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Joe Rogan · 2024-06-27

Joe Rogan Experience #1906 - David Goggins

David Goggins on his bone-on-bone knees, his abusive childhood, SEAL Team lies about him, and the dark-matter mindset behind Never Finished.

Joe Rogan Experience #1906 - David Goggins
The guest

David Goggins: Retired Navy SEAL, ultra-endurance athlete, former pull-up record holder, and bestselling author of Can't Hurt Me and Never Finished.

What this episode covers

Goggins joins Rogan to discuss his ruined knees, which were so misaligned from birth that his meniscus hardened until surgeons broke tools cutting it, eventually requiring a tibia-breaking HTO realignment surgery. He explains his philosophy of 'performing without purpose,' studying the 'dark matter' of his own mind, and 'front loading' his life so he has no regrets. He opens up about his traumatic childhood watching his mother be beaten, her later marriage to a convicted murderer, and confronting his demons by visiting his father. The conversation also covers lies spread about his military record by a SEAL Team Six member, the burden of being a public figure after a young follower died by suicide, and a long stretch on MMA greatness, weight cutting, and the Gracie family.

Recommended on this episode

ProductRecommended

Morozko Forge cold plunge

Morozko Forge

“every day I climb in”
“I lift the lid on that morosgo cold plunge and I see the ice floating up in there and every day I climb in”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended

Choke

“a great documentary”
“there's a great documentary people are interested in Hickson Gracie called choke that followed him when he was in his prime in the 1990s”— Joe Rogan

The guest's own work

BookBy the guestISBN verified

Never Finished

David Goggins

“I'm always trying to evolve in some way I'm never wearing the same underwear every day always changing that, never finished it's out right now”— David Goggins
BookBy the guestISBN verified

Can't Hurt Me

David Goggins

“in can't hurt me I have my write up of my metal from Iraq and I wasn't going to put that in there but Jennifer started getting DMs”— David Goggins

Also referenced (named, not recommended)

ProductReferenced

Rogue Echo Bike

Rogue

“I do those Tabata sprints on the airdine machine oh the Echo Bike yeah the Echo Bike from Rogue 20 second Sprints 10 second rest”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced

Star Wars

Lucasfilm

“have you seen Star Wars those those those big things that they have wobbly legs when they hit like logs robot things”— David Goggins

Big reveals from this episode

  • Goggins' knees are completely bone-on-bone with zero space between the tibia and femur, the kneecap rubbing two bones together.
  • His meniscus was so hardened from years of pounding that the surgeon broke tools and a scalpel trying to cut it, saying it was the hardest he'd ever seen.
  • He underwent a high tibial osteotomy (HTO) where surgeons broke and wedged his tibia to realign his entire leg, with a plate he still feels every step.
  • His mother, after escaping his abusive father, married a prisoner she met teaching in prison, a man who had choked a woman to death over drugs.
  • A SEAL Team Six member ran YouTube channels and DMs falsely claiming Goggins was dishonorably discharged, never deployed, and froze in a firefight.
  • A young bullied boy who was a devoted follower died by suicide; Goggins reached the family's email weeks too late, which fuels his mission.
  • Goggins decided not to sue the man who defamed him, choosing not to take money out of the man's kids' mouths despite having the legal case.

Worth remembering

  • Goggins ran the 240-mile Moab race and placed second in 62 hours while getting his baseball-sized knee swelling drained days before the start.
  • The world's first artificial meniscus, a clear gel-like implant, is available in Israel for qualifying candidates.
  • NBA star Dwyane Wade played years with no meniscus in his knees after it was removed during college at Marquette.
  • Rogan reads a story of a man whose PSA dropped from over 7 to under 1 and testosterone shot to 1140 using ketosis and ice baths.
  • A 1991 Japanese study found the benefit came from exercising after an ice bath, the opposite of conventional advice.
  • One theory for fighters losing their chin is the brain protectively 'shuts off' to stop absorbing damage from a too-tough opponent.
  • Welterweight Kamaru Usman weighs around 200 lbs walking around but cuts to 170 for only about 20 minutes at weigh-ins.
  • Cam Hanes flew to Vegas and ran roughly 20 miles at six-minute-mile pace with Goggins as a surprise 'spot check.'
  • Before facing Conor McGregor, an undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov told a booing crowd 'I'm going to smash your boy.'