Laird Hamilton, a name synonymous with the world of big-wave surfing, has not only conquered some of the most formidable waves on the planet but also inspired countless individuals with his fearless approach to life. Born in 1964 in San Francisco, California, Hamilton’s affinity for the ocean was evident from a young age. His relentless pursuit of mastering the art of surfing led him to become one of the most influential figures in the sport’s history. Renowned for his innovative techniques and unwavering determination, Hamilton has pushed the boundaries of what is possible in the realm of surfing, earning him the title of a pioneer in the field.
Throughout his illustrious career, Laird Hamilton has not only left an indelible mark on the surfing world but has also shared his wisdom and insights on life, perseverance, and the pursuit of passion. His quotes resonate deeply with those seeking motivation, courage, and a deeper understanding of the human spirit. From his reflections on embracing challenges to his thoughts on the power of the ocean as a metaphor for life’s trials, Hamilton’s words serve as a beacon of inspiration for individuals from all walks of life. As we delve into the profound wisdom encapsulated in Laird Hamilton’s quotes, let us embark on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment, guided by the timeless wisdom of a true legend in the world of surfing. Discover his words below.
Traveling throws your body totally out of sync. It limits your access to healthy foods, sends you into different time zones that alter your hormonal balance, disrupts your sleep, and stiffens your muscles and joints. Laird Hamilton
What separates great athletes from mediocre ones isn’t only talent and training – it’s also how well they can handle discomfort. Laird Hamilton
All the exercise in the world won’t get you into good health if you eat nothing but sugar and carbs. Laird Hamilton
I love food. Not just because it tastes great, but because it’s fuel for my body. Laird Hamilton
Growing up, we didn’t use balance boards or do stability-specific exercises – but we were always outside climbing things, wrestling, and running around with bare feet. Doing anything that challenges your equilibrium and tries to pull you off-kilter will improve your balance. Laird Hamilton
Everything we want to do in life requires discipline. And like strength, flexibility, and endurance, it can be built up over time. Laird Hamilton
Everything is connected. Surfing is a solitary sport. But I can tell you that some of the most amazing things I’ve done surfing have come from being a part of a tribe. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
I am a big believer in butter coffee, turmeric, and medicinal mushrooms. These items have a material impact on how I feel and perform, and I’ve made them part of my daily diet. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
It’s tempting to make nutrition feel restrictive. But rather than count calories or macros in a meal, I simply avoid most processed foods and focus on the distance between its origin and my plate. If the distance is short, I’m OK with eating it. Laird Hamilton
When it comes to risk, a good rule of thumb is: ‘Would you do it if no one was watching?’ Laird Hamilton
Walking in softer substances like sand and grass forces the feet to work to stabilize the body and really strengthens them. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
I subscribe to the idea that energy perpetuates energy, and nothing makes you more tired than sleeping in or sleeping too much. Laird Hamilton
You have to practice nose breathing for it to be a natural habit. Sometimes I’ll try to nose-breathe for an entire day. Laird Hamilton
Standing on golf or lacrosse balls and rolling them through the arches is a painful but seriously effective way to warm up and strengthen the feet. Laird Hamilton
Everyone gravitates toward what they’re good at. If you’ve got big legs, you’re going to go squat. If you’ve got big pecs, you’re going to go to the bench press. It’s just what we automatically do. Laird Hamilton
You don’t need to make peak performance your full-time job like I have, but you should think of it as an all-day mentality that goes far beyond the gym. It requires near constant attention and a holistic approach to health. Laird Hamilton
Exercising with other people, ideally those who have different strengths than you, is a natural performance enhancer. It’s easy to slack off when it’s just you and the mirror, but as soon as you put someone else in the room, your competitive side kicks in, and going hard becomes the only option. Laird Hamilton
The biggest mistake anyone can make is being too strict. That stress far outweighs the value of what you’re doing. There’s a disciplined way to do things. Laird Hamilton
Simple whole foods have powered our bodies for generations. You can’t game the system with meal replacements, fake ingredients, or fad diets. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
You won’t find a better place to get your heart rate up and strengthen your entire body than the beach. Compared with the pounding that exercising on blacktop, trails, or even grass delivers to your joints, the beach goes easy, and causes less muscle inflammation and fewer post-workout aches, too. Laird Hamilton
When things don’t have an effect I stop using them. At one point I was drinking a lot of lemon water in order to eat more alkaline, and I learned you just can’t eat your way into alkalinity. Laird Hamilton
Over the years, I’ve learned that two distinct forces lead people to put themselves in dangerous situations: ignorance and experience. Laird Hamilton
I’m sure surfing developed my poise better than any exercise could have accomplished. Laird Hamilton
I love swimming in rough water, usually along cliff lines and places where the waves are really banging on you. Laird Hamilton
A big part of protecting yourself involves devel-oping range of motion. Work on increasing mobility wherever you happen to be tight. Each body is unique, so your stretching routine will likely look different from someone else’s. Laird Hamilton
Coming up with new ideas keeps me young and excited. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
Usually, working out is about aesthetics – six-pack abs and biceps and pecs – instead of true functionality. True function has a different aesthetic appeal. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
Whether we’re trying to cut out processed foods, get fit, or lose one bad habit or another, the biggest obstacle is always mental. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
You have an obligation as an organism living here to evolve and innovate and learn. Clothing, fitness – all part of the evolution of Laird the athlete and Laird the brand. I want to keep evolving that. Laird Hamilton
