“He got so good at relaxing” – Bob Bowman on training Michael Phelps to relax as a kid

Michael Phelps, the 28-time Olympic gold medalist, is known to be one of the greatest swimmers in the pool. His relaxed and composed mind is still given as an example to young athletes all across the globe.

Phelps' mental fitness and personality were somehow given to him by his coach Bob Bowman. His coach has trained him using various techniques.

In a two-year-old video on a YouTube Channel called Visualization - the secret, Bob Bowman revealed the secret behind how Michael Phelps' body got so good at relaxing.

Bowman stated that he gave Phelps' mother a book on progressive relaxation and asked her to make Phelps clench his fists by himself. On the results of that training, he said,

"Actually it got so good, she just opened the book to say two things and he'd be asleep. He got really good and relaxed."

Michael Phelps interestingly replied about this technique,

"Its like you work through your whole body."

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Bob Bowman's visualization techniques helped Michael Phelps

Earlier in the video, Michael Phelps can be seen talking about how his mental boldness has helped him throughout his career. He reasoned that his coach Bob Bowman is the one who has helped him a lot in building his mental game. He stated that he visualizes how it has helped him,

"When I would visualize, I visualize every single time, I mean getting up to a meet and I would visualize probably a month or so in advance just of what could happen, what I want to happen and what I don't want to happen because when it happened I was prepared for it."

Later in the video, Bob Bowman talked about the visualization techniques that helped Michael Phelps a lot throughout his career.

"So once you can put yourself in a relaxed state, then I tell them it's like watching a movie. It's essentially what it is. Sometimes it's like you're sitting in the stands watching yourself swim and sometimes it's like you're in the water swimming."

Swimming - Olympics: Day 8

Bob Bowman also talked about the key to visualization.

"The key to visualization is number one. It has to be very vivid, it has to be rehearsed many, many times, and the reason it works is because the brain cannot distinguish between something that's really vividly visualized and something that's real."

Bob Bowman later talked about Michael Phelps and his improved game after he mastered the art of visualization.

"So by the time Michael steps up on the block to swim a race in a world championships or olympic games, he's swum that race hundreds of times in his mind before. So then when he gets up all he has to do is shut everything down and it goes on autopilot, his body automatically knows what to do. The brain just switches into what he's visualized and that's what's really powerful about visualization."

In the end, Micahel Phelps talked about what happens if he visualizes.

"When I would visualize, it would be what you want it to be, what you don't want it to be, what it could be. Yeah, so it's like you're always ready for anything that comes your way. So it's like if I would have a suit rip fine, I need another suit. Put it on, you know, like any small thing that could go wrong I'm ready for."