The Joe Rogan ExperienceJoe Rogan Experience #1101 - Chris & Mark Bell
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,040 words- 0:00 – 1:00
Chris Bell’s comeback: deadlifting with artificial hips
- JRJoe Rogan
(knocking) Three, two, one. (gun cocking sound) Is that a gun? That's a real gun? Gentlemen, we're live. The Bell Jostle-
- MBMark Bell
What's up?
- CBChris Bell
We are live. Yeah, thanks. What's going on?
- JRJoe Rogan
It's the bell curve. How are you fuckers? What's going on?
- CBChris Bell
Doing great, man. It's great to be on the show again.
- JRJoe Rogan
Great to g- have you guys here. Um, you know, I was watching your Instagram the other day, and I was looking at you with fake hips, doing crazy fucking heavy dead lifts, man. That's amazing.
- CBChris Bell
(clicks tongue) I am starting to dead lift a little bit more, uh, because I've been doing this carnivore diet and I feel great. And there's no reason not to, right? So, um, I just figured, uh, if I can do it and it doesn't hurt, then, uh, why not? So, uh, I- I was going up to about 400 pounds, but I think I can still... I think I can even get stronger now. So, what I'm so happy about is this is something... Squatting and dead lifting is something that was part of my life all growing up. I was a power lifter all growing up.
- MBMark Bell
He's the one that got me into this shit.
- CBChris Bell
And it- it got taken away from me, and I was really sad and disappointed. Became a drug addict and an alcoholic because of it, and now I can lift again, so I feel good.
- 1:00 – 3:10
Hip replacement realities: success stories, botched hardware, and recovery logistics
- JRJoe Rogan
That is... Is that unusual for someone who's got artificial hips to be able to do something like that?
- CBChris Bell
Um-
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you know? Do you... How many people do you know that have artificial hips?
- CBChris Bell
Well, I do know that Ed Cone, who is the greatest power lifter of all time, he has two fake hips now, right?
- MBMark Bell
Yeah, I think so.
- CBChris Bell
And I think he still squats 600.
- JRJoe Rogan
Jesus!
- MBMark Bell
Yeah, he can still lift some weight.
- JRJoe Rogan
With fake hips?
- MBMark Bell
(laughs)
- CBChris Bell
Yeah, @eddiecone. Check him out. He's a beast.
- JRJoe Rogan
Holy sh- Uh, fake hips squatting 600 pounds?
- CBChris Bell
It's insane.
- JRJoe Rogan
They say that is, like, one of the most effective replacement-
- CBChris Bell
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... surgeries that they do, is replacing people's hips.
- MBMark Bell
Yeah, for him it's gonna be- it's gonna be a big deal.
- CBChris Bell
I think it's a great... I think it's a great surgery. Before I got it done, I mean, I couldn't even get up out of a chair. I was... I'd be stuck, you know? I would- I would stick places.
- MBMark Bell
(clears throat)
- CBChris Bell
(laughs) And, um, before I got it done, I couldn't really move at all. And then after I got it done, they had botched one side, so one side went perfect, the other side, for two years, was all screwed up and the doctors didn't know it.
- JRJoe Rogan
What was screwed up about it?
- CBChris Bell
Um, the- the cup. There's a cup and then there's the ball that goes into the cup.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- CBChris Bell
The cup came loose-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, no.
- CBChris Bell
... and- and it would- it would shift around. Now, they think the cup comes loose because when you do both hips at the same time, they hammer one hip into one side and then you're completely like a dead body almost, and they flip you over and then they-
- MBMark Bell
It's really violent actually.
- CBChris Bell
... when they flip you over, they think that's when the hip might... That- that socket may come out. So, um, they're starting to- to question doing them both on the same day now.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, I've heard of people getting one done and then a couple months later...
- CBChris Bell
I would recommend getting one done because then when I got my other one... when I got the one that was messed up redone and I had one good leg and one (laughs) , you know, one leg to recover on-
- 3:10 – 3:51
DEXA scans, muscle biopsies, and the steroid elephant in the room
- CBChris Bell
We- we just got a DEXA scan done and-
- MBMark Bell
We got weird shit going on.
- CBChris Bell
We got really weird shit going on. We had a DEXA scan done and Dr. Jacob Wilson told us that our bone... Was it bone min- mineral den- density?
- MBMark Bell
Density, yeah.
- CBChris Bell
It was... Mine- mine was, like, off the charts, but his was way (laughs) off the charts.