When it comes to powering my life in the water or on the beach, proper nutrition is just as important as my training regimen. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
When we work out, we think about pushing ourselves muscularly or cardiovascularly, but why not also challenge yourself neurologically? Laird Hamilton
I’ve dealt with plenty of injuries in my career, including six broken ankles and a torn ACL. Laird Hamilton
Pleasure is definitely a part of my diet, and I regularly eat delicious whole foods. But my main priority is to eat in a way that nourishes and protects my body and the planet. Laird Hamilton
Being upside down is the ultimate counterbalance to the repetitive motions we do in our vertical lives – walking, standing, paddleboarding, sitting upright. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
My morning sets the tone for the whole day, whether I’m gearing up to work, surf, or spend time with my family. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
When I started focusing on my breathing, I became a stronger athlete and was better able to control my levels of effort and pain. Laird Hamilton
Though I try to take a rest day once a week, I let my workload and how I’m feeling dictate my routine. I know I need downtime when I don’t have any high energy left to tap. Laird Hamilton
Nobody should try to be the best at every discipline, especially not you. If you are, you’re bound to plateau. Laird Hamilton
Every successful person has a fair amount of self-control – it’s just the nature of success. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
All the people I know who have been bitten by sharks are less afraid of sharks now. Every one of them. I think they imagined being attacked by a shark would be so much worse than it actually was. Laird Hamilton
Your body is smarter than you give it credit for. Laird Hamilton
Swimming is the root of surfing. The first board you ever have is your body. Laird Hamilton
Maca root, which comes from the Andes and was used by the Incas for energy and endurance, helps balance hormone levels and may boost testosterone. I love it. Laird Hamilton
Cultivating a relationship with discomfort will help you discern the difference between good pain and bad. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
One of the best ways to become more conscious of your breath is to start breathing through your nose instead of your mouth. Laird Hamilton
The potential for injury from outside forces is everywhere – so don’t contribute to it with bad training. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
Death has influenced me. It has made me more grateful and thankful to be alive. Laird Hamilton
The feet are loaded with nerve endings and are the key to balance – and I’m in the balance business. In fact, we all are. I also believe the Earth is charged with an electrical frequency that matches your nervous system and immune system. So the bare feet allow us to absorb that energy and is a critical part of your wellness. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
If you watch football players stretch before a game, you see a kind of agony on their faces that you don’t see when they’re on the field. This pain is why yoga incorporates so much breathing, because you have to exhale that discomfort out to get through it. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
Like swimming, paddle boarding is an all-body workout. It strengthens your core and stabilization system, requiring your connective tissue to generate power through your hands and out your feet. Laird Hamilton
Omega-3s may be the single best supplement you can take on a regular basis. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
As soon as you cut sugar out of your diet, you’ll lose the craving for the stuff entirely and won’t even be able to handle a regular soda. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
The first time you do some new exercise, you’re sore and tired in a way that you hadn’t been before. But do that same exercise for three or four months, and you have to do twice as many reps and with more weight to feel as though you’ve accomplished anything. Laird Hamilton
Anyone who knows what he’s doing takes a serious attitude toward a risky situation and doesn’t take it lightly. Laird Hamilton
You don’t want to put coffee on an empty stomach – too much acid. Laird Hamilton
I’d rather eat fish eyes than a manufactured substance whose name I can’t pronounce. Laird Hamilton
Definitely the ocean was my saviour. It saved me from a lot of destruction. Or I’d say self-destruction. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
If I’m doing serious swim training, I like fins, a snorkel, and a mask. Laird Hamilton
When I’m home in California, on most days I train with a group of about five guys. While the specific mix of people has changed over the years, one theme has remained constant: everyone gives maximum effort. To me, that’s the most important characteristic in a training partner. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
As a surfer, I always try to keep evolving. Laird Hamilton
Recovery days are critical to my training, and that holds true for any athlete. Laird Hamilton
I ask a lot of my body. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
People don’t think much about breathing. Of all the things we take for granted, breathing has to be number one – even though it’s our main source of life and energy. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
Start to think about food as a fuel source and you’ll see real results. Laird Hamilton
It’s a lot easier to embrace the pain cave when you’re doing it with someone else. Laird Hamilton
I normally have a calorie-packed mushroom coffee for breakfast and a big lunch and dinner. But when I’m resting, I’ll make a point to eat more than usual, adding in an extra meal or a few nutritious snacks. Laird Hamilton
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. Laird Hamilton
To me, supplements are a necessity, not a luxury. I think of them as medicine: Instead of asking a doctor to prescribe me a drug when I’m ill, I’d rather take something that can help me avoid getting sick in the first place. Laird Hamilton
We have a tendency to hold our breath when we’re trying to balance, but that causes tension that works against you. Breathing deeply into your abdomen is calming and more stabilizing. Laird Hamilton
Vision is connected to equilibrium, so it’s helpful to set your gaze on a fixed spot when your stability is challenged. Laird Hamilton
Sharing is how I learn. Laird Hamilton
If I don’t get a chance to work out first thing in the morning, my whole day sort of goes awry. Laird Hamilton
I think I’ve had a few lives already. I know I feel sometimes that I’m maybe like a cat. Laird Hamilton
Everyone’s dietary needs are different, and it has taken me decades to develop nutritional habits that work for me. Laird Hamilton
