The 13 Best Joe Rogan Podcast Guests for Motivation | Rogan Tribe (2023)

Over the years the Joe Rogan podcast has been saturated with supreme tough guys. Rogan himself is tough, strong dude. You wouldn’t want to step in the Octagon with him. He’s been training in martial arts since he was a little kid and has 3 black belts to his name.

So who are the most toughest and most motivational people to ever appear on the JRE podcast? I’ve compiled a list just to answer that very question.

*No UFC fighters or boxers. Actually, I couldn’t resist and did pick one. There are just too many fighters on the JRE podcast that this list would be dominated by those guys.

No Chuck Liddell, George St. Pierre, Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic, Michael Bisping, Tyron Woodley, Jorge Masvidal, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Eddie Bravo, Brendan Schaub, Tyson Fury, Deonte Wilder, etc.

*No Elon Musk. He is absolutely a motivational guy in his own right, but not the tough guy type.

This is a list of men who you’d want to have your back in a street fight. They separate the men from the boys. The type of men who eat dirt, chop wood and throw rocks. Men that would drive Ford Bronco’s, like Joe.

Men that wouldn’t scream if they saw a cockroach in the kitchen (Bert Kreischer would).

Praise Odin.

#1: Jocko Willink

On JRE Episodes: 729, 962, 1391, 1492

Jocko is an alpha male leader and someone you better have on your side if you’re going to battle. A retired Navy SEAL commander of SEAL Team 3’s Task Unit Bruiser, Jocko now runs his own podcast, Jocko Podcast.

He is the co-founder of Echelon Front, a company that facilitates workshops and delivers intense leadership training and team-building exercises, based of his combat experience.

He authored a #1 New York Times bestselling book called Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead and Win, which I have read and highly recommend.

Jocko has extensive and significant combat experience and has led many tactical operations in Iraq, many under heavy gunfire and violence. Without a doubt, he has quite a few enemy casualties attributed to him.

Jocko accidentally fractured bowhunter John Dudley’s neck while sparring in Jiu-Jitsu.

Check out this video of him competing against Jeff Monson, a professional grappler and former UFC fighter. Although Monson is much bigger, Jocko holds his own.

#2: David Goggins

On JRE Episodes: 1080, 1212

A former Navy SEAL, Goggins is a complete beast. He is a beast of beasts. His story wasn’t always that way. At one point he was fat and weighed over 300 pounds:

Goggins broke the world record for most pull-ups in 24 hours, doing 4030 pull-ups in 17 hours.

He runs ultra-marathons, including the MOAB 240, a 5 day race composed of running 240.3 miles. One year, David ventured off course 7.5 miles, had to back track 7.5 more miles, and still battled back for a top 10 finish.

Peer into Goggins’s attitude on taking souls, which he explained on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

“If you’re in a fight you have to attack. You have to keep attacking. The enemy has to know that he is not going to give up. You have to break the soul of whatever the f*** is in front of you.”

“Who’s going to carry the boats and the logs?” (Reference to one the most brutal Navy SEAL BUD/S training exercises where they to carry boats or logs over their head for long periods of time.)

He wrote a bestselling book, Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds, which I’ve read and CANNOT RECOMMEND ENOUGH. Seriously, the book changed my life.

#3: Mike Tyson

On JRE Episode: 1227

You’d be hard to find someone on the planet that hasn’t heard of legendary boxer Mike Tyson.

Kevin Hart described Tyson as a pitbull with no leash. Often, he’d fight guys taller and bigger than him in the heavyweight division but not as powerful. He is absolutely the most ferocious and explosive boxer of all time.

He’s the only fighter that I put on my list, simply because I had to. After seeing this highlight reel of some of his most devastating knockouts, how could I leave him off?

Be sure to watch this HILARIOUS story of how Mike Tyson decided to buy some tigers, which he explained on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

What I most admire about Tyson is how he has made strides to turn his life around from his younger, reckless self.

Rogan on Tyson: “He’s just got an intensity that you rarely see from any fighter. The fury that burns inside of him, you can’t manufacture that. You either have that or you don’t.”

#4: Alex Honnold

On JRE episodes: 319, 1189

The famous rockclimber had the world clinging to their sofas in Free Solo, where he free climbed El Capitan at Yosemite National Park.

Climbing with no ropes or safety net, Honnold’s achievement is widely considered one of the most extraordinary athletic performances of all time.

On the JRE podcast, Honnold told Rogan that he once climbed 300 feet up a wall and then realized he had forgotten his chalk. Wow!

Honnold has said that he feels fear, but the key is to stay focused, calm and collected when climbing. It’s scary to think that a 1 second slip or mistake would cause an instantaneous death.

