Researching this biography was a lot of fun – Phelps is an interesting guy with an interesting story. There are always a few things I can’t squeeze into my books, including a few little tidbits about Phelps’s training program. His kick is phenomenal, using all the power of his quadriceps. One of the drills Phelps uses to strengthen these muscles is vertical kicking – in the deep end of the pool – while holding a 15 pound weight over his head. Give that a try the next time you’re in the pool. Or try just keeping vertical with your head above water, without using your arms. How long do you think you could keep that up?
And did you know that Phelps’s arm span is 10 centimetres longer than his height? That creates a wonderful advantage in swimming that the average person can’t achieve, no matter how hard they train. And funny note: the ration of arm span to height is called the ape index. Really! You can calculate your ape index at http://www.ape-index.com/ Go bananas!
For more of Phelps’s training techniques, including boxing, check out this video.
