Joe Rogan Experience #1514 — Joe De Sena Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Thanks for doing this. So the kettlebell, you bring this fucking thing everywhere you go. And one of the methods I used to motivate him was I said, kettlebell? I'll just carry a 20-pounder. So I'm not a complete fraud. And she confused pounds with kilograms. And I ended up with a 44 pounder and it just became So some U.S. flights, they'll let me carry it on, which is strange.

1:51 I'm not that strong. Stick it in that blue suitcase. This was like... That's that standard behavior in India? Somebody else's bag. the large luggage area because i'm hoping that's where the kettlebell is where it should be It's just too much of a pain in the ass because I don't like to check luggage. Yeah. So I lived there for a year. Give me an update from France.

5:13 No surprise that they killed it right away. friendly like it's like the way they handle everything uh i didn't actually get on any of the subways but i everything was spotless it was weird and That's weird. innovation and so much mastery of hand-to-hand combat, of swordsmanship, of sword making. How did you do that, by the way? He lost 400 pounds? Right?

8:05 When he left, he was crying. And then it went to 20. hiking. So he hiked all day. And what kept him motivated? Just this idea that he was going to And I said, get in touch with this guy right away. So got in touch with him, and he said, game on. person he took seven hours so uh tricked into it fought through it probably would have never come I said, what?

10:44 Isn't it crazy that sometimes even people that are just, you would look at them. But it stuck with me. You got to help people. So this was one of those people I helped. sit me down for lessons. Well, not all mob people are bad people. That sounds like a crazy Wall Street, you don't think they're fucking criminals? This guy ended up giving me 700 customers by the time I graduated college that were –

13:32 And could just go in anybody's, that i don't have and they live this life they get respect from people they're feared yeah you know So this guy, you find this guy. versus the pants he left with. Yogi. People don't even know what a health food store is now. up a conversation with this Yogi, changes her whole life, right? Comes home, throws away sausage,

15:58 And I want to be a gangster. And and so I had to balance these two things like like. Like how do you know how to proceed there? This is an Italian guy that was a weightlifter. right? Once you're tired of salad, then you want the And that's fucking up your liver anyway I talked him out of it and and he stuck it out but we would Was it in the 60s, Jamie, the guy who he fasted for a whole year?

20:05 There's no rhyme or reason. And their teeth get extremely white and their skin gets, you know, if they're not getting sunburned, gets beautiful. He had it. Yeah. But that his skin shrank was fascinating to me. Wake up, coffee, donut. have been able to do that i mean uh and he was probably laying in a bed and probably not very active. Right. Probably.

23:19 but eventually now he's climbing mountains too. And I said, all right, head up the mountain. 30 days. You eat good food, you're very active, you lose weight. I mean, you're putting some miles on your mind there. I mean, that's strengthening that muscle of discipline So does he maintain? I mean, you come off the raw fruits and veggies and you stop walking 20 miles a day.

26:03 I can't keep all these people on the farm. 100 pounds on? I'm sure it was I don't know if you are. You've got to eat healthy. But most people that's not the case. Just write it down. hundred pushups and I'm gonna do a hundred sit-ups and I'm gonna do a hundred chin-ups. That's today. But you don't really have an aim. going to do 100 sit-ups, even if it takes me all fucking day, even if I have to do 10 and 10 and 10 and keep going all day, just that's what

29:42 the whole time right yeah it's a discipline issue. They like to go out on the town and be the fucking man. way i i call it the spartan paradox right? You probably have a better name for it right? Andy Ruiz, Knew it was coming. If he had beat Joshua the second time, he's a superstar. and they like to party, and there's girls, if they know they got something hard coming, they'll wake up a little earlier.

32:52 months all right we're gonna party for a month and then two months i'm gonna get after it and of very very talented fighters that for whatever reason, are just not very disciplined. and he can hit harder than a guy who has been fighting for 10 years. You get a guy first day of the gym, he hits the pads, and you're like, holy shit. That's a Michael Jordan.

35:14 And by book smart, I don't mean someone who's intelligent, who's uneducated, is not capable of being book smart. he's very intelligent. 16 and so he put him in there with 16 yearyear-olds, and he would knock them out cold. That's John Jones. I want to be around these guys, and I got this business that's doing great. I got this business. We do great in the interview.