#5: Glenn Villeneuve

On JRE episode: 1395

This guy is someone you have probably never heard of, and he almost wanted to keep it that way.

Villeneuve decided to move to remote Northern Alaska (Brooks Range) and start from scratch, saying “Northern Alaska is the most wild place left in this America.” He built his own cabin, chops his own wood, hunts his own food and lives off the land.

He got started by parking his van and then hiking 60 miles to remote wilderness. There are no roads, just hiking through wild wilderness.

The year before, he left 2 months food, a jug of oil, some flour, and rice and beans in a 50 gallon drum. Other supplies he left: wall tent, rifle, fishing equipment. At one point he ran out of food and had only flour left!

At one point Glenn hadn’t seen another human being for 4.5 months.

He’s spent a lot of time around dangerous predators. Wolves, bears, and wolverines inhabited the same area. He tracked wolves and stole kills from the them for survival. “My rifle is my constant companion.”

Check out this crazy story of Villeneuve fighting off a wolfpack at his camp, which he explained on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

He’s eaten a wide variety of wild game in the Brooks Range: bears, weasels, wolf, caribou, moose, elk, rats, rabbits, etc. Although, he doesn’t like to eat bear meat. He says it’s “not clean meat”, because they eat a lot of rotten food and haveparasitesthat can harm humans.

How did Glenn eat his vegetables? By taking them out of a caribou’s stomach. “That’s how I get vegetables.”

To see more of Glenn Villeneuve, check out Life Below Zero, a documentary show that highlights the day to day life of living in remote Alaska.

#6: Cameron Hanes

On JRE Episodes: 450, 567, 759, 815, 944, 957, 1013, 1074, 1112, 1365

Rogan on #450: “Today we have Cameron Hanes, master bowhunter, all around bada**, queue the music.”

Hanes is a backcountry bowhunter that Joe Rogan has called the best on the planet.

A bonified stud and training partner with David Goggins, Hanes prefers hill running over flat terrain and averages 22 miles every day.

He isn’t the biggest guy, standing about 5’9”, but pound for pound he’s a complete animal. His lifestyle motto is called “Lift Run Shoot”, where he explains that the brutal workouts he endurers is to be a better bowhunter, which provides food for his family – literally.

Bowhunting on his level, as an Under Armour athlete, requires extreme skill, agility, stealth, and fitness. That’s why he trains so damn hard.

And apparently, motivational guys like to hang out together. Check out this amazing video for motivation with Cameron Hanes and David Goggins.

Hanes has written a few books, including:

• Backcountry Bowhunting: A Guide to the Wild Side
• Bowhunting Trophy Blacktail

“Genghis Khan the Mongolian…shooting 160-pound bows…so it’s like archery has always been what the bad***es do.” – Cam Hanes

#7: Forrest Galante

On JRE episodes: 1240, 1403

Galante is a wildlife biologist, television host, conservationist, and extinct animal finder.

On his show, Extinct or Alive on Animal Planet channel, he risks his life trying to find animals that were thought to be extinct. Usually, he has to trek through extremely dangerous terrain and horrid conditions to find the animals.

Galante described to Rogan about having a “close call” with a semi-tranquilized lion.

He’s had some extremely rare finds, including:

• Yellow Caiman Crocodile
• Galápagos tortoise

*The yellow caiman, was thought to be extinct. But Galante explained that nobody had been back there (deep Colombia), because of hostile rebels. Forrest got back there and found one.

Now, Forrest Galante is trying to find a Thylacine – aka Tasmanian tiger. People are going crazy trying to find this thing, thought to be extinct.

Forrest has been on two expeditions looking for it. He says he met a biologist who said he’s seen it. “Like a marsupial wolf with stripes like a tiger…I think it’d be the discover of a century.”

#8: Steven Rinella

On JRE Episodes: 176, 312, 348, 442, 540, 709, 879, 971, 1204, 1341

If you were being attacked by a grizzly bear, Rinella would be the guy you would want with you. Check out this video of Rinella getting charged by one.

Rinella took Joe Rogan on his first hunt in 2012. Rogan had wanted to go hunting for awhile because he knew there was a huge disconnect between the meat he was eating and where it came from.

Rinella is a superior outdoorsman, arguably one of the best hunters on the planet. He’s also a conservationist, and deeply cares about animals and the environment.

He hosts the show MeatEater on Netflix and has written several books, including:

• Meat Eater: Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter
• The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game
• American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon

Check out this funny but scary video of Rinella getting hit in the butt by a charging moose.

