The origin of those weird purple marks all over Michael Phelps' body is even weirder than the marks. We already knew what the origin called itself: cupping, an ancient Chinese practice that Phelps uses to release tension in his muscles, as CBS News explained. Now, we know what the process itself looks like.

Michael Phelps cupping is something that just happened on NBC:

It might just be hitting the mainstream, but cupping is a recovery method that non-Olympic athletes use too. Such as the Pirates:

And the Mets:

And now, the question remains, what wouldn't cupping help?

On a serious note, as that CBS News story touched on, the science behind cupping is actually controversial. Rather, it's not proven to aid athletes in their recovery.

"There's no scientific evidence. There are multiple trials out there but no quality evidence," Dr. Robert Glatter told CBS News. "Producing giant welts on the body which basically make you feel better locally but injure local tissue doesn't have any systemic impact."

But, considering just how successful Phelps has been since, well, forever, it seems to be working just fine for him. Earlier this week, Phelps took home his 23rd Olympic medal.

Still, that doesn't mean Phelps enjoys the process. A quick glance at his face throughout this year's games tells us that:

It does, however, appear to be fun to administer:

Thanks @arschmitty for my cupping today!!! #mpswim #mp 📷 @chasekalisz

A photo posted by Michael Phelps (@m_phelps00) on

Still haven't gotten your cupping fix? Good Morning America has you covered.

And now, to the real MVPs of the 2016 Olympics: