Joe Rogan Experience #1262 - Pat McNamara

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   And four, three, two...…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      And four, three, two... Boom. And we're live, Pat. How are you, sir?

   2. PMPat McNamara0:10

      Welcome all. Good, Joe.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:10

      President of the University of Badassery.

   4. PMPat McNamara0:13

      (laughs)

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:14

      (laughs)

   6. PMPat McNamara0:14

      I'm more like the, uh-

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      (laughs)

   8. PMPat McNamara0:16

      ... I'm more like the vice president, man. I mean, yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      Oh. Who's the president?

   10. PMPat McNamara0:19

       Probably, uh, CJ Ortiz. He's the, uh, vi- he's the president of the University of Badassery. My, uh, co-host and, uh, of a little podcast we do.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:28

       Dude, I fucking love your Instagram page. If there's a guy-

   12. PMPat McNamara0:30

       Thank you, sir.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:30

       ... that I'm gonna call when the shit hits the fan-

   14. PMPat McNamara0:32

       Oh, right.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       ... it might be you. (laughs)

   16. PMPat McNamara0:34

       Woo! Rock and roll, baby. I'm there for you, brother.

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:36

       I also like guys who are my age or older that still get after it in the gym, and your fucking page is filled with you getting after it.

   18. PMPat McNamara0:43

       Bro, we could go on. We could full a, uh, full segment on that alone.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:47

       Yeah.

   20. PMPat McNamara0:47

       And, and the secret, the big secret behind it, which, uh, it's, there's not much of a secret, as you know.

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:53

       Yeah.

   22. PMPat McNamara0:54

       I mean-

   23. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       The secret is to get after it.

   24. PMPat McNamara0:54

       ... the hard, hard work, sucks, and not everybody's cut out for it.

   25. JRJoe Rogan0:58

       Yeah. People just don't enjoy it.

   26. PMPat McNamara1:00

       (clears throat) Yep.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:00

       They try to find a lotta, a lotta nice excuses-

   28. PMPat McNamara1:03

       Yep, yep.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:03

       ... why they don't get after it.

   30. PMPat McNamara1:05

       Uh, (clears throat) and-
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. PMPat McNamara15:00

      it's, it's like an anachronism, you know. They're working in a world, uh, like a muscle and fitness world still.

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:08

      Mm-hmm.

   3. PMPat McNamara15:08

      And that's fine working in isolation, uh, if that's your job. There's three people who, three types of people who should work out in concentration, like doing a, a curl or something like, you know, a concentration curl. A professional body builder, right? That's your J-O-B, man, that's your sport. Number two, you're recovering from surgery and atrophy, so it's physical therapy. Number three, you got no fucking idea what you're doing.

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:31

      Or you're a model.

   5. PMPat McNamara15:32

      (clears throat)

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:32

      You're trying to look sexy-

   7. PMPat McNamara15:33

      Right.

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:33

      ... as fuck.

   9. PMPat McNamara15:33

      Right, right. (laughs)

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:34

       You know what I'm saying?

   11. PMPat McNamara15:35

       Right. Oh, yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:36

       (laughs) That's possible too.

   13. PMPat McNamara15:37

       That's right. Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:38

       You know what I mean?

   15. PMPat McNamara15:38

       Yeah. Right. Y- So they-

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:40

       Yeah.

   17. PMPat McNamara15:40

       ... fall in that same category, you know, a model.

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:42

       Trying to look pretty.

   19. PMPat McNamara15:43

       Yep.

   20. JRJoe Rogan15:43

       Yeah.

   21. PMPat McNamara15:43

       Trying to look ... Yep.

   22. JRJoe Rogan15:44

       Yeah, if you ... It's, it's just not, uh, what you really need to exer- w- with exercise is something that's gonna mimic what you would actually do in real life. Picking up things, moving them around.

   23. PMPat McNamara15:53

       Mm-hmm.

   24. JRJoe Rogan15:53

       Like, farmer walks.

   25. PMPat McNamara15:55

       Yep.

   26. JRJoe Rogan15:56

       Farmer walk, very unglamorous.

   27. PMPat McNamara15:57

       Yep.

   28. JRJoe Rogan15:57

       Carry a heavy-ass kettlebell in one hand-

   29. PMPat McNamara16:00

       Mm-hmm.

