Bob Bowman — The master who helped Michael Phelps visualize his victory way before it was a reality.

Bob happened to be the coach of Michael Phelps. Knowing Phelps from his very young age, Bob ingrained a powerful technique in Phelps that helped him outperform everyone else in any given competition: “The Mental Visualization.”

When Phelps was 12 years old, he happened to meet Bob and said, “I want to swim in the Olympics,” to which Bob smiled. Phelps, a young boy back then who de facto had swimming touch from age 7, doubled down on his swimming journey.

Fast forward to 15 years, and Phelps again met Bob, now with his revised agenda that said, “Coach, I want to take the butterfly stroke in the Olympics.” Bob left no stone unturned, knowing the true capability of this 15-year-old boy.

Bob’s Masterstroke — Progressive Relaxation to keep Phelps relaxed.

Bob met his mom, handed over a copy of this progressive relaxation book, and asked her to read it to him every night before bed. Phelps even confessed that the readout of this book helped him slide into sleep with just a snap of a finger.

This technique of Bob helped Phelps to keep him calm and composed in any situation in his athletic life.

The Mental Visualization -

Mental visualization is an act of preparing oneself for an iterative event in the mind that one wants to achieve in real life.

Bod made sure Phelps swam not just in the pool but also in his mind, with the same or even greater intensity.

He made his mental training in such a way that Phelps used to imagine both positive and negative possibilities.

A videotape: Every plausible scenario of what could happen in a swimming evening.

Phelps, for real, had a video library with every possible scenario. a blend of good and bad.

Negative possibilities: a muscle catch, goggles getting ripped apart, a swimsuit getting teared off.

Guess what? Bob’s technique of preparing Phelps for the worst made him panic-free. Perhaps a stoic of the swimming world.

Best possibilities: winning the race, breaking records, setting the most difficult timeline for the competitors, etc.

Bob’s tips:

• It should be vivid.
• Rehearse every possibility as many times as possible.
• The pain of the worst scenario should be such that it’s happening in real life and at present.

Every time Phelps participated in a competition, he didn’t compete the first time. He might have taken this competition over a hundred times in his mind.

What opponents failed to discover was his mental routine, though almost everyone knew his physical routine.

We must ingrain every possible scenario in our subconscious, so in the real game, our subconscious can overtake our conscious.

And that’s how Phelps one-upped everyone in any given competition.

Remember if you have a clear path and the will to achieve it on your mind, you are just a couple of miles away from achieving it in real life.

That’s a wrap. Thanks for the read.