The hornets are buzzing in Beijing. Michael Phelps just won his seventh gold medal of the 2008 Olympics and his 13th overall in three Olympiads. He won six in Athens in 2004, and did not place when he swam in Sydney in 2000 (yes, he was 15 then).
Mark Spitz, who apparently was not invited to these games – called Phelps historic 7th gold medal epic.” Not only did he tie Spitz mark in a single Olympics, but he did it in surreal come-from-behind fashion.
Yesterday, Rocky A., a reader of this daily email, sent me the following:
“Matt, you are my hero. I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at those (expletives deleted) who backbite Phelps. You may not know but I have heard from a reliable source that Phelps is a disciple in Combat Conditioning like myself.”
Twould be great to have this confirmed – and it most certainly would not surprise me – although it would make me glad.
What I do know is Phelps does what Coach Gable suggests. He doesn’t just train – he takes the time to recover.
And how does he recover. Sure, sleep is one way – but if that’s all you got – you’re gonna be sorry.
No, Phelps recovers first by doing “easy swims.” Not hard, hard work swims. Easy cool downs. The type of thing I teach in Dao Zou and the Chinese Long-Life System.
Next, he has two mammoth masseurs – er, massage therapists with him and they pound every kink and
knot out of his body in between swims.
Then there’s his 10,000 calorie per day feeding program.
Smart athletes understand how to train as well as how to recover. In China, recovery after hard training is part of the culture. In the U.S., you still have people running around with Ph.D’s trying to decide whether or not it has any value.
Well, duh. Get on a table you ma-roon – and have someone work you over for an hour or two at the end of a tough day, and maybe you’ll have your answer.
Aaah, but that’s not an official study done with rats and beakers – so it doesn’t count. It’s merely anecdotal.
Oh, so I guess the fact that 41-year old Dara Torres, now in her 5th Olympics – and the mother of a 2-year old, doesn’t count either then. It’s all sleep, right.
Wrong.
Dara Torres, like Phelps, has not one but TWO masseurs who take every kink and knot out of her body. And they do it while stretching her muscles as far as they’ll go – and then some. Sort of like I have done every year in China – wherein I get a combination of pressure point and muscle massage – along with adjustments of my spine and joints.
Whether you choose to do Combat Conditioning or not is up to you. But no matter how you train – or what you do for work – if you’re smart – you’ll take time to recover with slow, meditative training as well as massage, accupuncture, accupressure and so on.
Want to slow down or reverse the time clock – want to get more years and LIFE out of your living – then make doggone sure you jump on the half-off special for the Chinese Long-Life System and Dao Zou programs I’m now offering.
Go to here and order NOW.
MJF