Joe Rogan shares key advice for mastering boxing at an early stage: "Technique is everything"
Joe Rogan's mastery of combat sports is undeniable, despite never having fought professionally in the UFC. In addition to being a former taekwondo champion, Rogan is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Jean Jacques Machado.
Canadian professor Gad Saad was a recent guest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. During their conversation, Saad brought up the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight, eliciting Rogan to talk about combat sports.
Rogan educated Saad about the best way to master boxing, focusing on technique more than hard sparring:
"The best way to learn boxing, first of all, before you do any kind of sparring, is to learn technique. Technique is everything. It's everything. Mechanics are everything. Learning, getting it ingrained in your body’s system where you know that if you'r gonna throw a punch, you're gonna lean your body into it.
"You're going to keep your hand up. When you throw a right hand, you're going to do this [specific movement]. When you throw a left hook, you're going to cover up with your right hand. You could learn these things so they become ingrained in your movement patterns."
After learning the technique, Rogan opined that pad work is next, followed by incorporating moving targets. The UFC commentator doesn't believe sparring partners going hard at each other would yield any benefit.
Check out Joe Rogan's comments below (1:17:39):
Joe Rogan explains the importance of trust between training partners in jiu-jitsu
Joe Rogan's jiu-jitsu knowledge is arguably the best among his commentator booth counterparts. On numerous occasions, Rogan has educated listeners about grappling transitions from the commentary booth.
On the recent episode of his podcast with Gad Saad as the guest, Rogan explained the trust needed between training partners about learning jiu-jitsu:
"Especially in jiu-jitsu, you learn to really value your training partners because your training partners help you get better, and you have to trust them. Like, if somebody gets me in a heel hook, I have to trust that they're not just going to rip my knee apart; they're going to let me tap. They got me. Give me a second. Let me tap when I know I can't get out. Let me tap, don’t rip it apart. And then, let go as soon as the person taps."
Rogan explained that respect and trust are important for learning the Brazilian grappling art. He stated practitioners who don't follow this norm have been kicked out of schools by the masters.
Check out Joe Rogan's comments at 1:16:17 of the podcast episode.