“Fastest Times I Have Ever Seen”: The Boxing Training Regime That Helped Michael Phelps Become the Greatest Olympian Ever

A world-class athlete is supposed to be a master of his craft. Hence, every athlete trains harder than anything in their life to hone their body to be the best at their sport. However, it doesn’t only entail practicing skills related only to their respective sport. A great athlete will utilize every form of training to be better than the day before. Michael Phelps displayed this dedication throughout his career.

The greatest Olympian in history incorporated other sports, like boxing, into his workout regime to better prepare his body for the pool.

Boxing made Michael Phelps a better swimmer

There is no doubt Michael Phelps is one of the greatest swimmers to enter the pool. The American swimmer has won a record 28 medals at the Olympic games, 23 of which are gold medals, most by any athlete ever. However, Phelps claimed that a change in the workout routine helped him swim better. His trainer, Keenan Robinson, added boxing and other out-of-pool exercises in his preparation.

Phelps claimed that this method kept him interested and made him better in the pool he said, “What I like is one of the coolest things that Keenan’s [trainer] actually brought to the table is being able to like change your workout to just sort of keep us interested. Whether it’s Olympic lifts, whether it’s to boxing, or running. So it’s just like always changing it up it’s still being able to get a workout that will help us in the pool.”

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Due to this change of regime, the Olympian claimed that it would help him swim faster than ever before. He stated, “I’m finally at the stage where I possibly have the opportunity to swim some of the fastest times I have ever seen.” Following his regime change, Phelps won 6 medals, 5 golds, and 1 silver in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Boxers who use swimming as a training method

Swimming is known to be one of the best full-body exercises. Hence, many boxers incorporate swimming into their training regime. Former WBC heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder, claimed that he has never run a day in his life and only uses swimming in the lake outside his mansion as his training.

Additionally, former British boxer Amir Khan also stated that he swims to make himself fitter. Furthermore, he made a bold claim that “Swimming is the closest thing to a fight.”

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