   30. JRJoe Rogan16:00

       ... and just walk around for like a half a mile.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. PMPat McNamara30:00

      have a, uh, a program. They come in a couple times a week, and they put them through, uh, a series of exercises. You know, a lot of it's just walking a straight line, uh, holding this and w- you know, loading one side. And then, uh, once they're all warmed up, um, they all kit up, man. You should see these guys rapping and everything, you know. They- they're so excited to get there, and they put their wraps on, and, uh, and then they have a s- they work a series of, uh-... bag drills. You know, a one-two lateral move. The next bag is, uh, hooks, you know, left and right hooks. And there's an uppercut bag, and there's a, you know, the double-end bag. And g- granted, they're not moving, you know, they're not moving much, but they're moving.

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:45

      Mm-hmm.

   3. PMPat McNamara30:45

      And they get there, and they love coming there. Uh, and, uh, some of them work up a sweat. You know, it's, it's pretty, it's pretty amazing seeing them get off their asses and get to the gym. And I look ... I remember you put something out, and I pinged you, like, a year ago. Oh, it was o- on a podcast. And you were, uh, you were getting pretty emotional about somebody not wanting to, uh, work out. And I pinged you and I said ... I think I mentioned that. We got fucking Parkinson's people coming to my gym, you know.

   4. JRJoe Rogan31:17

      Yeah.

   5. PMPat McNamara31:17

      Uh-

   6. JRJoe Rogan31:17

      Well, it's just when people make those excuses-

   7. PMPat McNamara31:19

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan31:19

      ... it just drives me crazy.

   9. PMPat McNamara31:21

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan31:21

       Because I've seen examples. I've been very fortunate that I have good health-

   11. PMPat McNamara31:24

       Yep.

   12. JRJoe Rogan31:25

       ... but I've seen many examples. And I've also been very fortunate that I never got out of shape. I just kept working out-

   13. PMPat McNamara31:30

       Mm-hmm.

   14. JRJoe Rogan31:30

       ... my whole life. But I've seen people that are fat as fuck, 350 pounds, just barely can get out, get a- around, and then they decide, "I'm going to take control of my fucking health."

   15. PMPat McNamara31:39

       Mm-hmm.

   16. JRJoe Rogan31:39

       And then they just do it.

   17. PMPat McNamara31:41

       Yep.

   18. JRJoe Rogan31:41

       They just do it. And even if you just got to walk around the block, even if you walk up flights of stairs, even if you just d- do a pushup, even if you do a sit-up-

   19. PMPat McNamara31:49

       Mm-hmm.

   20. JRJoe Rogan31:50

       ... just do something, man. Do some body weight squats.

   21. PMPat McNamara31:52

       Yep.

   22. JRJoe Rogan31:52

       Do something. It can be done.

   23. PMPat McNamara31:54

       Yep. Uh, it, uh, it ... You know, the journey of a thousand miles starts-

   24. JRJoe Rogan31:57

       Yes.

   25. PMPat McNamara31:57

       ... with that single step. And, and I'll have guys, I ... (clears throat) In my community, who are say- who will say, "Yeah, man, I follow your stuff. I'm so out of shape and I don't have the time," this and that. Which is another excuse.

   26. JRJoe Rogan32:09

       There's no such things-

   27. PMPat McNamara32:10

       The time thing.

   28. JRJoe Rogan32:10

       ... "I don't have the time."

   29. PMPat McNamara32:11

       Because-

   30. JRJoe Rogan32:11

       Get up an hour earlier-
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. PMPat McNamara45:00

