Sports became a way for me to find my personality and identity in life. I had a lot of problems as a young kid like we all do with my own confidence, trying to grow up, and become a man and whatnot. Sports helped me get there. It helped me get my role in Rocky IV. It has helped me ever since in my movies and dealing with a lot of hard times between pictures and my life. I would say it's the one thing that's kept me going over the years.

I think mortality makes you live a fuller existence. When I was a kid I was scared of death, and maybe that's what made me desperate to get the most out of life.

I think the energy I give off is quite non-confrontational. That's something you learn from karate. Once you try to be a tough guy, you've got to pay up. You've got to prove yourself. And that's exhausting.

I discovered martial arts, first judo and then karate, and I became quite good at it, because I had something to prove. And more than anything, I needed to feel safe.

You know which guys are doing steroids and which ones aren't. I don't judge anybody. Everybody has their own life and people do what they want. It's like smoking pot. If you experiment with it, it doesn't mean you're the devil, and it doesn't mean you've ruined your body. It just means you tried it.

I'm not doing any crazy stuff any more. Like I used to do high falls; I used to jump from the motorcycle to the truck myself. That's unheard of today. Now nobody would ever do that. In those days it was stupid, man. I just did it because that's what it was, but that I don't do anymore.

At least once a week, I try to have one day where I have nothing planned so I can get up and just go back to bed and lay around and recharge my batteries.