37:45 why don't I spend the summer going to St. John's in Queens Why would we waste the summer? So he diverts, he goes to Vegas, he goes to UNLV. but um well you know sometimes people find a path that suits their personality. Oftentimes people confuse discipline with focus. And they don't get excited about it. but I would find things that I loved and I was obsessed. And I always felt embarrassed by it

40:15 There's all sorts of shit he's supposed to do. But when it came to martial arts- I became obsessed, you know know and I wanted to be I I've never been in an office. I luckily dodged that They're all wearing ties I don't know if it's real. And so he argues, the author argues in the Edison gene that really it's not a thing. But then when that deer comes out, you're on, just like you found martial arts and you were on, right?

43:14 um that's what you're talking about well see here's where i diverge there because i think That's not rewarding. They're willing to go and abide by the rules of human resources. that thing. Yeah. I've never been that kid though. And I've always been into things. I always argue, do something. Do fucking something until you find that thing. But I think that there's a lot of people that don't have any,

45:34 Why? competitions you're a purple belt you're moving up yeah you're doing well you're thinking like And drives a Mercedes you have children i have children and um it's a big battle in the house and and my kids i don't I don't know if it's one in a billion, I'm going to do that. Yeah. But the thing is, you have to be adaptable. Counter-Strike is still the Half-Life

48:23 You can be obsessed with the wrong game. What are you going to do? A month ago, about a month ago, I said, listen, school's out. So I get the idea, I'm going to feed them. rooms and unbeknownst to me every night when they got done with their work they would then get on And the texts that are going back to the parents those first three days, I'm going to read you one.

51:06 So I got an Olympic wrestler living with us, a guy named Andy Rovat, who just happens to live with us, which is a story. So this is the parent. Parent says, there's got to be something good about it. No, and the counselors are terrible. The other parents were all coming after me like, oh, we don't want psychological damage. I almost passed out today.

53:33 Yeah. Well, it gets better because at the end, I did have the dad. This is an illegal camp run by a crazy person. 14 days. Once I got the tip off, right? But kids need it. You know, some kids get real lucky and they get involved in sports or martial arts early. You get this knowledge. You start off as a white belt. Yeah, it's real possible. You see disciplined people.

56:56 And we were all terrified of him anyway. You see these people that can over – now I take regular cold showers. You also learn that it's not that bad. Instead of thinking about that, just think about your breathing. Or you don't. And that's why I wanted the kids there because they'll never get that. He said, kids, when you take on something hard, But when you finish it, it leaves like train tracks.

59:30 Sports are the best way because there's something about physical pursuits where you have to But there's also the strength of the mind telling the body who the fucking boss is. Fuck you. You got a list of shit on that paper. It's gotta get done. done it's 98 degrees outside and you're gonna do it out here in the sun Can you give me some advice? story if you showed up with a broken one,

1:01:21 a special person. decide joe every 10 reps what weight i'm changing it to and he just kept changing change we get to uh power lifting when he was enormous you know he was just just eating whatever the fuck you felt So I, we'll go back. He goes, you got to go to Wall Street. I eventually build a business. psychological problems I couldn't fix. Like, I can't believe John next to me got $50,000 more

1:04:11 Covered bridge, idyllic, the whole thing. And you just decide Vermont? The girl I met was from Boston And It's cold as fuck. I'm in New York sold the business The big hairy cows, the big horns, epic looking. Yeah, like everybody's got a regular cow. What do you do with them? Did you get roosters too? So anyway, I'm doing all this work to the farm. I don't know anything about hunting.

1:07:10 One guy? This is a Quentin Tarantino movie. to be able to get out of the house. Slovakian's doing carpentry. Jeff doing excavation. Mom's He says, you didn't let me go hunting. why are you sweating? You killed a deer with a handsaw? With a handsaw. Lift it up off the ground. wake up in the morning, no deer in the backhoe everything's great i go to the general store

1:10:36 This fucking story is crazy. It's now Christmas time. it's like a five hour drive he says bay. He'll cut you a piece. you got to translate. I don't know if they want to raise. I don't know if they don't want to work for new york i said you got to translate i don't know if they want to raise i don't know if they don't want I probably shouldn't be saying it on the largest podcast in the world.

1:12:38 Did he ever ask? it was probably shot and the buck's like he's just so out of it because they're so horny they lose their fucking mind it's bloodthirsty till the day yeah Well, I bet a place like Vermont, you get a lot of those sort of Coen Brothers movies. How do people feel about Bernie Sanders up there? But I would say this. people that are essentially stealing money. We were definitely overpaid for our job,

1:16:22 race thing? So I'm on the farm. Oh, my God. one-mile loop, 50 to 60 days, and you're just going to transcend the possible. You're're going to set up this running race, one mile loop, 50 to 60 days. I'm getting out of that business. I want to do this for other people. I want to put on events and have them experience. And could I do this as a business?

