EP 90 (S2E38): Andrew Brower OSU D1 Athlete & TrialsQualifier

·1 hr 27 min·5 clips

Andrew says his freshman-year college training, four lifts a week, and 7,000-8,000-yard practices made him quit swimming.

Grant opens by treating Andrew Brower like both a close friend and a major influence. Brower is introduced as a former 100 breaststroke record holder, an Ohio State Division I athlete, and an Olympic Trials qualifier. The conversation settles into that athlete-to-athlete rhythm the show does well. Brower talks about coming back to the sport with a fresh pull toward swimming. He is not pretending the comeback is easy. He works eight-, 10-, 12-, and even 14-hour days and still has to find the energy for an hour and a half in the water every day to be a good swimmer again. That grind gets compared with the older version of himself who carried a different kind of load in college. The comparison makes him think about how much of an athlete’s identity stays with you even when the body and schedule change. He also talks about being humbled by younger swimmers who are much faster than he expected. That surprise turns into a bigger thought about how quickly perspective changes with age. Brower does not romanticize getting older. He treats it as a reality that changes the work, not the commitment. The conversation keeps coming back to the idea that priorities decide what you are willing to endure. Brower says he made up his mind that this is what he wants to do and that he is going to really go for it. He rejects the comfort of saying he should have or would have done more. Instead, he pushes toward action and accountability. That mindset connects directly to the regrets that helped trigger his return. He says he had regrets in the sport, including not chasing long course when he was at his best in short course. The conversation lets that regret sit in the open instead of brushing past it. Grant gives him room to explain how that feeling became fuel. The conversation is messy in the good way, with qualifiers, side thoughts, and real-time self-correction. It sounds like two people who know the sport and know each other well enough to skip the polished version. The result is a story about coming back without pretending the past never happened. It is also about deciding that unfinished business still matters. By the end, the episode feels less like a victory lap and more like a clear-eyed reset. It leaves you with the sense that Brower is not chasing the version of himself he used to be. He is building one that can stand up to his own standards now.

As heard by us

A plainspoken comeback talk between swimmers who know the grind.

The episode centers Andrew Brower's return to the sport. He talks through getting older, long workdays, and the daily pull of training, and the conversation works best when Grant House lets him stay with those practical details.

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Why you'd press play

You want a comeback story told by someone who actually got back in the lane.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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