BOARD MASTER
PT FIT AT ANY AGE
Well, older at any rate... Laird Hamilton will go down as the greatest giant-riding surfer of all time, but at 58 years old, the ultimate waterman is still making waves
MH: You’re still as famous for what you get up to on a surfboard as you were in your twenties and thirties. How have you managed it?
LH: Well, I have a couple of things on my side. One of them is that my platform – my sport, my art – is not restricted by a structure that would make it more difficult to stay at the top. You see older guys in other sports, such as Tom Brady or Roger Federer, and your ability to participate decreases as the younger guys come in. With surfing, you don’t have to be in a structure like that. You don’t have to tour around and be a part of a season and all that stuff. So that helps.
Passion is a big piece of it, too. You have to like what you do – love what you do and really want to do it. Sometimes it’s easy to get burned out because you’ve done it for so long. The schedule is brutal, the training is brutal. You just tap out. So retaining that passion is crucial. I’ve put a lot of effort and conscious thought into retaining my passion. I always use the quote ‘retain your youthful enthusiasm’. It should be something fun. Make it interesting, make it exciting. Make it something you’re learning.
I also make the effort to keep myself in one piece. I envy the guy who’s in his forties, hasn’t done much and everything works! His hips are good, the knees are good, the shoulders are good. You just need to have the discipline to work out a little. And you don’t make it an option. You don’t say that you might eat today, or you might not eat today. Or drink water or sleep or breathe. These aren’t options; they’re just things you do. Exercising needs to be one of those things you do.
Personally, I have to recover and rebuild the pieces after all my injuries. The truth is, I’m all in: my diet, my lifestyle, my sleep. Everything I do is to support the system. That includes making sure your relationships are good and that there are no distractions or deterrents from being positive. It’s a daily struggle. Everyone thinks that the grass is always greener, but when you get over there, it’s just grass. We’ve all got the same things we need to deal with. It’s our approach and techniques that are different.
MH: Has that routine evolved over the years? How different is it to the way you approached life, say, 20 years ago?
LH: Well, I used to drink alcohol, so one thing I’ve done for my overall wellbeing is stop drinking. That’s one of the most challenging things that we can do. But the overall philosophy to my appro
