I always thought that'-23 was my prime. I was out with the ladies and worked out all the time and felt generally good overall. I played sports at the time as well and was a fairly good athlete both in high school and in college. I never thought it would come to this.

In order to get the most out of the players during the games a strict practice schedule is put into place. Players are asked to compete during practice to get better athletically at their chosen sport and then at the end there is a "conditioning period" set up to get the players in to better condition. It all boils down to on-field performance as every coach wants the players to play their best on the field during games.

Pre-season workouts were very common for all the sports I participated in. The program was normally a weight lifting course and jump training. There were team building drills and on field sport specific drills as well that were all designed to develop us as athletes. Because of these drills and workouts I was ready both physically and mentally.

Fast forward 15 years or so and you would think I lost my edge for one reason or another. Well I am here to tell you that you can have that edge and maybe be even better at a given sport than your younger competitor. You have the knowledge of the game and if you are lucky you have the fitness knowledge that most younger people lack. You can run circles around some of those guys simply because you train smarter than they do.

Smart workouts for me all started with intensity. I learned that looking pretty in the gym or socializing in the gym was the quickest way to waste time and the shortest path to no results. Turning up the intensity will give you better results than you ever thought possible and be the best use of your time.

Food was my second secret to a great workout. Once I shifted the way I ate not only did I workout better I worked out smarter. The food you eat has the power to take you and your fitness ability to the next level.

I hope these few secrets give you the vote of confidence to get back on the court or field and participate with these young guys. I think it will shock you to see that you can actually keep up, well until you get your first injury, those take longer to heal.