This GMM podcast with Caeleb Dressel is wild. Ninety minutes of raw honesty, humor, and pure fun.
Dressel details how he departed the University of Florida pro group on great terms. He and coach Anthony Nesty are clearly very close. Dressel explains his new training team, headed by Steve Jungbluth at Sporting Jax Aquatic Club, with heavy strength support from Sean Kao at Aquatic Sports Performance.
My big takeaway was that Dressel’s training since the Paris Olympic Games has not been serious at all. It was a break, really a mental rest and refresh. That ended about a month ago when he started building his team. Dressel is now committed to his run at LA2028. His training will be dialed in. In terms of volume in the pool, it won’t be Cam McEvoy-lean (see podcast), and it sounds like it’ll be more than what Kyle Chalmers is doing (see podcast). Dressel details his training right now, but he’s so early in the process, he said it could change dramatically between now and U.S. Olympic Trials in 2028.
Events on the table so far: 50-100 free and 50-100 fly. Dressel does not like the 100 free, and he’s very vocal about his love for the 100 fly.
Dressel is free-form in the podcast, covering a lot of topics — some important, some not so important — but I had to ask the questions.
NCAA DI Championships? Dressel has not paid attention to the NCAA DI Championships format. I do my best to unpack it for him, and he shares his opinion on B-finals and conference champions automatically qualifying, which will mean leaving some faster swimmers off the NCAA DI championship deck.
Enhanced Games? This topic comes up organically, and Dressel has a lot to say about it.
Dressel’s vertical leap? Allegedly, it’s 42 inches. He sets the record straight.
Dressel’s deadlift? Dressel is powerful, and he does chase PRs when left to his own devices. I pin Caeleb down on one max, his deadlift, which is impressive. (Interestingly, Dressel hedged on telling me his max, mostly because he says Sean Kao does not measure success in the weight room via max PRs. According to Caeleb, Sean’s got him doing more swim-centric work in the gym that will translate more power to the pool. I’ll ask Sean to come on the podcast to explain this in detail.)
There’s also a lot of nonsense in the podcast. It’s either the best or worst interview with him I’ve done. You tell me what you think. Between his sister’s dog and rambling about his wispy mustache, it took us five minutes to get started. I cut that part out and put it at the end as a BLOOPER, but the last five minutes might be the most fun.
EDITOR NOTE: I said Leon Marchand broke a 200 IM scm record, 1:45. And I was so wrong. It was, of course, Hubert Kos’ 200 scm back. I was trying to glance at SwimSwam’s live recap of World Cup during this interview, which is why I screwed that up.
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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.
48:20 is awesome when you hear him say, “We do a sport with no gravity, why can people compete at a high level till their 40s?”
The NCAA’s have to be in SCM to have the World records on the line. That would bring in much more attention of the media 100%. The americans are the only one’s who cares about yards. If the olympics is in meters then the biggets college competition in the US should be to. It’s amazing to see that 17.6 by Dressel…but go ask most of the swimmers in the owrld and they will tell you that the 19.90 from jordan crooks in SCM is more impressive. And keep in mind that dressel has a better yars time (and long course meters) than crooks. Would dressel have been the first sub-20s in 50 SCM if the NCAA’s were in meters? we… Read more »
How much media attention did the World Cup get with its world records?
In the US? I guess not that much… Why? It was different from what’s going on right now, all the college dual meets. Now what attention in the US would’ve been if the World Cup was in yards?!?! Half on the US would’ve been glued to screens. The problem is in different standards and not comparable times. It is not about what’s better, yards or meters. It’s about if public understands the standard and can relate to the times produced. Is the US only attention to NCAAs enough? Or do we want worldwide attention?
too many 25yard pools. It won’t change.
But realistically 17.6>19.9scm
Or….we can call SCY fastest times ever as “World Records” and move on. The branding SHOULD’VE always been there, but the opportunity to do that still exists.
or just call them what they are – American records. Surely you need 1 more country somewhere attempting them before World Record means something.
