Episode 115 | Mads Rasmussen: Believing in the Process

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

In Episode #115 of the LEO Training Podcast, I interview my friend Mads Rasmussen, Olympic Champion in the LM2x.

In this interview Mads will share the insights of his career in high performance sport all while going through medical school, getting married, and starting a family. If you are looking for insight into how to excel in both sport and life you will enjoy this episode.

Interview Topics:

Part 1 - Becoming a Champion

• How did your athletic career begin? What sports did you begin your career with?
• When we were in Avis, this past spring you told me that when you were a young boy knew you wanted to be a world champion. You didn’t necessarily know what sport - yet but knew you wanted to be the best at something. What drove you at such an early age to have this goal?
• How did you come into the sport of rowing?
• You began competing in the LM2x at the Junior World Championships in 1998 and continued competing all the way through the Rio Olympic Games. An 18 year career competing at the international level that resulted in 2 Bronze Medals, 1 Silver Medal, and 2 Golds at the World Championships and a Bronze Medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a Gold Medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Please take us through your journey and experiences leading up to each Olympic Games and the years in between.
• Let’s discuss some of the successes you had between 2004-2008 and what lessons you and the team learned in the lead up to Beijing that effected the training. ( I recall you saying there were some injuries for Rasmus and you were both quite tired with the additional training load.)
• Not many people know this but you were in medical school while training as an elite level rower. Your doubles partner Rasmus Quist was a full time plumber while he was training. What year did you enter medical school during your international career? How many years were you in medical school while you were training and competing?
• How many sessions a day did you train? How many during camps? How did you balance training with a professional career, personal life, and family while also being a high performance athlete?

Part 2 - Reflections on sport and current projects

• If you could race another boat class other than the LM2x, what would it be and why?
• If you could row with any rowing athletes from any era and in any boat class who would you pick and why?
• What solutions would you propose to FISA to keep lightweight rowing beyond the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games?
• Let’s discuss your article “deterioration in lung function over time, in former national team rowers” or pre-ischemiac on limbs.
• What is Area 9?
• Tell us about the clothing company that you and your wife created and why.

Extra | Training Recommendations | To be used

• What’s your top technical tip for a rower?
• What type of training session do you recommend an athlete do for continued development?
• Best advice to make weight?

Share your thoughts with me on social media:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Facebook

Show Notes:

• • World Rowing Profile
  • Instagram
  • Area 9
  • Athletes Own