The Long Game: Inside the Mind of an NFL Strength Coach ft. Garret Swanson Ep. 45

From high school weight rooms in Riverside to the sidelines of the NFL, this week’s episode of Midlife Crisis features longtime friend and Cincinnati Bengals Assistant Strength Coach Garrett Swanson. Garrett shares his journey from Fresno State specialist to a short stint with the Arizona Cardinals — and how a torn ACL in high school could have ended it all before it even began. Instead, it fueled the long game. He walks us through transitioning into strength and conditioning, earning his spot in the NFL, and what it’s really like coaching elite athletes. We go behind the scenes of the Bengals’ 2022 Super Bowl run, the chaos of a 30-minute halftime show, the intensity of Arrowhead Stadium, and the mental side of the weight room — where strength coaching becomes part sports psychology, part brotherhood. Garrett also tells the wild story of missing the birth of his third child… because the baby was born in his garage while he was running offseason squats. This episode is about discipline, resilience, redefining what “making it” looks like, and what it feels like to wake up one day realizing you’re living the dream you used to speak into existence.