Not really. MLB has the World Series. NFL and NBA champions are “world champions”. And if SCY is only competed here, the fastest times in that pool by definition are “world records”
yeah and the rest of the world bags US for calling MLB champions wolrd champions. I didnt say you cant call them world records but it doesnt mean any more than an american record if only Americans are racing SCY.
I mean I’m okay with calling them world records or not, but 14 of them are not held by Americans so “if only Americans are racing SCY” isn’t true either.
Daddy 🥵🥰🥰🥰
The man is gorgeous beyond description.
I know he sorta said he’d never go Full McEvoy – which, it does seem high-stress in a different way – but I would like to see it attempted his last year.
Like say he has a fantastic year, is “ready” to finally retire…f*ck it, stick around and do some splashing around for 100 yards a day, see what happens. Maybe it works! He could prolly do it at any point in the next 5ish years and still get pretty interesting results.
I think you have the impression McEvoy ‘just relaxes for a bit of a splash’ for his training. His gym training is high intensity. You need to fully buy in for it to be successful.
I was about to be mad at you before I realized your comment prolly had to be approved and came in before the one I responded to.
But I did say it was “high-stress in a different way.” And the way in which it sounds more stressful sounds a lot like what Dressel said he liked – high intensity gym work, but that would also then move over to the pool.
I think the main benefit would be time invested, he could still get away with having a lower overall training load for sure. Can’t even say for sure he’d perform any worse, might end up improving for some of the 50s.
I think it’d be neat!
McEvoy does a lot more than just “splashing around”. It’s just that a lot of it is not in the pool. But he and his team have refined his training methods and are very precise.
I know, hence the part where I called it high stress. Being “perfect” for each one of those precious meters is just a different kind of stress than doing 10,000 of them
McEvoy is technically flawless..hugh advantage, no matter how he trains.
So when he says he would NEVER take enhancers… I assume he means except his 8 TUEs right?
https://swimswam.com/dressel-scratches-friday-night-finals-winter-juniors/
Where was this reported?
It was widely reported just before Rio Olympics.
Russian hackers Fancy Bears hacked WADA database and published info on 100 athletes including American athletes Simone Biles and Caeleb Dressel.
WADA confirmed that the hack happened but they denied the accuracy of information published.
It’s one of those things where…most of the leaks were probably mostly true…but we’re never gonna know for sure if all of the leaks were all true.
The thing no one in USA Swimming wants to talk about. Look behind the scenes at any Gold Medal club and you’re gonna find lots of kids on steroid inhalers and with prescriptions to ADD drugs. I know because I coached at one.
I’m not sure why you are singling out Gold Medal clubs. This is just rampant in American society- classrooms, soccer fields, pool decks, etc.
ADD medication is massively over-prescribed in every facet of society but there is a VERY strong correlation between being a successful sprinter and having access to legal amphetamines. I think a lot of people would be surprised to see how ubiquitous it is among top sprinters.
The steroid inhaler thing is more unique to swimming and something I had never encountered until I started coaching for a high volume program where all of the distance swimmers used one. I also remember the head coach losing his mind at a meet when someone on a different team made a comment about the inhaler use. I honestly had never thought much of it until seeing how defensive his reaction was.
Go back to high school stats! Correlation DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION. Have you ever thought that kids who have a lot of energy and are hyper because of their ADD or ADHD are encouraged to do sports like swimming to help them better regulate their energy and to give them an outlet for it? Or maybe the high-speed nature of sprinting feels more natural for people whose brain is innately moving quickly through their thoughts? Doctors tell asthmatics to swim to build up their lung strength.
Are there people who abuse TUEs out there? Probably! But this is such a bad faith argument based on not real data and a faulty analysis that puts down real people who are… Read more »
This is such a bad faith argument. Legitimately prescribed or not, being allowed to use amphetamines gives you a massive advantage over someone not using them. That’s why they’re banned.
Considering how easily you can get a prescription for ADD meds from any quack doctor, and how we acknowledge that adderall is abused in business, academia, etc., it’s obvious there are a lot of people doctor shopping to get an advantage in sports too.
