Joe Rogan Experience #1185 - Kelly Slater

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   Four, three, two, one.…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:02

      Four, three, two, one. (claps) Kelly Slater, we've been talking about doing this for how long? (laughs)

   2. KSKelly Slater0:08

      A couple years. (laughs)

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:09

      It's been a while, man.

   4. KSKelly Slater0:10

      Thanks for having me.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:10

      Thanks for being here.

   6. KSKelly Slater0:11

      Thanks a lot, yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:11

      I'm glad we finally got a chance to do it. What are you in California for? I know you broke your foot, right?

   8. KSKelly Slater0:16

      I broke my foot real bad. I, um-

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      How'd you do that?

   10. KSKelly Slater0:18

       My... Well, my girlfriend's from San Clemente, and, uh, her family lives there. And, uh, so we kinda live here, and we're not moving around too much, so I'm just kinda here right now. I'm not competing. I broke my foot, I was surfing in South Africa about, um, 15 months ago. And I was just on a wave that I wouldn't consider a very big wave, nobody would really consider dangerous. And it all kinda closed out, which is, you know, when it all breaks at once, I just pulled in the thing 'cause I was gonna sorta wash in on the rocks right where that was and change boards. And, uh, I was practicing. I, I had to compete in about two hours from then, so I was just testing out different boards. For some reason, I wasn't riding the board I was planning on riding competition, so I was gonna come in and change and switch to my norm board. And I just pulled in this wave and just... I kinda hesitated. Like, usually, you either ride those out and stay on your board, or you jump off, and I was kinda be- between the two. And I kinda lifted my front foot off and my back foot, my leg was straight 'cause I was kinda going to... I think I was gonna jump off. And as my foot got... my leg got locked back straight, the board flipped in-

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:21

       Oh.

   12. KSKelly Slater1:21

       ... against the toes-

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:23

       (laughs)

   14. KSKelly Slater1:23

       ... and it just broke the top of my foot in half.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:25

       Oh.

   16. KSKelly Slater1:25

       Like, immediate, like, there was-

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:27

       Oh, my God.

   18. KSKelly Slater1:28

       Yeah, it-

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:28

       We're looking at a photograph of the X-ray right now, and it's like every bone is snapped.

   20. KSKelly Slater1:33

       Well, what you can't see... So the-

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:35

       Ooh.

   22. KSKelly Slater1:35

       Do you know... Are you, are you aware of the Lisfranc joint?

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:38

       No.

   24. KSKelly Slater1:38

       Which is like... That's where the first big metatarsal comes together, so that first big joint on top of the foot there.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:43

       Why is it called the Lisfranc joint?

   26. KSKelly Slater1:45

       Lisfranc was a doctor, I think, is what I... um, I could... We could look this up. (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:50

       (laughs)

   28. KSKelly Slater1:51

       I think that was the person that did the original surgery-

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:53

       Oh.

   30. KSKelly Slater1:53

       ... which when you used to break your foot in a stirrup back 100 years ago, they used to cut your foot off.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Oh, yeah. Well, y-…

   1. KSKelly Slater15:00

      this kind of stuff. And the strength and the, the amount of time you gotta take to learn these things, it's like, it's... I mean, that's a m- sort of a martial art in itself.

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:09

      Oh, yeah. Well, y- y- um, there's a guy who's, uh, uh, a famous jujitsu guy who once said that yoga is a martial art that you do against yourself.

   3. KSKelly Slater15:18

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:19

      That's how-

   5. KSKelly Slater15:20

      Great quote.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:20

      ... I quote it. There's a... My friend Ray is a, uh, he was a lead singer of a band, Ray Capo. He was a, a lead singer of, uh, some punk band and then became a yogi.

   7. KSKelly Slater15:31

      Hmm.

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:32

      Yeah. And, uh, we used to call him Yoga Ray. And, uh, he would, uh, come to Tenth Planet and he would just... He could move in ways, like, "What the fuck are you doing, man?"

   9. KSKelly Slater15:41

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:41

       Like, his, his body was so... He had so much dexterity and flexibility, it was impossible to, like, hold him in positions.

   11. KSKelly Slater15:49

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:50

       Like, he just could move so well.

   13. KSKelly Slater15:51

       So, like, "Wait, you're two belts below me, but I can't pin you?"

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:54

       Well, he was-

   15. KSKelly Slater15:55

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:55

       ... actually a very high b- ranking guy too.

   17. KSKelly Slater15:57

       Oh, was he?

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:57

       He was really good at jujitsu.

   19. KSKelly Slater15:58

       Well, that's scary too, right?

   20. JRJoe Rogan15:58

       And on top of that, he had this crazy yo... And he also had amazing, uh, breath work.

   21. KSKelly Slater16:05

       Mm-hmm.

   22. JRJoe Rogan16:05

       Like, he, he would, he never got tired. Like, his cardio was incredible. But it was all because of his, his breathing techniques.