#9: Andy Stumpf

On JRE episode: 720, 1047, 1247, 1445

Stumpf is a retired Navy SEAL officer, who was shot in the hip by an Iraqi insurgent with an AK-47.

Stumpf set two world records for jumping, raising money for the Navy SEAL foundation:

1. Jumping out of an airplane at 36,500 feet
2. Flying over 18 miles in a wingsuit

In the Navy SEALs he also served as a head instructor, leading 13 other instructors and 600 students through 2^nd Phase BUD/S training.

BUD/S, stands for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, notorious for the brutal “hell week” that weeds out most applicants.

The U.S. Men’s Water Polo team thought it would be a good idea to do 1 day of Navy SEAL training. Unfortunately, Andy Stumpf was their instructor for the day.

Many members of the team are seen laughing and giggling at the beginning. It didn’t take but a few minutes for them to become humorless.

#10: Jesse Ventura

On JRE episode: 858

Ventura, has seemingly been in lots of different controversies (defamation lawsuit against American Sniper – Chris Kyle, Opie & Anthony walkoff, friends with Fidel Castro, etc.).

“If this was back in my Navy SEAL days, right now you’d have your b*lls tore out and they’d be shoved down your throat…I’m civilized now, so he’s very lucky.” (On what he would have done to Jim Norton from Opie & Anthony)

He is rough around the edges but is genuinely a good guy with a big heart and very loyal.

Ventura has a wide range of spectacular accomplishments:

• Former Navy SEAL
• Vietnam War Veteran
• Pro Wrestler HOF
• Governor of Minnesota
• Starred in Predator and Running Man movies

And he and Joe have a funny thing in common. They both love wearing fanny packs! Ventura was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004.

#11: Steve-O

On JRE episodes: 717, 960

If you grew up in the 2000’s you definitely know Steve-O from his hilarious, yet sometimes unbearable stunts on Jackass.

Steve-O makes the list because of the remarkable transition that he’s made in his life. From immature addict, stuntman – to mature, sober, animal advocate. He even gave up smoking cigarettes after smoking for 17 years.

Steve-O, almost lost his life to addiction like friend and fellow Jackass stuntman Ryan Dunn. Now he has been sober for over 10+ years and talked about his sobriety on the podcasts with Rogan.

Also, he makes the list because of the ridiculous pain tolerance he’s shown from all the Jackass stunts he’s done. It takes a serious level of balls to do the stunts he did on the show.

Notable highlights to his Jackass career:

• Got arrested for stapling his ballsack to his leg.
• Pierced his cheek with a fish hook.
• Put a leech on his eyeball and kept it there
• Dangled raw meat from his butt to alligator
• Jumped into ocean from car driving over a bridge

#12: Jake “The Snake” Roberts

Standing at 6’6” and weighing 250 pounds, the former pro wrestler used to step into the ring with Andre The Giant at 7’4” and 520 pounds. Although, yes, wrestling is “fake”, you must be a tough dude to take that kind of beating day in and day out. He also rivaled with Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

And big kudos to Roberts, who has faced opponents much strong than Andre The Giant – addiction, cancer, and pneumonia.

In 2012, the wrestler entered a rehabilitation program from alcohol and drugs, and is now sober. And in 2014, he overcame muscular cancer and double pneumonia in two separate battles.

He’s nicknamed “The Snake” because he used to bring pythons, and even king cobra into the ring to use as part of his entertainment act.

Listen to this crazy story from Joe Rogan’s podcast, of how he used to drive for Andre The Giant and would get an unfathomable amount of beer for him.

Roberts was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2020.

#13: Ronnie Coleman

On JRE episode: 1489

“I always said you look like a dude they invented in a Marvel comic book to kill the Hulk.” – Joe Rogan on Ronnie Coleman

Coleman won Mr. Olympia an amazing 8 times in a row, from 1998 – 2005. And he finished runner-up in 2006.

Now, he battles his body in a different way with back issues and numerous surgeries. On the JRE podcast, Coleman told Joe that he got into bodybuilding just to get a free gym membership.

Before he got HUGE, he went to Grambling State University and played middle linebacker on the football team. Also, he excelled in the classroom – graduating cum laude which is top 25% in his class.

Honorable Mention

• Adam Greentree
• CT Fletcher
• Dakota Meyer
• Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• Dan Crenshaw
• Diamond Dallas Page
• Evander Holyfield
• Henry Rollins
• James Wilks
• Joe De Sena
• Mike Baker – CIA officer
• Pavel Tsatsouline
• Rob Kearney
• Robert Oberst
• Tait Fletcher
• Tony Hawk
• Trevor Thompson