How 23-Time Gold Medalist, Michael Phelps, Manages Stress & Mental Health

WHOOP Podcast

WHOOP

Sports, Sleep, Optimize Performance, Wearable, Fitness, Science, Health, Life Sciences, Recovery, Health & Fitness, Data, Hrv, Whoop, Strain

4.6 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2026

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, on the WHOOP Podcast, WHOOP Founder & CEO Will Ahmed sits down with 23-time gold medalist, Michael Phelps. Michael opens up about his experience coming up as a swimmer, reflecting on impactful changes that could benefit the sports future successes. Michael shares personal stories from his career, revealing the areas athletes can improve upon in order to break records on the world’s biggest stage. Beyond competition, Will and Michael dive deep into recovery, sleep, and the power...

Transcript

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0:00.0	I was in five Olympic Games, 23-time gold medalist.
0:02.7	The thing that I loved the most
0:04.5	was being able to represent my country.
0:06.2	Throughout my career, I remember Thorpe saying publicly
0:08.6	that nobody would ever win eight gold medals.
0:10.1	And I was like, watch this.
0:11.5	I'm gonna prove you wrong, bud, just so you know.
0:13.4	I just think there are people out there
0:15.0	that aren't afraid to dream
0:16.1	and aren't afraid to literally go after times
0:18.5	that are impossible.
0:20.1	And with technology in all sports and with preparation, with recovery, we're now able to see
0:26.7	records or feats that we never thought we'd see.
0:30.5	If you're able to take care of yourself, watch what happens.
0:33.3	I'm somebody who deals and struggles with depression and anxiety.
0:37.0	If I can take care of my mental and my physical health the same exact way, then I can become my own superhero. What does it mean to be succeeding mentally? I don't compartmentalize. I don't shove things down. I'm able to talk about the things that I'm struggling with. That's a winner. Michael, welcome back to the Wooop Podcast.
0:55.0	Thank you. Thank you.
0:56.2	I want to talk about team sports and about Team USA and USA swimming in general.
1:02.3	You've said some things recently about how you'd like to see it go in a different direction.
1:06.9	Like, what's going on with USA swimming?
1:09.2	I mean, from my standpoint, if I were involved with USA swimming i mean from my standpoint if i were involved with
1:11.6	usa swimming i would be like on a plane the next day trying to figure out how i get Michael
	...

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