Joe Rogan Experience #1618 - Mat Fraser

(drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

The Joe Rogan Experience.

Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music plays) Welcome. Thanks for coming, man. I appreciate it.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

I've watched you compete. I watched that, uh, that documentary, too. What is the- the documentary called? I forget the name of the-

Uh, The Fittest?

Yes. Yeah.

Yeah.

Dude, that is crazy. It's-

(clears throat)

The- the physical strain that you guys are ... What happened to the vo ...

Sorry.

Oh.

I had something set so it's louder, but ...

Oh, okay. We're back.

(laughs)

Uh, the- the physical strain that you guys put your body through is fucking insane. And until you watch, like, you guys compete and do all the shit, like, rucking, like, running with the he- the weight vest on and ...

Everything. Yeah.

It's insane.

Yeah. Yeah, the games ... So, like, the games are, like, the big competition. It's like ... It's- it's a wild show, 'cause it's ... Sometimes it's five days, sometimes it's three days. And we'll have, like, usually between 12 and 15 events over those days.

Do they let you know in advance what you're gonna have to do?

Some. Like, we might find out an event sometimes a week or two ahead, uh, but then, like, we'll have others where we're literally finding out the event as we go, like, as we're competing. So we don't even know what we're doing on the competition floor. They'll be- they'll be like, "All right, start lifting that weight. We'll tell you when to stop, when you hit your number of reps."

(sighs)

You know, stuff like that. It's, uh ... It's interesting to train for, 'cause you don't know if you're training for a one rep max or 100. Uh, you don't know if you're training for a 40-meter dash or a marathon. You know? It's ... Yeah, it keeps it interesting. Like, we've had- we've had events that are, like, 20 seconds long, and then a couple years ago, we had to row a marathon on, like, the stationary Concept2 rowers, so, like, 42,000 meters.

So, was that 26.2 miles rowing?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, 4- yeah, 42,000-something meters.

How long does that take?

I think the average time was about three hours. I think a couple people were, like, three and a half hours.

Yeah, because you can't row as fast as you can run, right? Can you?

(clicks tongue) I mean, I would prefer to row a marathon than run one.

Really?

Just 'cause it's easier on the joints.

Oh, okay.

Like, your ass goes numb just from sitting on the seat.

(laughs)

Um, but yeah. I mean, it was just easier on the joints. They did it 'cause they were like ... We tested it, and, like, after you run a marathon, like, you can't walk for a couple days. Like, your body's just trashed. With rowing a marathon, like, you're sore, but you're good to go the next day.