- MBMark Bell
Yeah, and then, uh-
- CBChris Bell
He didn't, like, recognize it.
- MBMark Bell
... we also got a muscle biopsy done by, uh, Dr. Andy Galpin. And he's just like, "Dude, I don't-"
- JRJoe Rogan
Love that guy.
- MBMark Bell
He's like, "I don't know what the fuck's going on with your... With my muscle," and his muscle. He's like, "But we need to talk about this more." And so it-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's called steroids.
- MBMark Bell
(laughs) Yeah, I know.
- CBChris Bell
Yeah.
- MBMark Bell
Well, exactly.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MBMark Bell
So he said he wanted to, uh, interview me more and- and talk to me more about like what I've taken over the years and all those different things.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, it's... It works. (laughs)
- MBMark Bell
Yeah, it fucking works. Fantastic.
- JRJoe Rogan
There's a reason why people do it. (laughs)
- CBChris Bell
I just think...
- JRJoe Rogan
It's so crazy.
- 3:51 – 6:46
Born strong: early lifting, family genetics, and ancestry tests
- CBChris Bell
I heard you talking the other day about throwing a- a roundhouse kick and you said it's just second nature to you.
- MBMark Bell
Yeah.
- CBChris Bell
And I think, for us, we've been lifting-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- CBChris Bell
... for so long-
- MBMark Bell
Sure.
- CBChris Bell
... that a lot of this stuff... Even when I was a drug addict and alcoholic, the entire time I still trained every day. I wasn't doing as good of a job, but I still would make it to the gym every day.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- CBChris Bell
It's ingrained in us.
- MBMark Bell
Right.
- CBChris Bell
It's something that we've been doing forever, so I think that-
- JRJoe Rogan
So your body's just designed for it. It's essentially-
- CBChris Bell
I don't know if it's designed for it, but-
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, not designed, but you've sort of designed it. You know, you-
- MBMark Bell
I think it's something that found us, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- MBMark Bell
Like we- like we did kind of stumble upon it, but I think it's something that found us. And it's, uh...... you know, I, I was strong right out of the gate. He was strong right out of the gate. I mean, and I remember, uh, my friends benching in the garage and they were benching the bar maybe a 10 on each side and I was, you know, doing a plate, doing 185, 12 years old, you know, and-
- CBChris Bell
He was an animal when he was young, so-
- MBMark Bell
There was just something there. There was some sort of strength. My mo- our mom benched, uh, what'd she bench?
- CBChris Bell
135.
- MBMark Bell
Yeah, she benched-
- JRJoe Rogan
Your mom can bench 135?
- CBChris Bell
Uh, like right off, you know, like without ever lifting. She just put her-
- MBMark Bell
I wanna say I think she benched 185.
- CBChris Bell
She might have.
- MBMark Bell
On the same day because she-
- JRJoe Rogan
That's what Joey Diaz would say, "Immigrant mentality."
- MBMark Bell
(laughs)
- CBChris Bell
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Where's your mother from?
- 6:46 – 10:18
Neck damage and atrophy: fighters, sleep, and sleep apnea tools
- JRJoe Rogan
Dude, I was watching, um, uh, some clips from last night from WrestleMania and Ronda Rousey was with Kurt Angle and I was looking at Kurt Angle's body. I was like, "Wow, that guy has gone through some damage."
- CBChris Bell
He's a machine.
- MBMark Bell
Yeah, he's a goddamn beast.
- CBChris Bell
He's gone through damage.
- MBMark Bell
He's been through it all. Lots of neck surgeries.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, you could see it in his arms. The neck surgeries you see in guys' arms 'cause their arms atrophy, you know.
- MBMark Bell
Right. Yeah, he's atrophied a lot, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
'Cause his fucking neck looks like a goddamn tree trunk.
- MBMark Bell
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
He's just got this neck that starts above his ears-
- MBMark Bell
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and then his arms are not nearly as big-
- MBMark Bell
I'd have to say, uh...
- JRJoe Rogan
... as they used to be.
- MBMark Bell
They're ner- I think it's nerve damage, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Exactly, yeah. I had Pat Miletich in here a couple weeks ago, you know, former UFC champion Pat.
- CBChris Bell
Yeah, I love Pat. Yeah, he's great.
- JRJoe Rogan
He's got one arm that's sh- smaller than the other one. Bas Rutten will be here tomorrow, he's got the same issue.