   23. KSKelly Slater16:11

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan16:12

       You know?

   25. KSKelly Slater16:12

       Hixon, Hickson would work on a lot of breathing stuff.

   26. JRJoe Rogan16:14

       Mm-hmm.

   27. KSKelly Slater16:14

       You know?

   28. JRJoe Rogan16:15

       Yeah, yeah.

   29. KSKelly Slater16:15

       He was o... Like, I've, I've, uh, I've known Hickson quite a long time and he always talks about that, you know? When you breathe through your nose and how you calm your heart into-

   30. JRJoe Rogan16:23

       Yeah.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      Khabib...

   2. KSKelly Slater30:00

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      ... because of his cardio and because of his versatility 'cause he could fight really well off his back. I mean, he submitted Kevin Lee off his back to win the title.

   4. KSKelly Slater30:08

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:08

      He's got a fantastic darce choke and his ability to hold guys in his guard and recover if he gets clipped. I mean, he's, he's the most dangerous guy at lightweight for Khabib, I think-

   6. KSKelly Slater30:21

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:21

      ... in my opinion.

   8. KSKelly Slater30:21

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:22

      He just never gets fucking tired. It doesn't even make sense.

   10. KSKelly Slater30:24

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:25

       And, and Eddy, you know, Eddy trains him. He's one of Eddy's, um, students.

   12. KSKelly Slater30:28

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:28

       Eddy says he's never seen anything like it. He said this guy workouts six hours a day, full clip. Everybody else is exhausted. He keeps going. They're doing sprints up the hill. Tony laps everybody, keeps going.

   14. KSKelly Slater30:39

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:39

       His cardio's off the charts.

   16. KSKelly Slater30:42

       Yeah, it's freaky.

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:42

       I wonder if that's a Mexican thing too. I think there's a lot of Mexicans that have amazing cardio. I really do.

   18. KSKelly Slater30:47

       The Mayans, right?

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:48

       I don't know what it is, man. I mean, if it's a running thing, for sure, but, I mean, if you go back to, like, Julio Cesar Chavez-

   20. KSKelly Slater30:55

       Maybe he eats, eats tons of maca. (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:56

       (laughs) Maybe. I think... I mean, uh, Gilbert Melendez said that once too, that it's a Mexican thing, this cardio, 'cause Gilbert's always been known for his crazy cardio.

   22. KSKelly Slater31:04

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:05

       I really wonder if there's, like, certain ethnicities that have, uh, an advantage or at least a, a better starting point and then it's all hard work from there.

   24. KSKelly Slater31:13

       Yeah, there must... Maybe there's some genetic thing you can prove from the way the blood holds oxygen or something.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:18

       Diego Sanchez, he's another one.

   26. KSKelly Slater31:19

       Diego, yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:19

       Insane cardio. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I mean, it's, uh...It's a, it's a fun thing to think about. I mean, you- you go, like, you go back to boxing in particular. I mean, how many great boxers had fantastic cardio from Mexico? You know?

   28. KSKelly Slater31:36

       Mm-hmm.

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:36

       Chavez in particular, Julio Cesar Chavez would just wear guys down.

   30. KSKelly Slater31:40

       Mm-hmm.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   (laughs) …

   1. KSKelly Slater45:00

      to bowling to pool.

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:02

      (laughs)

   3. KSKelly Slater45:02

      On my birthday, every year on my birthday, we made it a pact to where we'd go play every kind of game we could possibly and we'd keep a tally of who won what. It was mini ...

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:09

      (laughs)

   5. KSKelly Slater45:09

      It was putt-putt golf.

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:11

      (laughs)

   7. KSKelly Slater45:11

      It was go-karts. It was basketball. It was shuffleboard. It was like literally everything. Air ho- you know, everything we could think of. And, uh, we'd just keep a tally, and we, we used to bet into millions of dollars.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:24

      Really?

   9. KSKelly Slater45:25

      Yeah. Well, yeah, of course. We, so, you know, at some point, somebody owed somebody hundreds of millions of dollars.

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:30

       (laughs) But you never paid.

   11. KSKelly Slater45:32

       No, of course. I mean-

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:33

       Oh, okay.

   13. KSKelly Slater45:33

       ... when it came down to, like, actual money, then it was like five bucks, you know?

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:37

       (laughs)

   15. KSKelly Slater45:38

       (laughs) And, and at, uh, one point, he, he was, uh, he got really into horseshoes, and he called me out one day. And he's like, "Can you meet me at the beach? We're gonna play some horseshoes."

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:47

       (laughs)

   17. KSKelly Slater45:47

       I'm like, "All right. Bye-bye." I'm like, "But I'm not playing you unless we're betting some money, like some real money." And he's like, "All right. Bring some money." And at the end of the day, he ended up owing me about 160 bucks.

