Action Bronson on Losing 130lbs

Listen, it was a long time coming. It's just, I'm happy that it happened now. Because if it didn't happen, it would have been something else. I would have been in a grave. Yeah. Or somewhere else. Who the hell knows where they would have put me? When did you start? I've been fat my whole life. I've been thinking about losing weight for a long time, for about 30 years. But when did you start losing weight? When? Last March. Last March. So right around the pandemic. Literally. Right when it hit, my brand new baby and my wife, they were going to go to Columbia to show the child. You know, you have to show the child to the family. And it was around March 10th. We get to the airport. Some state, they wouldn't let my dog get on the plane. Because they didn't have the, the air conditioning didn't work in the galley or whatever that is. So we turned right back around and went home. And that's the day shit hit the fan. I was supposed to go on tour a week right after that. Everything done. I knew it was all going to be done. I was talking to my agent. He was like, yeah, this shit's going to be fine. Don't worry. They're going to still do the show in Hawaii. I was like, nah, watch. This shit's going to be fucking done. So bottom line is. Why did you think everything was going to get shut down? I don't know. I had a feeling. I just had a feeling that this was just bigger than what it was. You know, than just, it just seemed fishy. Just seemed fishy. Yeah. So pretty much, I mean, to get the dog onto the plane, we had to put her on the scale because she was a little overweight. What's overweight for a dog? I'm not really sure. I think she looks great. What is overweight for a dog, though? How do they decide that? Like, I used to have a dog that was 140 pounds. Is he overweight? I don't think so. It's just jacked. That's all I think if you're at a certain age, just jack. This dog is an English setter. Supposed to have a little waist. And listen, she lost it a little bit. She lost herself. She's living in Brooklyn now. You know, she's not back where she's from. Exercising. Exactly. It's different. She's eating different foods. Her metabolism changed. So I don't blame her. So I dealt with it. She fed her. I feel her. And then I started losing weight because of her because we both got on the scale. And I was like, what the fuck is going on? What was the highest? 380 something. Holy shit. It was despicable. I didn't look it, though. I looked about 350. A fucking round ball of fucking meatball. How was the fucking meatball? What was your health like? What did it feel like walking around like that? Because this is the thing, man. People love to talk about fat shaming. And I know it's not good to make people feel bad. You have to. But that. You have to shame me. I was shamed into this for sure. It's unfortunate that you have to make people feel bad to start getting them to change. But sometimes, whether it's a person doing that to you or you just looking in the mirror and you're feeling bad, that feeling is just reality. That's what that feeling is. You can't fat shame a skinny. You can't fat shame Jamie. He's not fat. So if you said, hey, Jamie, you're fat, it doesn't work. It only means something when it's real. And it's an indulgence thing. It's not a thing that you can't control. It's a hard thing to control. It's a hard thing to bounce back from. And that's what I'm most impressed with you. You really bounced back. You've lost 130 fucking pounds, man. And we had a good workout today. We went over to the honor gym. Shout out to my man John Wolf. John Wolf's the master. I love him. How good is he? I mean, I've watched him. And now that I've met him, it's like all the pieces came together today for me. He's one of the most knowledgeable trainers I've ever worked with in my life. He's amazing. And it's not just like meathead stuff. It's all about mobility and flexibility. Nothing needed. Nothing. I mean, you can obviously lift a lot of weight. He showed us he could do the 106 overhead press with nothing. But it ain't about that. It's about being able to, it's fluidity. It's about using your body and using your muscles in a functional manner. Not just, ugh. He's all about longevity. And he's all about range of motion. His whole thing is about having you have the full mobility of your body. It's all these flexibility things that we did, the hip things that we did, all that stuff. And it's all the strength in the joints, stabilize your shoulders, stabilize all your joints. He's just so good. So amazing. The tree workout that we did. Yeah. I was soaked. I was soaked before we started. It was great. It was unbelievable. You're very strong though, man. You're really strong. It was interesting to watch you do it. I can see over this past year, you've gotten your body to a really good place where you haven't just lost weight by dieting. You've been lifting weights. You've been exercising and pushing sleds. And I watch your Instagram, man. You're doing some wild shit. For sure. These are the things that I always wanted to do. I always knew I could do this. I played football in high school and I actually, I excelled in practice. I liked doing that shit. I liked drills. I like having an aim. The game, yeah, it's fun, but I like the practice stuff. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I started losing weight by myself in my house, literally during the pandemic, just eating different. My wife, she was shaming me. Because, well, yeah, she was, because we have a brand new child. She's like, what the fuck you doing? You don't wanna be around here for our baby? You wanna take yourself away from us? And that shit hit. That's real. It hit hard. That's a real thing. And not only that, I love life. There's no doubt about it. I've been going so fast for the past 10 years that I haven't really enjoyed myself. So this forced stoppage allowed me to really reassess my happiness and I've regained everything. It's not just fucking work, work, work, next thing, next thing, next thing. Of course, I'm an artist and my mind is always all over the place. I'm always thinking about something. But this slowed me down. It allowed me to spend every moment with my brand new child. It's fucking, it was something that I didn't know I needed, but I needed that. I needed it. And to regain my health in this manner, man, like you said, I don't wanna just lose weight. People could get the surgeries and all that shit. That ain't for me. I'm a worker. The problem with the surgery. I like hard work. The surgery can help people, but it also messes you up. One of the things that happens is it diminishes your ability to absorb food. You can't have as much food and it's harder for you to absorb nutrients. I would never do that. I was just never in my cards. I was never for me. Good for you. Yeah, hell no. Because I knew I did this to myself. I have to fix it. And I'm dedicated. I was talking to my boy, me and Cece, Sabathia were friends and I was talking to him for a while. We was just text back and forth because he was a fat bastard too. And he changed his shit up. And we were just talking about how we wanna be fucking jacked. We just wanna be, we wanna get strong and shit. And he put me onto my trainer that I was working with, Dave Paladino. And Dave is kinda, he's like an old school meat head from the Jersey Shore and I fucking love that. So we clicked, yeah. Because it could have met somebody else and it wouldn't have clicked. I've worked out with other people, but it just wasn't. I almost don't wanna let him down. He's a fucker, he's into sopranos or some shit. I swear. Maybe it's in my mind, but I have to, but it works that way. Right, I know what you mean. Yeah, he was showing me all, he's like fucking Joey Diaz but jacked. I swear, that's who he is. That's what I was thinking about. I was like, yo, that's who this fucking guy is. Exactly him, he has the stories of the Shore. He used to bounce all the clubs with the fucking fanny pack and the fucking, I don't wanna mention what else, but you know. Listen, he put me onto different types of training. He didn't just start me off with meat head stuff. We did the sleds, we did the torturous shit, the skier, the fucking, all that, the stepper. Oh my God, the fucking, that shit is torture, but I love it. Catch new episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience for free, only on Spotify. Watch back catalog JRE videos on Spotify, including clips, easily, seamlessly switch between video and audio experience. On Spotify, you can listen to the JRE in the background while using other apps and can download episodes to save on data costs, all for free. Spotify is absolutely free. 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