1:18:39 this is going to be fun. Then 1,500. race in the same towns we're doing same town sometimes same location so if we announce the years. It was in the media. It was We bought them. And the way I look at it, and you tell me what you think, the way I look at it is Spartan will be its own thing. You get to learn. I like that. You know, when you see a lazy person

1:22:03 It's not that hard. Stephen King, when he was at his best, was doing blow and drinking like a fucking case of beer a night. there is discipline the fact that he sat down and did that work. there's some it's hard there's no real when you're talking about creative things like charles There's something about that one undisciplined, fucked up, but purposeful life

1:24:45 I think we look at it in terms of good and bad, and sometimes you can't look at things You want to do that. There's weird energy to sitting in front of a computer Certainly never encouraged my kids to do it. Certainly would never encourage good friends Yeah. and taking care of themselves, Outlive your competition. Right. Yeah, I just want to feel good.

1:27:58 But I'm going to outlive people. That's what he said. Yeah, which is what he said. and that you're getting a full suite of vitamins with everything, with all your meals because i wanted the raviolis and and the meat um if if you're a 10th generation or 20th generation It makes sense, though. better on a red meat-based diet. Some people, they survive better on just eggs and vegetables.

1:30:35 COVID had vitamin D deficient levels. So, I mean, that doesn't, you know, And the melanin was there to protect you from the sunlight. had undetectable levels of vitamin d which is insane wow because you're in the winter right you tried like more meat more fish less meat less vegetables you've you've very well and this is Also, you're getting a lot of vitamins from all those vegetables, a lot of minerals from

1:33:38 would they would poke a hole in the cow's neck and like mix a little milk uh with the blood Look, there's a lot of people that live in the jungles of South America that prefer monkeys. I don't want to eat a primate. My friend David Cho, who's an artist, was just in Africa, and he was staying with a tribe, and their primary diet is baboons because they – he sent me some pictures.

1:35:15 Right? You got to do what you got to do. We're related to them in some sort of a strange way. getting better at riding horses and doing battle on horses than any of the europeans were like the comanches were far better on horseback than any it's one of the main They came here on foot from Asia, right? Yeah, what are you going to do? came from like, took 30 seconds to load.

1:38:03 Whereas the mindset, I think, is slow down, like, fuck it, take shots. Right? Whereas the mindset, I think, is your personality, though, right? Do things. But if you get ready and you're aiming, you don't tend to get into action. Yeah. So what makes you know that but yet continue to do it? That sounds terrible. I'm worried about they'll all be together and they're all – I mean, we're in a pandemic health crisis.

1:40:22 I thought you meant like how many push-ups did they do? I thought that was a little weird. They shake it off. It's a fucking weird disease, man. I mean, I don't know, right? But, I mean, China's pretty pissed off at us, right? And I think if they were going to do that, That's what I meant. Like a civilization could engineer a pandemic and infect another civilization.

1:42:58 If you look at all the other countries, no one's done a worse job at dealing with this pandemic than us. Exposed a lot of our weaknesses. There's a lot going on. Fuck you. And I want people healthy and sweaty. That's pretty much established. and it's going to get to them. And if you looked at the numbers, like so many of the people that have it now are young people.

1:45:02 You're not washing your hands. Jacksonville. there. We put all the protocols in place. I'm a little annoyed because it's not going to be the Like it was game on. they said Florida, a safe event, unlike your your rusty knife on my hand did you do temperature checks we did temperature checks Normally we'd have 8,000 at that event, call it a couple so i can't i can't make those numbers work but i thought it

1:47:52 I'm dead. 325 events. Do you think it's going to take a vaccine? like it worked its way through the system and they didn't shut down now It's a little spread out. And Vermont has almost no cases small villages. Yeah. No, it's a little more like Vermont. Yeah, exactly. And So is everybody going to all of a sudden take the vaccine or do we just have to stay shut for another year?

1:50:27 They're afraid of shaming people because of their diet. I'm your advisor. But freedom leads to Doritos. You know, this is, the problem with this disease is this is not like anything else. But freedom has led to, like when I lived in Japan and I land anywhere in the United States, doesn't matter what airport I land in, people are three times the size.

