Few people would expect the daily life of an Olympian to be an ordinary one. But in a new interview with Men’s Health, Adam Peaty – Britain’s greatest male swimmer, who won his first Olympic gold at age 21 – shares just how tough it can be at the top.
‘I came through a system of extreme hardness, where there’s no place for weakness – mentally or physically,’ he tells MH. For years, Peaty says, he was ashamed to admit how much he struggled with the pressure.
‘I’m a person that even if I’ve got a cold, I’ve got a sniffle, I’ll never put my hand up. I’ll never throw in the towel. If I’ve got a cough I’ll train through it. It’s what I’ve always known.’
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And his training routine can be pretty brutal, too. He recalls how his coach Mel Marshall, with whom he’s trained for 15 years, used to task him with a hilly 10K run, followed by a 6K at threshold. ‘And that was just the evening,’ he says. ‘We would’ve had a 4am start.
‘I think you’ve got to be brutal – hard work is never going to be replaced.’
But far from taking a toll on his body and mind, Peaty believes that his decade-plus of ultra-tough training has put him at an advantage at age 29.
‘Weirdly, I feel like my physical training is getting easier the older I get. I have people five years or 10 years younger than me in finals, but I have more experience.
‘I’ve got seven years of hill runs with Mel under my belt… I’ve got so much stamina and endurance in my body and that doesn’t go away overnight. It takes a very, very long time to train that out of you.’
The new July issue of Men’s Health is out Tuesday. Hit the link to get early access today!
Scarlett Wrench is the Senior Editor at Men’s Health UK.
With more than 12 years’ experience as a health and lifestyle editor, Scarlett has a keen interest in new science, emerging trends, mental well-being, and food and nutrition. For Men’s Health, she has carried out extensive research into areas such as wellness in the workplace, male body image, the paradoxes of modern masculinity, and mental health among school-age boys.
Her words have also appeared in Women’s Health, Runner’s World and The Sunday Times.