      and, uh, uh, a bunch of things happened all at once, and this was in 2013. Um, I didn't want to leave because I had little kids. (clears throat) So I didn't want to l-... I was, I was gonna stay there and, and just wither, wither away. Um, I b-... And I almost capitulated, you know, to darkness. Uh, but I got up what... Before I went to sleep one night, my, my kid is sleeping with me and I'm hammered and it's like 8:00 at night, you know. And, uh, and, um, I had an epiphany. I said, "You know what? I can't, I can't do this and I will not." I remember saying this to myself, "I will n-... I will not be defeated. I will not be defeated." And I put my running shoes by the side of my bed (clears throat) and some shorts, set my alarm clock, got up early next morning, and went for a run, à la Forest Gump. (sniffs) Uh, and I pounded the pavement for about 10 or 12 miles. And I'm not a runner, you know. I like to run, I like to sprint. And when I came back from the run, worked out in my driveway for about an hour, and, uh, my local cops came. Uh, uh, all happened at the same time. And, uh, they came and said, "Hey, bro. Get the fuck out. The kids will be all right. You need to do this and that." And, um, (clears throat) then I started, uh, kind of figuring out a r-... Uh, re-evaluating my path in life. Oh, back up a step. I got... also got laid off-

   2. JRJoe Rogan46:35

      Mm-hmm.

   3. PMPat McNamara46:35

      ... from this corporation. And, you know, with a guy in the military, you don't, you don't ever think about job security. And when I retired, I'm working for a corporation that was mostly reti- made up of, uh, retired military guys. So you get laid off and you're like, "What the fuck am I gonna do now? What does that even mean, getting laid off?"

   4. JRJoe Rogan46:51

      Right.

   5. PMPat McNamara46:51

      "I don't... What am I gonna do?" Um, so all that shit happened at the same time. It was like a... It was like a... this massive spiral of bad events. And, uh, man, I was able to, um... I was able to rekindle my own, my own, my own fire. 'Cause I recognized, "All right, bro, you still got an ember, you still got this. All you need to do is just nurture that ember, turn it into a flame. Turn that into a flame, and then just start adding wood, adding wood, adding wood until it becomes just a perpetual, uh, blaze." And, uh... Which led me to this thing that I tell people now, you know, is that, uh, you gotta keep the blaze alive. Um, I've got that on T-shirts, even. Because I, I like, I like to kick people in the ass who are willing to sustain their own fire once they get that ass kicking. If they can't, if they can't keep their fire going, then it's not worth... it's not worth it for me, you know, to, to keep kicking them in the ass. (clears throat) Um, but, uh, uh, yeah. So ever since, uh, that point in time, you know, getting laid off, the depression, the boozing, uh, I was able to rediscover me and rebrand and, and, um, pretty much start from scratch. I mean, I had to start life all over again when I was 48 years old.

   6. JRJoe Rogan48:27

      Wow.

   7. PMPat McNamara48:28

      Yep, the whole thing, from scratch. And I discovered, like, social media and all this stuff 'cause I met a gal and, um, w- I'm married to her now and she's probably the best pers-... one of the best human beings I've ever met, you know.... all-around human being. Um, so she was able to help me with that and said, "Hey, you need to do this. You need to get, uh, th- this social media platform or that one." And so it's, it's, it's detonated pretty well, considering I've been on it a short amount of time. Um, but apparently, uh, the message is resonating.

   8. JRJoe Rogan49:01

      Yeah.

   9. PMPat McNamara49:02

      So-

   10. JRJoe Rogan49:03

       (coughing) Well-

   11. PMPat McNamara49:03

       ... I'm happy that it's-

   12. JRJoe Rogan49:04

       ... and it's genuine. It's a genuine message.

   13. PMPat McNamara49:05

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan49:05

       That's why I picked up on it, you know?

   15. PMPat McNamara49:06

       Oh, right on. Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan49:07

       You know? But I, I love that you figured your shit out. I love that. That's my favorite thing, when, when... I mean, look, everybody's prone to mistakes and prone to depression, and people are prone to hitting rock bottom.

   17. PMPat McNamara49:19

       Yep.

   18. JRJoe Rogan49:20

       Your life can go down a series of bad roads, and-

   19. PMPat McNamara49:23

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan49:23

       ... you, you find yourself in a bad relationship or a bad job, a bad situation in life. And it's very, very difficult at that moment to have faith and confidence that you can readjust-

   21. PMPat McNamara49:33

       Mm-hmm.

   22. JRJoe Rogan49:34

       ... reconsider, and, and reengage. And that's what you did, and that's awesome. I love that. I love those kind of stories.

   23. PMPat McNamara49:41

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan49:41

       I love when people get their shit together.

   25. PMPat McNamara49:43

       And, and, and I think it, that, (clears throat) that helps me help other people-

   26. JRJoe Rogan49:49

       Yeah, for sure.

