The 7 Principles of Highly Successful Athletes Like Michael Phelps and Dara Torres

Posted by The Fitness General

August 17, 2008

Michael Phelps has been truly amazing at the Beijing Olympic Games. 8 gold medals. 7 world records. It doesn’t get much better than that. Dara Torres has been nearly as impressive, winning a silver medal in the 50m freestyle at 41 years of age and being a key part on several medal-winning relay teams . Phelps and Torres have 1 thing in common. They both worked extremely hard to get where they are today. You may or may not ever compete in the Olympics, but you can maximize your potential by following these 7 principles :

Train Hard - Top athletes like Phelps and Torres know that they can’t take shortcuts during their workouts. When you are in the pool, the weight room, on the field, or wherever you train, you
need to give 110% every single time.
Train Consistently - Training hard is worthless if you only do it once every blue moon. It’s very important to pick a schedule and stick with it. While it may seem like a good idea to pick an extremely difficult schedule, it’s a better idea to pick a schedule that is more reasonable for your ability to avoid getting discouraged.
Perfect Practice Makes Perfect - Now that you are training hard and on a regular schedule, make sure that you are training correctly! When Phelps and Torres are training in the pool, they are working on the same form and technique they use when they race in the Olympics. If you’re not practicing the way you want to play, you’re wasting your time.
Study Your Sport - If you want to see regular improvements, you need to stay up to date on the latest techniques and strategies in your sport. In between training sessions, you should be analyzing what you can improve on. Talent alone is not enough as you should have learned from the failures of the US Basketball Team. Now, that Team USA has taken the time to study international basketball, they are looking much stronger in Beijing.
Stay Focused - Have you taken a look at Michael Phelps before his races? He’s 100% focused on the race and nothing can distract him. For him, listening to his iPod gets him focused. For you, it might be something else, but when you are training and when you are competing, you need to be 100% focused on what you are doing.
Learn from your mistakes - Michael Phelps wasn’t winning gold medals when he first competed at the Olympics as a 15-year old in 2000, but he learned from those disappointments and became the best swimmer in the world. If you’re a sports fan, it isn’t hard to think of athletes who first felt disappointment before they were champions. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school team. Kobe Bryant choked in his first playoff appearance. There are countless examples. If it happens to you, don’t hold your head down. Learn from them.
Believe in Yourself - If Dara Torres had told you 4 years ago, she’d be competing in the Olympics at age 41, would you have believed her? Very few would. No matter who counts you out, don’t count yourself out.