If you have tuned into Joe Rogan’s podcast or caught his UFC commentary you will know that Joe loves BJJ and is a black belt. However, you also may have noticed that he doesn’t talk much about his training schedule.
Does Joe Rogan Still Do BJJ?
Joe Rogan barely does BJJ anymore. He only trains Jiu Jitsu once every couple of months. This is due to him suffering serious neck and back injuries as well as his busy schedule. When he does train he trains with Jean Jacques Machado and Eddie Bravo.
Joe Rogan is responsible for getting thousands and thousands of people addicted to BJJ. It seems for a while everybody who signed up to a BJJ gym had the same story of being inspired by one of Rogan’s podcast rants, espousing the benefits of the sport.
Rogan would regularly talk about all of the emotional benefits of BJJ, how it turned you into a nicer, more humble person while also building mental toughness. He talked about the need for people to know self defence and the effectiveness of BJJ in a fight. Rogan would also talk about how fun BJJ was, how you got to practice killing your friends without having to deal with brain trauma.
While many of the people Rogan inspired are still hitting the BJJ mats every week, their initial inspiration has taken a step back from BJJ training.
Joe Rogan hasn’t trained BJJ regularly for years. He now only trains once every couple of months and typically only in private sessions with Jean Jacques Machado and Eddie Bravo. Gone are the days when Rogan was a fixture at 10th Planet, rolling hard with everyone and giving people nightmares with his crushing top game and brutal arm triangle.
Why Did Joe Rogan Stop Training BJJ?
Rogan stopped training BJJ due to suffering serious neck and back injuries. His neck injury left him with numbness and weakness in his arm. Rogan is also very busy and has many hobbies, so has limited time for BJJ. Rogan has trained BJJ since 1996 and has decided to pursue other interests.
BJJ is tough on your body and Joe Rogan found that out the hard way. Rogan first suffered a herniated disc in his back from BJJ. This caused him to take a lengthy time off from BJJ training. Rogan eventually was able to fix his back issues through Yoga and by using a reverse hyperextension machine.
Unfortunately, for Joe once he returned to BJJ he suffered a neck injury. Rogan’s neck injury was a serious herniated disc which led to Rogan suffering weakness and numbness in his arm. This scared Joe and he again took a lengthy break from BJJ.
Rogan says his neck injury was mostly likely from repeatedly attacking arm triangles for years. Rogan was famed for his heavy top game where he would apply maximum pressure, pinning you in mount before locking in an arm triangle.
Rogan said that constantly using his head to dig and push the arm across his opponent’s neck when setting up the arm triangle caused the damage to his neck.
Since Joe has suffered significant injuries to both his neck and back he no longer trains Jiu Jitsu regularly. He is now very careful with his body and only trains a couple of times a month, mostly in the private classes with Jean Jacques and Eddie Bravo. Rogan is concerned that more BJJ training may re-injure his neck and back.
Rogan’s injuries aren’t the only reason he no longer trains Jiu Jitsu multiple times a week. If you have listened to his podcast you would know he has many different hobbies from hunting, trail running, archery, kickboxing to kettlebells.
With so many different interests Rogan has limited time he can direct to each pursuit. As he has become increasingly busy with family, UFC and podcast commitments Rogan has decided to dedicate what limited time he does have to his other hobbies while his BJJ training has taken a back seat.
Rogan has frequently talked about how he goes through cycles where he becomes obsessed with certain things and then will spend hours and hours on that particular activity.
As Rogan has been training BJJ since 1996 it is no wonder that his passion for training has waned a bit. It seems Rogan has now become obsessed with his other hobbies to the detriment of his Jiu Jitsu. Maybe in the future Rogan will fall back in love and become obsessed again with BJJ training.
However, it appears Rogan hasn’t lost much of his black belt level BJJ skills. In a recent training session with Jean Jacques Machado and comedian Russell Peters who is a blue belt, both were praising his skills.
Machado said Rogan is one of his best students, praising his immense physical strength and describing one of their recent sparring sessions where the legendary black belt spent over 30 mins trying to sweep Rogan.
Conclusion
Joe Rogan rarely trains BJJ these days. Rogan only trains Jiu Jitsu once every couple of months. Serious injuries to his back and neck forced him to step off the BJJ mats and have made him cautious about training frequently.
This combined with the fact that Rogan has so many hobbies he enjoys and his busy schedule unfortunately leaves little time for the 10th Planet black belt to train.
