch, because, in a way, it's one of the activities that hurts us the most. It's instantly uncomfortable, which isn't true when you work out intensely and can build up to that pain, or when you have sore muscles from a tough session the day before.

Anyone who knows what he's doing takes a serious attitude toward a risky situation and doesn't take it lightly.

When it comes to risk, a good rule of thumb is: 'Would you do it if no one was watching?'

Over the years, I've learned that two distinct forces lead people to put themselves in dangerous situations: ignorance and experience.

Dogs put their paws out in front of them to arch their backs when they wake up and so should we. It stretches the chest, the hip flexors, the whole front of the body.