And I’m not trying to “put down” people who are legitimately prescribed and need ADD medications. People should have access to whatever they need to live a healthy and fulfilling life. But taking those meds gives you an advantage in sports. It’s undeniable.
Why… Read more »
As an asthmatic who was a college swimmer, I get really sick of hearing this argument all of the time. Steroid inhalers are corticosteroids, which help manage the body’s response to inflamed airways. They don’t help with your oxygen intake unless you have inflamed airway and are dealing with an autoimmune response.
As regards to a lot of swimmers having a prescription, there is a solid chance that if you are in an indoor pool all day and are even slightly prone to asthma – your airway is going to be long term impacted. Hell it can probably give you asthma even if you wouldn’t have it in most cases. If you get hauled off in ambulance at an… Read more »
Mel..this may have been said but I thought the Conference winners could automatically go if they made the qualifying time at the win of the Conference meet.
To me, Kao is catching way too much flack here considering Dressel says at 11:25 in the interview that when assembling his team, all these coaches were vetted alongside Keenan Robinson, who spent years at USA Swimming, NBAC, and Michigan. He now works in the NFL supporting player recovery. Kao will be a fine choice for S&C, and Caleb can no doubt still take input form Matt DeLancey at Florida if he needs it.
can’t listen now what’d he say the lifting PRs were pls tell me pls
600 sum for deadlift
Pretty legit! Like if he said 405 I woulda been surprised, anything in the 500s makes sense tho.
Also Mel saying he was doing 300ish for 5 and Dressel immediately saying he had 500 in him is…maybe not there yet. (Prolly 350ish for a max, tho! Not nothing, Mel! 1rm-ing your deadlift out of nowhere is the easiest way to hurt yourself, ask me how I know)
610 deadlift PR
I am not an expert in competitive weightlifting but that sounds like a pretty elite PR for his size.
Just did a little research, and this is interesting.
In an article from this summer in Wired magazine, James Magnussen brags about squatting 250kg, thanks in part to taking steroids. That about 550 pounds. In the article, he says “I was squatting 250 kilos, which I would say is at least 20 percent stronger than any other swimmer in history. It was insane.”
I’ve also read that most weight lifters can squat about 90% of what they can dead lift.
90% of Dressel’s dead lift is 0.9 * 610 = 549 pounds.
Possibly there is some missing context; like maybe Magnussen was doing reps at 250kg, rather than maxing out. But if not, then enhanced Magnussen was lifting in the… Read more »
That deadlift to squat ratio is way off.
Conventionally it would be about 25% difference, making Dressel closer to 455. 550/455 = 1.21. So basically spot on to what Magnussen said.
But also this is pure conjecture. Some people can squat more than they deadlift, while others can squat 50% of what they deadlift.
Dressel (and Phelps and a few other swimmers) seem to constantly have people on here making up achievements and giving them credit for it. It’s not necessary.
I’m glad I just eyeballed what the usual math said. (I was too tired last night to actually do more research lol. Yay for experience!)
Checks out considering even a fully juiced/enhanced 22 year old Magnussen wouldn’t be going a 21.0…
Juiced 22 yo Maggie might’ve been around 46.4 though
And as I write that last sentence I realize that this EG nonsense is going to start turning into the same BS rabbit hole as debating conversion times (a swim fan’s nightmare fuel) Yuck
Speaking of conversions prime Thorpe/ Agnel 500y is a 4:01
There’s a lot of variation in that stuff, and also a trap bar deadlift isn’t gonna translate well nor does Dressel’s history of doing a lot of Olympic lifts make for a particularly massive back squat. (Just given he’d prolly high-bar it, which is generally disadvantageous when you’re going for a pure 1rm, a low-bar back squat would help more there.)
Dressel could for sure have back squatted 405, prolly 450ish but idk how much more than that. (I bet his front squat would have been wild, tho.)
Also, I almost never believe what people say when they squat. I swear there were old Phelps stories of him doing 400+ lbs, a bunch of random Texas swimmers doing similar weights… Read more »
Interesting. Well, I have learned some stuff today. All of these people are so much stronger than I am it can be hard for me to wrap my mind around it. But it helps explain why they swim so much faster as well.