Michigan Football taking Michael Phelps' conditioning advice to heart

Michael Phelps won 23 gold medals in the Olympics, an all-time record. The now retired swimmer and Michigan alumnus is someone to listen to if he’s willing to give a few pointers. Lucky for the Michigan Football team, Phelps spoke to them and shared some insights about how to stay at a peak performance level.

“We just had a phenomenal presentation, talk to the team by Michael Phelps, who came in via zoom,” Harbaugh told the media on Wednesday. “The thing that just continues to ring in my ear and head from that talk — crystal clear he told us how he couldn’t wait to get into 105 pounds of ice waiting for him in a bath that was gonna be the thing he did right after he got done with talking to our team.”

There were three main pillars Phelps' wanted Michigan’s players to focus in on for treatment.

He talked about sleep, he talked about hydration, water. Somebody that could go anywhere in the world, do any kind of treatment known to mankind. Ice, sleep, and hydration with water,” Harbaugh said. “And our team has an ice bath waiting for them right now. They’ve got water, and then getting that sleep, those are the kind of things that they take care of themselves. They take care of the team doing that.”

Michigan’s trying to elevate their conditioning in preparation for the season, beginning on September 3, and staying hydrated, getting ice baths, and getting rest are good principles to drive home.

“I really appreciate Michael Phelps for really embedding that in my mind and in our players' minds,” Harbaugh said. “Talk about the world’s greatest Olympian, arguably. No question about swimming, the most medals of anybody. That was huge. It was a good message right at the right time to keep our team focused and on track, and as healthy as can be.”