Joe Rogan Experience #1185 - Kelly Slater
Joe Rogan (host), Kelly Slater (guest), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Kelly Slater, Joe Rogan Experience #1185 - Kelly Slater explores kelly Slater on Injury, Big Waves, Sharks, and Extreme Competition Culture Kelly Slater joins Joe Rogan to break down his brutal foot injury, long recovery, and how he approaches longevity and competition in professional surfing at age 46.
Kelly Slater on Injury, Big Waves, Sharks, and Extreme Competition Culture
Kelly Slater joins Joe Rogan to break down his brutal foot injury, long recovery, and how he approaches longevity and competition in professional surfing at age 46.
They range widely into MMA and combat sports, comparing toughness, cardio, and strategy in fighting with surfing’s physical and psychological demands.
The conversation dives deep into big-wave risk management, drownings, CPR and safety vests, and the realities of sharks and crocodiles versus public fear.
They finish on topics like captivity of marine mammals, fasting and body detox, training obsessions, and how Rogan’s podcast evolved into a hub for such wide‑ranging conversations.
Key Takeaways
Even “routine” waves can cause catastrophic injuries when focus or positioning slips.
Slater broke multiple metatarsals on a wave he didn’t consider dangerous, illustrating how hesitation and small technical errors (being between bailing and staying on) can create worst‑case leverage on the body.
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Longevity in high-impact sports often comes from *doing less* outside the core skill.
Slater emphasizes he doesn’t overtrain; he preserves strength and energy for actual surfing, relying on wave selection, timing, and experience more than maximal strength and cardio blocks.
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Psychological pressure and “poker-facing” fatigue can decide close contests.
He describes an event where he was exhausted but out‑paddled a rival by faking he had more energy, winning priority for the final wave and ultimately the heat—showing how mind games and body language matter in elite competition.
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Big-wave surfers invest heavily in safety systems, training, and rescue skills.
Stories of drownings, near-drownings, CO₂ vest failures, eardrum ruptures, and CPR resuscitations highlight how modern big-wave surfing depends on specialized vests, jet skis, free‑diving training, and group CPR proficiency.
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Apex predators learn quickly to associate humans with food, changing risk profiles.
Shark cage-feeding operations and bears keying in on gunshots both teach animals that human presence or sound means an easy meal, potentially increasing attack risk far from the controlled environment.
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Captivity for highly intelligent marine mammals is increasingly hard to justify.
They criticize SeaWorld-style facilities, arguing that orcas and dolphins with complex social structures and huge natural ranges cannot thrive in tanks, and note emerging ideas like open-ocean pens and phased releases.
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Extreme training and periodic fasting are used as performance and “reset” tools.
Rogan describes multi-hour daily workouts during Sober October and Slater details 10‑day “master cleanse” fasts that expelled “mucoid plaque,” reflecting how elite performers experiment aggressively with diet and recovery—though with varying levels of scientific backing.
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Notable Quotes
“The oldest people in the world weren’t athletes… my theory on longevity is: don’t overdo it.”
— Kelly Slater
“Sometimes you don’t have it physically, but you have to poker-face the guy and make him think you do.”
— Kelly Slater
“Sharks don’t hunt you. They might bite you if they see you. A saltwater croc is watching you.”
— Kelly Slater
“I don’t understand how a rational adult could take their kids to SeaWorld after all the information that’s out there.”
— Joe Rogan
“You probably are exposed to more information and people from more walks of life than maybe anybody in the world.”
— Kelly Slater (to Joe Rogan)
Questions Answered in This Episode
How much of Kelly Slater’s longevity is genetics versus his specific training and lifestyle choices?
Kelly Slater joins Joe Rogan to break down his brutal foot injury, long recovery, and how he approaches longevity and competition in professional surfing at age 46.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Should shark-cage tourism and baited shark dives be more tightly regulated given the risk of conditioning sharks to associate humans with food?
They range widely into MMA and combat sports, comparing toughness, cardio, and strategy in fighting with surfing’s physical and psychological demands.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What would a realistic, humane transition from marine parks to open-ocean pens for dolphins and orcas actually look like?
The conversation dives deep into big-wave risk management, drownings, CPR and safety vests, and the realities of sharks and crocodiles versus public fear.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How far should elite athletes go with extreme fasting, cleanses, or unconventional therapies when evidence is anecdotal or mixed?
They finish on topics like captivity of marine mammals, fasting and body detox, training obsessions, and how Rogan’s podcast evolved into a hub for such wide‑ranging conversations.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Could surfing competitions ever adopt more objective or technology-assisted judging without losing the sport’s artistic element?
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Transcript Preview
Four, three, two, one. (claps) Kelly Slater, we've been talking about doing this for how long? (laughs)
A couple years. (laughs)
It's been a while, man.
Thanks for having me.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks a lot, yeah.
I'm glad we finally got a chance to do it. What are you in California for? I know you broke your foot, right?
I broke my foot real bad. I, um-
How'd you do that?
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-
Oh.
... against the toes-
(laughs)
... and it just broke the top of my foot in half.
Oh.
Like, immediate, like, there was-
Oh, my God.
Yeah, it-
We're looking at a photograph of the X-ray right now, and it's like every bone is snapped.
Well, what you can't see... So the-
Ooh.
Do you know... Are you, are you aware of the Lisfranc joint?
No.
Which is like... That's where the first big metatarsal comes together, so that first big joint on top of the foot there.
Why is it called the Lisfranc joint?
Lisfranc was a doctor, I think, is what I... um, I could... We could look this up. (laughs)
(laughs)
I think that was the person that did the original surgery-
Oh.
... which when you used to break your foot in a stirrup back 100 years ago, they used to cut your foot off.
Oh, God damn it.
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