Phelps on 60 Minutes last night

I am glad that he is reaping the benefits of decades of hard work. Hopefully his sucess story will inspire many young atheletes to stay the course. Go man go!

Why, I do believe I've heard that exact same thing said of a fellow by the name of Smith... :) But why take my word for it? forums.usms.org/showthread.php Nice one! And what's so wrong with that practice anyway? If you're incredibly talented, probably not the best idea to grind away at top effort every single yard of a 20,000 yard day ... or even a 10,000 day ... I must say, despite being a mommy, I'm almost getting sick of him praising his mom. Pretty soon, I'll lapse into cynicism and think it's mommy career promotion. :bolt:

I wish that I could have had that issue in my age group days/college days of losing weight like crazy. When I was doing 8 to 10K yards a day, add another 4K when I use to do doubles like two days a week, I couldn't fathon eating like Phelps does. Plus, weight was coming off like Phelps says it does for him. Bowman is some sort of genius swim coach. I wonder if Phelps has a tapeworm or something!

I consider Phelps to be up there with Armstrong, Jordan, Montana, Bird, Tiger and those guys are all legendary in their above and beyond training. PSSST: it's not really true! Those guys did work really hard(!) but it is the talent that separates them (perhaps the combination of hard work and supreme talent).

Totally agree the philosophy behind Phelps not taking a day off was that everyone took Sundays off so that was 52 more days a year he had on everyone else. There are many different training styles out there - Gary Hall I'm sure puts no where near the time in. Natalie Coughlin doesn't put the time/yardage in like Phelps (to compare him to another very versatile swimmer). Phelps has crazy amounts of talent for sure - all the Olympians do but the hard work sets him apart. The 10,000 for time and the crazy IM and Fly sets he's done could not be done by many ... he is in a league of his own in training. I have to agree with the fact that the training diet and dedication that Phelps has sets him apart from a plethora of swimmers out there! He is so dedicated to more than just the practice though. Top level, high efficiency swimming is a lifestyle for him; you can tell by his nutrition, activities, and attitude towards competition. Just my opinion, but he is the total package when it comes to talent, dedication, and motivation!

He's an amazing athlete. The Michael Jordan of swimming. But in 20 years Michael Phelps might begin to look like Paul's current avatar. ...unless he joins USMS. That boy can eat.

I don't believe this to be true. Phelps' training apparently is well beyond the normal Olympic level swimmer. I don't think you'll find the greatest in any sport who train only as hard as their peers. I consider Phelps to be up there with Armstrong, Jordan, Montana, Bird, Tiger and those guys are all legendary in their above and beyond training. I wasn't so much trying to take away from Phelps as to point out that other swimmers at the Olympic caliber put out very similar training regimens. Larsen Jensen is listed with training stats of 18,000-20,000 yards per day, at least 6 days per week. Naturally when you train for the 400 and the 1500 you need big yards, but that in no "drop in the bucket".

PS: The myth that Jordan got there on hard work is the biggest joke around. I guess if you knew anything about hoops, and especially Heel hoops, you'd know this to be true. The point is talent only gets you so far, it's how you train and develop that talent further that makes the superstars. It's very convenient that you are totally ignoring Phelps' legendary training to prove your point. Jerry Rice and Herschel Walker were also known for their exceptional workouts, but those probably don't count to you either. Didn't Ryan Leaf have a lot of talent?

Interesting that of all the things that could be discussed about Phelps interview no one has brought up the finish of the 100 fly. Time and again we (I) are calling people out for focusing on the training and not the details...Cavic lifting his head to see the scoreboard at the finish was a history making mistake. Here's an idea...yes training hard is important...but none of that matters if day in day out your not thinking about, dreaming about and practicing perfect technique.

PS: The myth that Jordan got there on hard work is the biggest joke around. I guess that depends on how you define "hard work"? On this forum as I pointed out in the last post the "hard work" is determined (for most) by how many yards they get in per day and how many workouts per week. Next time your at swim practice try putting a 100% effort into a "perfect" swim (of any distance) a few time: Perfect dive, perfect number of SDK's, perfect break out, exact number of strokes needed per length, perfect turn, constant/powerful kick, perfect finish.