Brazilian jiu-jitsu isn’t for the faint of heart and Joe Rogan knows this better than most. The podcast host and longtime martial arts enthusiast recently shared candid insights about the physical toll that comes with dedication to the gentle art particularly for practitioners who discover their passion later in life.
“What sport provides more patience than jiu-jitsu? Goodness,” Rogan asked rhetorically. “Like everybody, you know, like if you think about it, when you get to a certain point and you’ve been training for a certain amount of time, you’re going to get s— banged up. Like what sport benefits more from like guys in their 40s and 50s like peptides and stem cells? It’s jiu-jitsu brings a lot of patience cuz everybody’s hurt.”
“Everybody’s hurt,” Rogan continued, emphasizing the reality of training jiu-jitsu as a mature athlete. “Regular 40 year old dudes aren’t hurt all the time, you know what I mean. They usually work, they go into an office, they don’t rarely get knee injuries. Knee injuries are rare.”
The contrast becomes stark when comparing office workers to their jiu-jitsu-practicing counterparts. According to Rogan, the difference is unmistakable:
“40 year old jiu jitsu guys, everybody’s knees are f—-d up. Everybody’s f—-d up. Everybody got a hurt shoulder, everybody, elbows f—-d up, everybody’s got a bad—”
Despite painting this rather sobering picture of the physical demands, Rogan’s longtime friend and fellow black belt Matt Serra was quick to put things in perspective.
“It’s better than f—-g pickleball,” Serra quipped, suggesting that the benefits outweigh the inevitable wear and tear.
Serra’s role in the community also reflects his ongoing dedication to the art.
“I do a 40 and overnight class every Wednesday. I teach it,” Serra explained, describing how he engages with his students in a way that keeps training both challenging and enjoyable.
His teaching approach reflects both humility and playfulness.
“Just to feel like Gordon Ryan, I jump on the old men. I have fun with them, but dude, they f—-g love it,” Serra said, referencing the world-renowned grappler while describing his interactions with older students.
The communal aspect of jiu-jitsu training particularly resonates with Serra, who occasionally organizes group exercises that harken back to traditional training methods.
“Sometimes when it’s less than 20, I’ll do like my old school jiu jitsu gang match everybody. I pick teams, I put this guy over there, I get it kind of even, they all start on their knees.”
These training scenarios have evolved for safety reasons, as Serra noted when recalling earlier days:
“You remember this, we used to do it from the feet back in Renzo‘s. Everyone was breaking their backs jumping on backs.”
Through these shared observations, Rogan and Serra capture the essence of what makes jiu-jitsu both challenging and rewarding. The art demands not just technical skill and physical conditioning but the patience to accept that progress often comes with discomfort.
