Joe cool: Joe Rogan's testosterone-fueled career keeps him busy 24/7. With Fear Factor, a stand-up comedy act and now The Man Show, Rogan demonstrates that it takes flexibility to do it all and retain your sanity. Try his stretching program to de-stress your own life

Men's Fitness, Oct, 2003 by Steve Stiefel

"I'm a little less evolved than most people," Joe Rogan says. Of course, as host of Fear Factor, NBC's reality-TV breakout hit, you can't expect him to give the rest of us much credit either. "We are all at heart talking monkeys. We are apes in an adolescent stage of evolution." On Fear Factor, he's had the opportunity to observe a cross-section of extreme humanity up close and personal. "Make no mistake, some of the contestants are brutal morons, but I still feel like I make a bunch of new friends every week."

While Rogan considers himself first and foremost a stand-up comedian, his television career is on quite a roll. "The ratings for Fear Factor are better than ever. When I first started doing the show, I thought it would be canceled immediately. This is a show where we put people in padded suits and sic dogs on them; we have people eat buffalo testicles and horse rectums. In my stand-up act, one of my jokes is we only have four stunts left, and then we're just going to beat the contestants with sticks until they quit." Of course, 18- to 49-year-olds will watch that, too, so don't expect Rogan's schedule to free up anytime soon.

Part of the key to Rogan's success is that he has more testosterone than your average tractor pull. That may be why he was recently chosen to host the new incarnation of The Man Show. "Fear Factor has made me famous, and that has allowed me to do The Man Show [with friend and co-host Doug Stanhope]," he says. "The Man Show is far funnier than Fear Factor, and it will allow people to see me as a comedian." The retooled Man Show launched in August on Comedy Central; add frequent stand-up gigs to the mix, and you wonder how the man can live in Stress Central. "I do stand-up because I love it. It's the purest art form. It's just you, a microphone and your thoughts. Everything else I do for money--and I've developed expensive tastes. I'm like a raccoon. I like shiny shit."

Couple all this work and testosterone and you might expect that Rogan's headed for a type-A meltdown, but he manages to keep it all in check. "I'm pretty high-strung," he says. "I get upset easily if I don't work out. I have a short fuse, and I'm a naturally aggressive person. I don't want to be mean to people. I don't want to be that annoying dude who yells all the time and gets stressed out by traffic. I don't like stress, so I get all that out of my system."

The key to Rogan's stress management is exercise. He's a black belt in tae kwon do, but was sidelined by recent surgery to repair his anterior cruciate ligament. Shortly after surgery, he resumed weight-training and stretching, and he likes the results. "There are a lot of different reasons to stretch and exercise," he says. "You want to look good, you want girls to be attracted to you. I think it's ridiculous not to be vain about your body, not to take care of your body. It's your vehicle for getting through life. And if women find you sexually attractive, then the quality of your life is better. It just is."

It's not stretching the truth to say that Rogan's flexibility is as freaky as one of Rick James' ex-girlfriends. Check out the pictures of Rogan folded flat to the ground. "I've always been flexible, and I credit that to tae kwon do," he says. "After every workout, I take the time for a strenuous, deep-tissue stretch." Of course, stretching allows you to build a better, stronger body, too.

For more on Rogan's stretching and de-stressing regimen, read the exercise descriptions and try his program. Start slow--remember the purpose is to gain flexibility and release stress from your body. Worrying about how deep or how long you hold a stretch will work against that. Take long, slow breaths, and try to hold the stretches for at least 30 seconds each. "After I do this stretch program or take a yoga class," Rogan says, "I'm drenched with sweat, energized and totally de-stressed."

ROGAN'S FEARLESS STRETCHING PLAN

The following stretches are among Rogan's favorites for enhancing flexibility and de-stressing. For best results, do them daily.

1 STRADDLE STRETCH

"This stretch is great for abductors, adductors and groin muscles," Rogan says. It's also a great basic stretch that's easily adaptable to whatever your skill level may be.

What you should do: Work your legs as far apart as is comfortable. "When you first start this stretch, don't worry about how far apart your legs are," Rogan advises. Instead, he says to keep your legs straight and your upper body erect. You can "plantar flex," pointing your outward, or point your toes toward the ceiling.

What Rogan does: "I hold this stretch for at least 30 seconds," he says. Rogan likes to extend his arms over his legs while keeping his posture as erect as possible. If his to cramp, he pounds his fists into his inner thigh muscles--a standard technique martial artists use to loosen muscles. Keep in mind you're tempting fate when you punch yourself that close to your groin.

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2 FORWARD-FOLD STRADDLE STRETCH

"This is a more intense version of the upright straddle stretch," Rogan says. As you gain flexibility, you can begin to fold your upper body forward to deepen the stretch.