Why phelps is so good

Combined with his visualization and focused language, this seems to have had a profound effect: He enhanced the effectiveness of his positive effort by replaying it in his head, and reduced the potential impact of fear by limiting the language that triggered it. On top of all that, he developed the skill of turning nay-sayers into cheerleaders. That made him really hard to throw off his game once he dove into the water.

Once the competition was over? That's another story. Phelps had well-documented struggles with discipline outside of the pool, including a couple of driving under the influence DUIs and a photo of him with a bong.

He's now able to reflect on the depths of the depression that led him to those moments, and the focus that helped him to climb out. After more than a decade of mastering the mind of Phelps the swimmer, he finally began to consider the mentality of Phelps the man.

It's the only way you're able to move on and learn from that mistake. By no means has my life been absolutely perfect," he said. But being able to come out of the other side, and just to work and learn things about me that I never knew or I didn't want to know at that point, I think it changed my life. The following article was originally published following Phelps's successful performance at the Games in Beijing.

Now that Michael Phelps has won an unmatched eight gold medals in this year's Olympic Games, lots of journalists are asking what gives Phelps such a leg up on the competition legally , of course, though allegations of doping have tainted other Beijing Olympians.

Phelps is also said to be double-jointed , according to a Detroit News blog. His size feet reportedly bend 15 degrees farther at the ankle than most other swimmers, turning his feet into virtual flippers. This flexibility also extends to his knees and elbows, possibly allowing him to get more out of each stroke.

Do any of these alleged anatomical advantages matter? To find out, ScientificAmerican. Richard Weiner, an internist and former team physician who has practiced sports medicine at the University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee —and who also happens to be a former acclaimed All-American swimmer.

When someone does something statistically impressive, like winning eight gold medals like Phelps, we try to come up with some far-fetched reason for it, like he or she has to have some bizarre physiological adaptation or freaky anatomy.

But most things that you measure in human beings fall within predictable ranges. All things being equal, a taller person [with longer arms than a shorter person] will swim faster.

A lot of the thrust in swimming comes from arm propulsion and not the kick. Everything else would just play out. Rather than get distracted by other swimmers, Phelps learned what he needed to do to be successful and focused squarely on that.

And, it worked. Skip Navigation. Jennifer Liu. Michael Phelps. I am staying in my lane I can't control what other people do, so for me, I was always worried about myself and worried about what I needed to do. VIDEO Michael Phelps transitions from swimming to sleeping. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights.

Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Chris Adams. Engineer and Writer. Chris Adams is a human factors engineer who writes about ergonomics and has 11 years of experience in the field.