Van Mathias REVEALS Low Yardage Training That Broke the 50 Breast AR
5/4/20261 hr 43 min
Van Mathias (IU Director of Operations & American Record Holder in the 50 Breaststroke) joins Night Swim for a raw, in-depth conversation about his incredible comeback!From working full-time, training on low volume/high intensity (heavily inspired by Cam McEvoy), crushing weighted pull-ups & Olympic lifts, to setting the American Record in Norway — Van breaks down exactly how he did it
Topics Covered:
• His exact weekly training split (speed endurance, dryland, lifting)• How he went from “just staying in shape” to American Record holder in months• Sodium bicarb experience, mindset on borrowed time, and racing philosophy• Training with Coach John, the guinea pig experiments, and what’s next (Pan Pacs, 57 in the 100 breast?)• Life as a swimmer + Director of Ops (feeding 90 athletes, jail cell office, etc.)Van is one of the most interesting stories in American swimming right now. Don’t miss this one!🌙 Night Swim PodcastWhen the pool lights go out, the real talk begins. Hosted by Dax Hill (NCAA champ, Texas Longhorns legend, high-performance technique guru @Reykli) and Elvis Burrows (Bahamian Olympian, national record holder, founder of Burrow's Best swimmer hair and skin care), Night Swim is unfiltered swim culture — NCAA battles, Olympic tea, training hacks, and pool-deck chaos. No scripts. No PR. Just two Black swimmers who’ve seen it all, saying what everyone else whispers.New episodes weekly. Grab your goggles, hit subscribe, and dive in.🎙️ Presented by Swimnerd. #NightSwimPod #Swimming
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsElvis Burrows· Host0:00
What's up, everybody? I'm Elvis, your host tonight. Dax is out, and I quote, "Shopping for a new G-string." So he'll catch up with us some other time, I guess. So by myself tonight, see how this goes, but we got a very interesting guest we've been trying to get on the show for a while now. Schedules didn't line up, but we're happy to have him. I'm gonna just add him to the stage here. We have our friend, friend of the show, Van Matias. How are you doing, V- oh, I have your mic muted. There we go. Van, how are you doing?
Van Mathias· Guest0:37
What's up, man? I'm doing good. Happy to be here.
Elvis Burrows· Host0:39
Good, good. It looks like he's recording from cell block D. [laughs] Jail cells.
Van Mathias· Guest0:46
This is, uh, this is my center block prison here at the office, uh, buried, buried under the stands at the, the SEBAC pool here.
Elvis Burrows· Host0:56
That's right. So why, why are you in the office at this time of night?
Van Mathias· Guest1:02
[laughs] Um, busy, busy week, busy time of year, um, on my second job, or I guess my, I should say my actual job. Um, we've got some, some pool renovations going on here, so staying a little later, making sure that we get everything moved out. Um, we're gonna be out of the pool here for a little while this summer, but got some other pools on campus that we're gonna be training at.
Elvis Burrows· Host1:27
Oh, that's pretty cool. Are they long course?