"Horrible, horrible workouts" - A 23-year-old Michael Phelps opened up on his workout routine at the time

Michael Phelps achieved several milestones that can only be dreamed of by most swimmers. He has clinched a total of 28 medals in the Olympic games. After a highly successful career, Phelps retired from competitive swimming post the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The Beijing Olympics was the best-ever Summer Games for Phelps as he won an unprecedented eight gold medals in it. After the 2008 Olympics, CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed Michael Phelps.

Cooper spoke with Phelps in New York between the swimmer's commercial shoot and a rehearsal for Saturday Night Live. There were also a few interactions with the sporting superstar's coach, Bob Bowman, in the video.

During the interview, Cooper asked Bowman about the toughest workouts done by Michael Phelps and the coach replied that the toughest one was the 10,000-meter swim. Bowman also claimed that swimming 10,000 meters would take two and a half hours to complete.

Then Michael had his say about the workouts.

"Like horrible, horrible workouts. When you see them on paper, you're like, 'I can't do this. He makes us do it so we're more confident and we know that we can do anything that we put our mind to."

Intense workouts and swimming require a lot of energy and for that, Phelps has to eat enough. Cooper also asked the legendary Olympian whether it was true that he eats 12,000 calories a day (this had been a popular myth about Phelps).

The Baltimore Bullet quickly denied it. In the video, it was revealed that when Michael Phelps is training, he eats 8,000 to 10,000 calories a day. The American sporting icon clarified the situation regarding his diet:

"Like how much I work out, you know, I have to always just constantly shovel food in because I can lose anywhere from, you know, five to 10 pounds in a week."

Phelps revealed his then weight to be 205 lbs (in 2008). He also confirmed that this has been the heaviest he has ever weighed in because he had never gone above 200 pounds.

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Michael Phelps and his agent spoke about the offers he received after Beijing Olympics

The video also featured Michael Phelps and his agent speaking about the offers that the swimming great received after his astonishing performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Flying Fish had nine major sponsors even before the 2008 Olympic Games.

In the video, Phelps' agent Peter Carlisle showed him a huge offer on his mobile phone worth $5 million. It was then mentioned that the offer was turned down. Speaking about the rejected offer, the legendary swimmer said:

"Sometimes I get a little frustrated but in the long run I know why he rejected it and why he does stuff like that."

When Peter Carlisle further spoke about the rejected offer, he gave the reason for it being turned down.

"These types of things were happening so frequently. The number of offers like that, that just obviously didn't fit in. It was astounding."

Carlisle's office receives around 300 calls per day regarding Phelps, but the agent would only look for offers that would fit the Olympian's lifestyle. It was mentioned in the video that 10 restaurant chains had offered deals for Phelps but he signed only with Subway. A car endorsement deal in China was also on the line.

As mentioned in the video, Michael Phelps had set up a foundation to attract more children to swimming, and a Michael Phelps video game was also in the works. It was also mentioned that the champion swimmer appeared in a commercial for the video game called 'Guitar Hero'.

Peter Carlisle and Michael Phelps

Anderson Cooper questioned Carlisle about how much Michael Phelps will earn in his lifetime. The swimmer's agent replied that it would be tens of millions of dollars. The interviewer's next question was whether Phelps would earn more than 100 million dollars.

Carlisle responded that if he had to bet, he would say, yes, Phelps might earn more than 100 million dollars. Speaking about this, Phelps himself said:

"It's pretty good for a swimmer."

Since the interview, Phelps has won several more medals and has earned more wealth in his career.