- CBChris Bell
Savage.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's necks, neck issues for what, you know, g- and I had a bulging disc in my neck-
- CBChris Bell
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and I was getting weird, uh, numbness in my hands and then nerve pain in my elbow.
- CBChris Bell
In your elbow?
- JRJoe Rogan
The ulnar nerve, it goes on there, and when you ignore that shit and then keep training it, keep getting your fucking neck yanked on, then the disc starts to decay-
- CBChris Bell
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and then the pressing against the d- the, the nerves and the-
- CBChris Bell
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... um, the, the, the spinal column, it gets worse. And then it starts atrophying and cutting off the, the nerves to your arms. And you get to the point where your, your shit just shrinks and it doesn't come back.
- MBMark Bell
A lot of that stuff happens in your sleep too. Like something gets aggravated from training, but you sleep weird, you sleep with your neck all twisted.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- 10:18 – 10:55
Why Chris tried carnivore: arthritis, keto fatigue, and mental “intervention” framing
- JRJoe Rogan
So, um, tell me about this carnivore diet.
- CBChris Bell
Sure.
- JRJoe Rogan
Because I had Shaun Baker in here and he talked to me about it, but-
- GUGuest
... he doesn't have any science, you know? There's no, like, he doesn't have any, like, real tests or any long-term studies or anything-
Yeah.
... like that. And, you know, I, I, I'm a person who believes in balance. And I, I, I think that you need phytonutrients, you need plant fiber. I think there's a lotta healthy stuff that you get-
Right.
... from plants. Um, I'm a big believer in eating meat, though. But all meat, you guys doing all meat?
Well-
Yeah, I think there's, I think there's some-
I've modified it. I believe.
I think there's some holes-
We could talk about it.
Let's one at a time, boys.
(laughs)
Yeah, I think there's some, I think there's some holes in every diet. (coughs) Right.
- 10:55 – 17:17
Fruit, glucose, and the PURE study debate: modifying ‘all meat’
- GUGuest
I think when you go and you make the decision to only eat meat, then, uh, some rational thought should come into your head. Maybe when I switch all the way to just meat all the time, maybe there's a possibility I'm gonna eat too much meat. And so maybe that would make sense to bring in some fruit and bring in some vegetables just so-
Right.
... you're not eating too much meat, for the simple reason, vegetables have been shown... And, and there's, you know, you can get a study to show you anything. Uh, but there's study, a study that's been done on 200,000 people that went on for 14 years, and they studied, uh, vegetables. They studied every type of vegetable, and they found that they were more neutral than they were harmful or good for you. They found that fruit was a little bit, uh, better for you. And again, you can have any study saying anything.
Wait a minute, wait a minute. What is this study? What-
Uh, it's called the PURE study.
Wait a minute. They said that it's, that vegetables are neutral? What does that mean?
They're, they're neutral. They just- They don't really help you that much. They weren't, uh, necessarily great and they weren't necessarily bad. Uh, I don't know what their-
In comparison to what though?
I don't know what their standard was for what they were looking for exactly, but the main thing they were looking for was, uh, it being protective in terms of your heart. That was their main, their, the main thing they were looking at.
Huh.
So they found out that saturated fat is protective of your heart. They found out that cholesterol is actually protective of your heart.
Yeah.
They found out that salt is... Now, it's all, like, you know, without... You can't take in tons and tons of salt because then something's gonna- (laughs)
Well, salt'll kill you.
Yeah.
If you eat a pound of salt, you're dead. You know?
Yeah.
Salt's one of those things-
Exactly.
... that's really good for you. It's an essential mineral.
To a li- to a certain extent.
Yeah, but if you take too much of it, you will die.
So I think any of these things can be done too far. I jumped on a carnivore diet just to give it a shot and to see exactly what it was about. And I liked it.
But why, why did you do that? 'Cause you talked to Shaun, Shaun Baker?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
He was, he was on your podcast.
Mm-hmm.
I got inspired to do it. He was already doing it, so I was like, "All right, let me try it out."
And why?
- 17:17 – 19:58
Blood work, inflammation markers, and how testing can be misleading
- JRJoe Rogan
Now, are you getting your blood work done?
- CBChris Bell
Yes. Um, just got my blood work done, um, from last month. And it ... uh, everything improved from keto to carnivore. I didn't really have any cholesterol issues. Um, I didn't have any, uh, uh ... the, uh ... what was, what were my issues that- that were-
- MBMark Bell
We've had our blood work done probably four or five times in the last year or so, I would say.
- CBChris Bell
Yeah.
