Jeremiah Brown: The Four Year Olympian

LEO Training: Strength & Conditioning | Endurance | Health | Performance | Injury Prevention | Joe DeLeo

The Four Year Olympian Episode 110 : Jeremiah Brown The Four Year Olympian Subscribe & Review on : Apple Podcasts | Stitcher

In Episode #110 of the LEO Training Podcast, I interview Olympic Silver Medalist Jeremiah Brown

In this podcast interview I sit down with 2012 Olympic Silver Medalist from the Canadian Men's 8+, Jeremiah Brown. Jeremiah was gracious enough to send me a copy of his book, The Four Year Olympian and to discuss his journey from a complete novice to Olympic Silver Medalist in just four years.

This is a fantastic read and isn't your typical rowing tale. Jeremiah writes with a candor and authenticity that really grabs the reader's attention and immediately has them become invested. He also pulls no punches when it comes to sharing the sacrafices that Olympic hopefuls must make physically, mentally, and socially in the pursuit of their goals.

The Four Year Olympian is a raw, unfiltered insight into training at the Olympic level and the lessons learned are applicable to anyone with a desire to improve and getting better.

Interview Topics:

Part 1 | Transitioning from Football and Fatherhood to Rowing

• What were some of the biggest transformations in going from being a offensive lineman in football to being a rower? For the audience provide your height and weight at end of college and what you ended up rowing at.
• What characteristics and lessons from football translated well into rowing? Which did not?
• In your book, The Four Year Olympian, you mentioned briefly that you did continue to do some strength training while rowing but it seems you stopped because it made you more muscle bound and slower, less explosive. Please explain.
• Why did you only give yourself a 4 year window of becoming an Olympic Medalist?

Part 2 | Training to Become an Olympian

• What were some of the key differences between Doug White and Mike Spracklen? Personality wise and training program wise?
• One of the key tenets in your training was how focused you had to be during your training. Do you think you could have been as successful in such a compressed time frame had you not been able to be so singularly focused on your goal? Do you have any regrets in how you went about it.
• Your book candidly details the process of going from a raw athletic talent (in rowing terms) to becoming a national team athlete to Olympic Silver Medalist. Reflecting back on this, what was the most challenging part of your journey?

Part 3 | Life After Rowing and your role at Canadian Olympic Committee

• In 2015, you took on a leadership role with the Canadian Olympic Committee as National Manager of Game Plan. What is “Game Plan and how has it grown and developed since 2015?
• More and more athletes appear to be speaking out and becoming more vocal about anxiety and depression and other mental health issues. In your experience as an athlete and in your current role, how large of an issue is mental health for elite athletes

Extra | Training Recommendations | To be used

• What’s your top technical tip for a rower?
• Favorite training session on the erg? Water?
• 2K PR?
• What type of training session do you recommend an athlete do for continued development?
• Advice to yourself 10 years ago.

Show Notes:

• • The Four Year Olympian (Website)
  • The Four Year Olympian (Book)
  • Jeremiah Brown (Facebook)
  • Jeremiah Brown (Twitter)
  • Jeremiah Brown (Instagram)
  • Olympic Final Men's 8+ 2012 London Olympics