   18. JRJoe Rogan45:56

       (laughs)

   19. KSKelly Slater45:57

       And he's like, "You fucking tell my wife I owe you, I'll fucking kill you now and never pay you."

   20. JRJoe Rogan46:02

       (laughs)

   21. KSKelly Slater46:02

       He's like, "I don't have the money. I can't pay you that." He's like, "So I'll pay you like 20 bucks here and there as we go." But Drew used to ... He beat me at everything. He was better than me at basically everything. And so it was like that and Ping-Pong too. On my 18th birthday, the ... I like to call it the night of upsets because it was the night that Mike Tyson lost to Buster Douglas. And it was, it was, uh, the night of February 10th. My birthday's on the 11th, on the 11th, but they were in Tokyo, so they were on the 11th fighting. Tyson lost. Drew shows up at my house with a ping-pong table, and he says that ... And it was like my birthday gift. All my friends bought me this ping-pong table, my mom, my three buddies. And Drew beat me 17 straight games in a row, and I started crying. (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan46:47

       (laughs)

   23. KSKelly Slater46:48

       And, uh, I think he ended up letting me finally win the last game so we could go to bed.

   24. JRJoe Rogan46:52

       (laughs)

   25. KSKelly Slater46:52

       And it was like 2:00 in the morning. And man, I've never been, I've really honestly never been so frustrated and just outright beaten by somebody at anything. And he just owned ... I just knew he owned me. And he would just tell me where he was gonna hit the ball on the table and beat me.

   26. JRJoe Rogan47:05

       Ping-pong is a serious skill.

   27. KSKelly Slater47:07

       It's a skill, yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan47:07

       Like, the people that are really good at it ...

   29. KSKelly Slater47:09

       Oh, follow ... You should go on Pongfinity on Instagram and watch these things these guys do. It's out of hand.

   30. JRJoe Rogan47:15

       I'm scared.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:02:28

   Whoa. …

   1. KSKelly Slater1:00:00

      your speed? How much risk did you take? So even though the wave only lasted about five seconds, there's a whole lot that can be condensed into that five seconds. And did you wait for one of the biggest waves or did you take a smaller wave and take in ... Go, you know-

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:13

      Whoa.

   3. KSKelly Slater1:00:14

      ... a little bit easier. So-

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:15

      What is it like when one of those giant tubes-

   5. KSKelly Slater1:00:17

      (laughs)

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:17

      ... crashes down on top of you?

   7. KSKelly Slater1:00:20

      Um, yeah, so this is Gabe Medina. Um, he w- he ended up winning the contest. Um, it's not super fun when you eat it. (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:27

      Yeah. I could imagine. It's horrific.

   9. KSKelly Slater1:00:28

      I mean, you've probably talked to Shane. That's me actually.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:31

       Yeah, I've talked to Shane about it.

   11. KSKelly Slater1:00:32

       Yeah, and I mean, look Shane, no one's more of an authority than Shane is. Maybe not in the super hollow crazy stuff. I mean s- whatever. Shane rides everything but the biggest waves in the world, Shane's the authority. Like he's had wipe outs that he, he came close to dying. He probably talked to you about the vest he created because of that.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:50

       Mm-hmm.

   13. KSKelly Slater1:00:51

       He almost drowned. He created a vest that you pull the CO2 cartridge and it blasts, you know, this big bladder and lifts you to the surface. Even if you get knocked out or take in water, somebody's gonna find you and probably save you. Um-But yeah, this is, that's me there. (exhales) Sorry I didn't make that, but... That wasn't even a, a big one, you know, that, that, for that day-

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:09

       (laughs)

   15. KSKelly Slater1:01:09

       ... that was a small wave.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:01:10

       It's fucking huge though, when that's coming down on you.

   17. KSKelly Slater1:01:12

       Yeah. But see where I'm at?

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:01:13

       Yeah.

   19. KSKelly Slater1:01:13

       I'm kind of in blue water.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:14

       Right.

   21. KSKelly Slater1:01:14

       So I was able to dive and kind of get under it and not get sucked back over.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:18

       Oh, I see.

   23. KSKelly Slater1:01:18

       So there's a little bit of a skill that goes with wiping out. So you understand that energy, it's... You know, it's like a, it's like a tornado or like a hurricane.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:25

       Mm-hmm.

   25. KSKelly Slater1:01:25

       Like, the eye wall is the worst, but if you're in the center you're fine.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:01:28

       Mm-hmm.

   27. KSKelly Slater1:01:29

       You know, I always, I've always wondered, like, could you follow a hurricane inside the center of the eye? Like, could you just stay with it and be okay?

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:01:35

       I bet you could if you moved at a really slow speed, right? They don't move that fast.

   29. KSKelly Slater1:01:38

       They only move about 10 to 20 miles an hour.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:01:40

       Right. Can you-

Episode duration: 2:03:30