- MBMark Bell
And, uh, you know, not all the numbers are, are fucking great but for the most part, it's been pretty healthy. The cholesterol's been good. The triglycerides have been good. Um, this doesn't show up on your blood but-
- JRJoe Rogan
W- well, what's not good?
- MBMark Bell
Uh, just it's not in the high, not in the high range of-
- JRJoe Rogan
Of?
- MBMark Bell
... you know, o- of what it, what it shows you on the, uh, on the sheet. And then we also have other people-
- JRJoe Rogan
Wait, wait, wait. For what?
- MBMark Bell
Uh, oh, in terms of like the triglycerides and the, the cholesterol and stuff like that? Is that what you're talking about?
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, like what ... you're saying what's not good. You know what I'm saying?
- MBMark Bell
No, I'm just saying like-
- JRJoe Rogan
Not in the high range, like in, in terms of what?
- MBMark Bell
You know, I'm saying, uh, everything's, everything's been pretty good. Like this last time, I did have my, um, uh ... I had one of my markers, uh, kind of high.
- CBChris Bell
Well, we both had high C-reactive protein and we don't ... we're not sure why, so that's something that we have to like look into.
- JRJoe Rogan
And what is C-reactive protein?
- CBChris Bell
It's a, it's a marker for inflammation and my C-reactive, reactive-
- MBMark Bell
Specifically of the heart.
- CBChris Bell
Yeah.
- MBMark Bell
It's not good.
- CBChris Bell
My C-reactive protein-
- JRJoe Rogan
You both had this-
- CBChris Bell
Mine was really high on keto, but then after I went keto to carnivore, it came way, way down so I don't, I don't know where it is right now and it's-
- MBMark Bell
Huh. Yeah, I also, uh, had a really high ... mine registered really high out of nowhere. It was totally fine with all the blood work I've had done and the last one I had done, it skyrocketed. People were saying, "Well, maybe it's because you worked out beforehand or ..." you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right. Were you consistent in when you ate, when you got your, your test done? Were you guys on a fast before your last test done?
- MBMark Bell
I, I trained beforehand, so I might have fucked it up.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, you fucked it up for sure.
- MBMark Bell
(laughs)
- CBChris Bell
Yeah, that's-
- 19:58 – 24:44
Costco steaks, ‘organic’ definitions, and grass-fed vs grain-fed tradeoffs
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, are you eating a lot of fatty cuts like ribeyes-
- CBChris Bell
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and stuff like that?
- CBChris Bell
Pretty ... mostly ribeyes, yeah, I'd say mostly.
- JRJoe Rogan
Because that's what I, I, I like a lot of dietary fat. I like a lot of like meat fat, you know?
- CBChris Bell
I think there's a certain point, right? 'Cause, um, I, I don't know. Before, when I was doing a ketogenic diet, um, the fat is kind of free-flowing because, uh, you make your bulletproof coffees and you're just dumping fat-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) Mm-hmm.
- CBChris Bell
... in everything.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's true.
- MBMark Bell
In butter.
- CBChris Bell
You're putting butter on everything.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- CBChris Bell
But when you have-
- MBMark Bell
You might be overdoing it, yeah.
- CBChris Bell
When you have a steak, what's really nice about having a steak is you're right about 65% to 75% fat already, like just, just out of, out of-
- JRJoe Rogan
If you're eating corn-fed.
- CBChris Bell
... out of the box. Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
You're eating corn-fed beef? Is that what you're eating?
- CBChris Bell
I d- I eat both.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- CBChris Bell
Um, I think that, um, the difference between the grass-fed and the, and the grain-fed, there really isn't a substantial amount of proof of how much better that is. I do know that grass-fed beef has five times the amount of omega-3.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- CBChris Bell
So you always wanna pick grass-fed beef when you can, but a lot of people can't afford it and also, uh, the be- ... for me, the best meat is at Costco. That's the best tasting meat that you're gonna find. I- I've been everywhere. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
True. Why, why is Costco better?
- CBChris Bell
It just tastes the best.
- MBMark Bell
I think they shop around for the best stuff.
- CBChris Bell
They have the best meat.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- MBMark Bell
I think they do.
- CBChris Bell
Yeah.
