Swimmer Michael Phelps made a daring move when he recently posed nude for ESPN The Magazine's "2014 Body" issue cover.

Phelps joined a few sports stars like tennis players Venus Williams and Tomas Berdych, Seattle Seahawks' Marshawn Lynch, snowboarder Jamie Anderson and Texas Rangers first baseman Prince Fielder who also graced the 2014 Body issue of ESPN, Bleacher Report noted.

In the ESPN photo below, Phelps can be seen swimming to the surface without anything to cover his body. The photo greatly emphasized Phelps' toned body. How does the swimmer maintain his amazing physique? 

In a separate Wall Street Journal writeup, it was revealed that Phelps is on a 12,000-calorie-a-day diet.

The same article detailed that the swimmer consumes "three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. Two cups of coffee. One five-egg omelet. One bowl of grits. Three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar. Three chocolate-chip pancakes" for breakfast. For lunch, he eats "one pound of enriched pasta. Two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayo on white bread. Energy drinks packing 1,000 calories." While for dinner, he eats "one pound of pasta. An entire pizza. More energy drinks."

This diet, according to the Wall Street Journal, helps the swimmer burn more calories through exercising while consuming less calories. But some medical experts say that this diet might burn out the swimmer who is regularly active because of his athletic career.

Meanwhile, when it comes to his attitude on swimming and winning, Phelps told ESPN in an interview that there are "no holds barred."

"I'm the kind of person that doesn't care what it is or who I'm racing. I've always done it for me. It's always what I want to do and how fast I want to swim. There have always been goals that I've wanted to achieve and times that I've wanted to hit. That's just always how it's been," he added.

The magazine issue is set to be released on July 11 nationwide. A sneak peak of the photos is provided on ESPN The Magazine's Instagram account.