"YOU Can DO THIS Too" | How Michael Phelps Became The Best
One of the best olympians of all time, Michael Phelps shares the struggles and barriers that he had to go through to reach his success. He also lays out the techniques he used in order to climb to the top.
Transcript: I remember sitting with my agent when I was 15-16 years old and I just said I wanna do something that nobody else has ever done in the sport. I wanna do something different. I don't wanna be the second Mark Spitz. I wanna be the first Michael Phelps.
I'll say one story, cause we talked about it earlier, we would go to Colorado Springs to the United States Olympic Training Centre and we would train up there for three weeks. And we would spend, basically, all we did was eat, sleep, swim and lift. That's all I did. And we would go 5-7, 9-11, and 3-5, all in the pool and then have a weight session afterwards. So we were having 4 workouts a day. So over 24 days, we were probably working out, with weights, 75 times. 75 workouts in 24 days. So, at that point, it was kind of like I saw myself improving so much because we weren't taking a day off and in the sport of swimming if you miss one day, it takes you two days to get back to where you were. After going to my first Olympics in 2000 when I was 15, I decided to not take a break afterwards and kind of get right back into it because I was upset with my performance. I got fifth, and at 15, yeah it's great but, I mean let's be honest, I don't wanna come back with a fucking participation ribbon, I wanna come back with real hardware. I don't want this bullshit ribbon. So I was pissed about it. That's just what I wanted. Alright, cool so we got back in the water the next day. Everyone else took like a month or two off and I remember the very first workout we did, as the meet's going on, Bob has WR written on the top of the workout and I'm like "what is this?" "Like I know what it means but why are you writing it here?" And he's like, "cause we're gonna break the world record in six months." And I was like, "alright. Yeah, let's do it. Cool, I'm in." Six months later - first world record. Six months after that - broke another one, won my first world championship. And he just started proving to me that he could get me to these certain places and we just started pressing the envelope even more. We're like, "alright, what do we wanna do next?" "How big can we really take this?" I remember sitting with my agent when I was 15-16 years old and I just said I wanna do something that nobody else has ever done in the sport. I wanna do something different. I don't wanna be the second Mark Spitz. I wanna be the first Michael Phelps. I wanna do something nobody else has ever done. I think the biggest thing is I'm comfortable with who I am. I think for so long I really just looked at myself as kind of this kid that was a talented swimmer that just went up and down the pool and I didn't really know who I was as a person and I was at the point of my life where I didn't like who I saw in the mirror and, super ADD so I'm always bouncing off the wall and have a ton of energy and kind of can't really shut up sometimes. So I always thought that people were judging me and looking at me differently. And finally, after my most recent downfall in 2014, I just decided that I'm gonna show the world who Michael Phelps is. And I wasn't gonna care. This is me and if you didn't like it, it's not my problem. I'm gonna be me and I think that was the coolest part for me, especially in my career and now moving past my career into welcoming our second child seven weeks ago.
By: The Outcome Title: "YOU Can DO THIS Too" | How Michael Phelps Became The Best Sourced From: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vThWXFTmMl8