- 24:44 – 39:00
Fighting obesity: refined carbs, cravings, and diet ideology wars
- MBMark Bell
I think these are some of the smaller issues. These aren't the main things that we're really trying to fight. You know, my brother and I, we just, uh, took on to do another film, and he, he and I are doing this one together on nutrition. And we're just, we're trying to find out some truths. I mean, we're trying to find out about grass-fed and organic and all these different things. Uh, but mainly, we're just trying to figure out how the fuck do we help fight obesity? How do we help fight diabetes? How do we help people, uh, gain control of their diet? And I think that's really truly what we're talking about, is control. And you look at something like a ketogenic diet, in my opinion, it's one of the few diets that can really help people with control of their diet because it can help break up the cravings. And that's really ultimately, I think, where our fight is.
- JRJoe Rogan
(coughs)
- MBMark Bell
It's against, it's against cravings of all these convenient foods that taste so fucking good-
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, the cravings is-
- MBMark Bell
... that are in our face all the time.
- JRJoe Rogan
... refined carbohydrates and sugars.
- MBMark Bell
Absolutely.
- JRJoe Rogan
Those are giant.
- MBMark Bell
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And, and when you (coughs) excuse me, when you hear about saturated fat being dangerous, it is dangerous if you take saturated fat with high levels of carbohydrates and high levels-
- MBMark Bell
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... of refined sugars.
- MBMark Bell
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
Dr. Rhonda Patrick went over that in depth, and it's really fascinating, the reaction that your body has to the high levels of carbohydrates and the high levels of fat. So your body is either fat burning or carbohydrate burning. So when you combine the two of them together, you have a nightmare.
- CBChris Bell
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
You're really not supposed to do that.
- MBMark Bell
Recipe for disaster.
- JRJoe Rogan
But it's not the saturated fat that's the problem; it's the saturated fat in conjunction with the refined carbohydrates-
- MBMark Bell
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and sugars. And one of the things that they're finding too, is one of the big arguments that vegans in particular have used for high carbohydrate diets in, in re- in relation to obesity, is look at Asian cultures. And Asian cultures you have low levels of obesity but high levels of high carbohydrates. But you know what else you have? High levels of diabetes.
- MBMark Bell
Diabetes.
- JRJoe Rogan
Diabetes.
- MBMark Bell
Or-
- JRJoe Rogan
You don't have to be fat to be- Yeah.
- MBMark Bell
... a diabetic, yeah.
- CBChris Bell
How many people in China, 400 million people?
- MBMark Bell
Something like that.
- CBChris Bell
With diabetes?
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, they're, their level-
- MBMark Bell
Something crazy like that. You're trying to break a record.
- 39:00 – 1:20:15
Organ meats, wild game, and ‘rabbit starvation’: building a sustainable carnivore approach
- JRJoe Rogan
I use his mayonnaise because I eat a lot of wild game.
- GUGuest
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
And wild game doesn't have much fat at all. Like if I eat-
- CBChris Bell
You talked about that Chipotle mayonnaise.
- JRJoe Rogan
Ooh, that's the shit.
- GUGuest
And I started eating like crazy after you said it. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
I ate a ton of it this morning with a, with a steak.
- CBChris Bell
That's really good.
- JRJoe Rogan
I just, I take it, I'll slice a piece of steak, dunk it in, I'll put a, a fucking glob of mayonnaise on my plate, I'll dunk the steak in the mayo.
- CBChris Bell
This stuff's good.
- JRJoe Rogan
But it's a Chipotle lime mayo, and it's made with avocado oil, so you're getting all these healthy fats, it gives you some nice taste.
- CBChris Bell
It's good.
- JRJoe Rogan
And again, 'cause I'm eating moose and elk and deer, so very, very lean meats. If I'm not eating like a, a cow, if I'm not eating, eating beef, my meat is mostly like really lean meat.
- CBChris Bell
Yeah. You wouldn't be able to do a carnivore diet on those kind of meats, right? I mean, it's too, it's too lean, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, I would think so.
- CBChris Bell
You'd have to add fat some other way.
- JRJoe Rogan
You ever see a rabbit starvation?
- CBChris Bell
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Rabbits are extremely lean. And you can eat only rabbit and literally starve to death.
- CBChris Bell
Wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. People have experienced rabbit starvation.
- CBChris Bell
Sh-
- JRJoe Rogan
Sounds crazy.
- GUGuest
It is crazy.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's crazy.
- GUGuest
Because it's so lean?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Find... Google that. Google rabbit starvation, what that means.
- CBChris Bell
See-
- JRJoe Rogan
'Cause someone told me about that and I literally never looked into it o- other than what they said. But it's so lean that-
- CBChris Bell
Yeah.
Episode duration: 2:51:13
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