The Coaching Mastermind Behind Michael Phelps and Leon Marchand (Exclusive Interview with Bob Bowman)

In the 2024 Olympics, Leon Marchand broke the 200 IM Olympic record that Michael Phelps had set in 2008. Many people see this as a beautiful passing of the torch. On the Exponential Athlete podcast we see this as the continuation of a legacy. Leon and Michael don’t just have olympic gold medals and records in common. Both of these athletes are disciples of the legendary coach Bob Bowman. His methods have been proven at all levels of swimming and have stood the test of time.

He is the current coach at the University of Texas and has held head coaching positions at Arizona State, and the University of Michigan. He was also the US Olympic team head coach in the 2016, and has been involved USA swimming since 2004. In this past Olympics, he also coached Leon on the French team.

Bob is the author of the golden rules, one of my favorite books about creating systems for success in sport and in life.

Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bob about the similarities and differences between Leon and Michael, his coaching philosophy, creating resilience on his teams, and the fine details that make champions. If you’re already a fan of the pod, you know that I’ve already done extensive study into Bob and Michael. It was amazing to be able to learn from him in person.

00:00 Intro

01:33 Similarities Between Leon and Michael

05:08 Creating Adversity

08:08 Goals

13:10 Differences Between Leon and Michael

25:04 What is the role of a coach

28:34 Experimentation

32:48 How did Bob Study?

40:57 Lactic Acid Testing

43:41 Visualization

49:06 Biofeedback

Books Referenced:

The Science of Winning: https://amzn.to/3VK9zpF

The Power of Now: https://amzn.to/3ZFIe93

Finding the Winning Edge: https://www.scribd.com/document/212816221/Finding-the-Winning-Edge

The Football Coaching Bible: https://amzn.to/3ZWGQQSThe

Swimming Coaching Bible: https://amzn.to/4gEl3mw

Keith Bell Book: https://amzn.to/4gZHy5JExponential Athlete

Socials

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Website: https://exponentialathlete.co/

Affiliates:

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