Book: No Limits – The Will To Succeed

by Michael Phelps & Alan Abrahamson

It’s interesting to read about Michael Phelps’ childhood and his climb through the ranks to become the legendary swimmer that he is today. It’s also pretty cool to hear about all of the details behind each of his major swims. However, the thing really struck me while reading this book is the insane mental strength and ferocity that he has. There are aggressive competitors and some who even have a mean streak when they compete but Michael Phelps has the strange ability to channel negative energy into making himself swim faster. He seems to thrive on turning obstacles into fuel to make himself swim faster. It almost seems unfair when you also consider that he also had an outstanding coach in Bob Bowman who knew exactly what made him tick. There is a funny story about how Bowman named one of his horses “Vanderkaay” after one of the swimmers on the Michigan swim team that he coached. Phelps asked Bowman if he was ever going to name a horse after him and Bob’s reply was “If I ever have a horse that bites, I’ll name it Michael”. It is a good book with a surprising amount of details. Even about his early meets. Now if I could just somehow channel the feeling I have reading his ridiculously fast swim times into making myself swim faster.