I doubt there are many people who don't know who Michael Phelps is and what he's famous for?

This Greatest Olympian Of All Time [a total of 14 gold medals] who recently wowed the world by winning 8 Olympic gold medals in Beijing - has an interesting regime.

This is what an average day looked like for him:

A day in the life of a swimming great


Tues, Aug 12,

4.30am: Reveille. Turn over for another half an hour’s sleep.

5am: Breakfast in the team room and nodded greetings to fellow swimmers.

5.30am: Talks tactics with coach Bob Bowman.

6.30am: First massage of the day. Up to three massage therapists work on him.

7.45am: Leave for the Water Cube. I-pod on.

8.15am: Stretching and intensive warm-up.

9.50am: The 200m field gather nervously in the call room. 10.17am: Phelps briefly acknowledges the crowd.

10.19am: Another world record and masterclass.

10.40am: Gold medal ceremony.

11.10am: The 200m butterfly semi-final and a new Olympic record.

11.30am: Mandatory drugs test.

Noon: The daily Phelps press conference for 400-plus reporters.

12.30pm: Warm-down and return to Village for a long lunch, massage and sleep.

7pm: Evening meal. Final texts to the folks.

10pm: Go to bed.

You don't need to have olympic ambition or talent to benefit from sports massage.  Anyone who keeps fit or who has a job which involves manual labour can benefit from regular massage.

To read more about the benefits of sports massage click here