   27. PMPat McNamara49:50

       ... who are in the same... You know? 'Cause I could, I could relate.

   28. JRJoe Rogan49:52

       Yeah.

   29. PMPat McNamara49:52

       And I don't, you know, I don't sit down with them and, and pat them on the shoulder and say, "Hey, bro, uh, you know, I was there, too," or anything like that. I don't even share with them, but I empathize. And that, sometimes that's all it takes.

   30. JRJoe Rogan50:04

       Mm-hmm.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:13:53

   This is all tactical…

   1. PMPat McNamara1:00:00

      up, and then another one, all in the same year. I was like, "Are you freaking kidding?"

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:03

      This is all tactical training?

   3. PMPat McNamara1:00:04

      Yeah. And it was all... Uh, uh, uh, so that year was complete. Um, and then I had a bunch of different, uh, you know, lessons learned, like government contracts, shit like sequestration. Remember that? 2013 when the... (laughs) Anyway, sequestration. So government contracting and stuff like that, it all went away.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:25

      Mm-hmm.

   5. PMPat McNamara1:00:25

      So there was a time in '13 where I didn't work for six months, you know? It was just... It's- it's scary when you're working on your... when you're doing everything for and by yourself.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:35

      (clears throat)

   7. PMPat McNamara1:00:35

      Uh, all your own admin and everything like that. It could be... It's very exciting, but scary as shit.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:42

      Yeah.

   9. PMPat McNamara1:00:43

      And it's like, "Damn, man." You know? I keep ja...

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:46

       (coughs)

   11. PMPat McNamara1:00:46

       I don't care how much stuff in- I have in the pipeline, I keep jamming more shit in there, man. (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:50

       Yeah. Yeah.

   13. PMPat McNamara1:00:51

       Um...... all right, (clears throat) but once, uh, so I had those government contracts, then (smacks lips) I just, I just built momentum, and then started learning. "All right, let's get rid of this. Let's do more of this. Let's not do focus on that. Let's focus on this." Uh, and, um, it grew, it grew into a, um, (clicks tongue) into a very r- m- it's like s- self-fulfilling machine.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:20

       Mm-hmm.

   15. PMPat McNamara1:01:20

       You know, it's a, uh, it's, it's, it's, it's running, running very well right now. But it was not easy getting there. I mean, there was a lot of bumps and obstacles in the road. But (clears throat) I tell guys that all the time, man, any, any, any road worth traveling, it, y- you're probably ... you're gonna have obstacles in it. There's gonna be temptation, like shortcuts, you know. Nope, stay on that road, bro. Stay on that road. Go through those potholes. Go over those freaking bumps. Um, this road, it's gonna suck, but after a while, it'll smooth out. And sure enough, you know, my road's smoothed out, and the bumps are few and far between right now. Um, so yeah, man, I'm, I'm, I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life, probably, right now. You know, 54 years old, and, uh, I've, I've ... It's like I've grown up. (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:02:13

       That ... But that's smart.

   17. PMPat McNamara1:02:13

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:02:14

       I mean, that's ... If you're a person who's thinking and trying to do better with your life, you should be a- at your best right now.

   19. PMPat McNamara1:02:21

       Yep.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:02:21

       Should be at your best with how you perceive things, how you decide to approach things, how you look at things.

   21. PMPat McNamara1:02:26

       Mm-hmm.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:02:26

       So when you're doing these, uh, these tactical courses, and you're tr- you're traveling so much, um, w- that, that's very hard on your body.

   23. PMPat McNamara1:02:34

       Oh. Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:02:35

       That's probably one of the hardest things on your body, right?

   25. PMPat McNamara1:02:37

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:02:37

       All that travel.

   27. PMPat McNamara1:02:38

       Yeah. It'll, it'll s- especially ... So, you know, I, I, I travel with two big cases, 'cause I have a gun case and a gear case, and, uh, uh, you become a travel pro, but it still sucks.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:02:51

       Right.

   29. PMPat McNamara1:02:51

       You know, you get up early, drive an hour to the airport, wait an hour to get to your plane, take that plane to this place, and then, you know, another plane to this place-

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:03:00

       Mm-hmm.

Episode duration: 1:42:11