1:52:22 massive amounts of calories and sedentary lifestyle. There's a small percentage of people that are going to excel. that just doesn't allow factory farming, and then the shit They even have laws Exactly. And that's how it got to the position that it's in right now. and maybe we could wean people off of this fast food. The idea that we have to eat fast food is

1:55:15 It drives people to make their own food. now things are not just stagnant they're deteriorating so people can't work so so um i'm Would that be viewed by the public as like a military state? they're throwing water bottles at him i don't know what they want i don't know what they want but trying to break up looting, smashing windows, attacks on federal property.

1:57:28 He's the guy that's on their side. I don't think you're a believer in like you can't let people do illegal things. They're trying to take over the federal court buildings? governing that spot that america does the it feels like h Hong Kong. Everything we saw in Hong Kong. I mean, seasonal depression disorder. Nope, nope, nope, nope. It's real simple.

1:59:31 They don't know anything about it. Very little. But some people do. So do you subsidize that? I know you love freedom, and I love freedom. You've got Madison Avenue advertisers. you annoyed that you can't advertise for cigarettes is that taking away a freedom No, no. you could hire like a company that would make a creative, um, a genetic history of heart disease.

2:03:03 doesn't mean you're definitely going to die because your parents did of that right you could you could make some So it fucks up everything else. A heavy bag, smoke a joint, hit that heavy bag, play some Hendrix, just whack the shit out of that heavy bag. is like oh my god i just feel paranoid like i think that's hyper aware that's what it is like because really you should kind of

2:04:50 And we're on this ball that's spinning a thousand miles an hour, hurling towards infinity. things and a big good wife and just a a nice co-worker and you're trying to just do your best There's a ripple effect. It would be a better world. He was still a dick. They'd have less visits to the doctor. Basic stuff. And I think it's because they work out every day and they've been humbled and they do hard

2:07:56 but it's a lot it's thousands and you got to make that decision at that moment it's gonna happen seeking to improve because there is no real i mean there are masters there's guys that are at such a Jiu-jitsu is like I do this to you, you respond, I respond to your response, that goes on forever. That's jiu-jitsu. Yeah. There's a lot that we all benefit from, from having a fire department and a military and clean streets and

2:10:18 Some would say that's bad. But every culture has had a rite of passage. You've gone through this process, and this is like a belt ceremony. scam my way through life no i want to be noble i want to be respectable i want to be someone who i You've got no rigidity to your thoughts. you know? And so this heightened stress level that comes with the pandemic is freaking them

2:12:58 Like when you do a race, you do something, you meet yourself. Yeah. Right? worked out every time you felt motivated you're not going to ever really get in shape no you're This is what I do. No, I agree. I agree with that. I love the fact that you're spreading it. i get and like i get paid in that currency right like you changed my life i'm back with my husband

2:15:43 Maybe you have an app or maybe even simpler, they just use a fucking timer on their phone and say, okay, ready, set, start. I like it. Yeah, give someone, did I you know I mean it right and then and then what I like what you just said You gotta tell them that too. It's something. And it'll do, it'll have an effect. I agree that it won't have as big an

2:17:34 I never thought this was going to happen. I've got a farm in Vermont. I don't think it's manageable. Yeah, that's what I think. I could go on. I agree. He's all excited. But then my friends were in San Antonio, and they got COVID down there. It's weird. They don't know. They don't know. It's not scary. they think you're hilarious and you got nothing right So you have to write a lot and you have to work it out.

2:21:21 It takes a year. It depends. And a second draft, a third draft? but it doesn't work that good or i have a new way to do it that's better or i come up with a new No, but it's something. Yeah. or anything you do. on the farm with you. They're hard to fix by the time they're 21, 22, they're hard to fix these, And the other thing I like about it is they can't really quit.

2:24:24 Andy the Olympian, the Mountain Warfare guy, Eric Ashley. kids there right now and they're there in vermont right now who's running the cracking the whip andy You got to lie to Joe and tell him we have a family vacation and get me the fuck out of here. Right. when he, And they climb mountains The Spartan sprinkles. And so they could come back and see the efforts of their work.

2:26:30 probably keeping them a little bit hungry. Um, because you know, a lion is most handsome when it's hungry. Um, we're not getting true. Yeah. I mean, it wants food. I've never heard that Yeah, this, this, even the first camp, I didn't't say to you we had a fight club every day They loved it. It was, yeah, it was great. Just don't. I'll do it. Spartan.com.

2:28:35 And what is that on Instagram? I'd love to toughen the kids up. Thank you.