Adam Peaty Q&A

Adam Peaty Q&A

Jasmine McHale - January 20, 2022

How important is it to create a balance between training and everyday life?

Definitely very important. If you’re going to train as hard as you need to to be Olympic champion, it’s important that I have time to switch off and decompress. I can perform when I need to perform but also have time to focus on other things in my life.

What drives you?

Not knowing how much I can achieve and how fast I can go. If I knew, it would be boring. The unknown drives me to be better and the pursuit of excellence every day helps me get there.

When pushing for your best, how important is focus upon process?

More than ever I now live in the present and I don’t get hung up on what I do and don’t do. So rather than just focusing on the process and those specifics, sometimes it’s more important for me to focus on the feel rather than the process.

What improvements can be made upon reviewing your own performances and training sessions?

I’m always improving and looking for those improvements to keep being better. Together with my team we are constantly looking to see what works, what doesn’t work and making changes or trying new things. With experience and knowledge that I gain over time I find myself becoming more and more capable of making these calls and making the right decisions.

What do you do to make marginal gains to give yourself an advantage?

My team and I assess every little detail from nutrition to performance in the gym, to mental preparation and everything in between. I think about all of these individually and then how I can stitch them together for the best possible overall result.

How have you maintained high performance in recent challenging times?

By becoming adaptable and being resilient. To be the best, a lot of the time you have to go out of your way to maintain and improve on your performance so these are all skills that come with experience.

How do maintain habits and routine, even when you’re tempted to break them?

I don’t find it that hard to stay in a routine for the most part. Of course I’m only human and sometimes I do want that piece of cake or to have a drink but I remind myself of the end goal and stay focused so I don’t drift from that path.

What does Better Never Stops mean to you?​

There’s always room for improvement and you can continually push yourself, not be too worried about the fatigue/outcome of what you’re feeling in that moment. To be a better person, a caliche but it’s all about the journey not the destination.