JRE MMA Show #124 with Khalil Rountree

Joe Rogan (0:04)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

So, just tell me that again. So, you were doing, what were you doing in Finland in the first place?

Khalil Rountree (0:17)

I was there, I was there with an ex, training, but aside from that, I was just there visiting. I was just visiting Finland.

Joe Rogan (0:26)

And so you decided to do a sauna in the motherland, because that's like the home of saunas, isn't it?

Khalil Rountree (0:30)

Yeah, it's the home of it. So, yeah, the people that were hosting us, they were like, hey, have you guys ever done sauna in Ice Lake? Like, yeah, but never like in the Ice Lake after.

Joe Rogan (0:41)

So, they have like a shack that's the sauna, that's next to the...

Khalil Rountree (0:44)

Yeah, it almost looks like a locker room, right? Like, and you just see a bunch of people, like all age groups.

There's a locker room where you get undressed and there's this huge box. Like I said, it fits like easily, 52, I mean, 52, 100 people.

And everyone's in there just packed. There was actually a line to get in. So when somebody steps out, you step in and kind of replace them. Oh, wow. It's like bleacher seating. So you're in there like packed tight in maybe three or four rows, and it's hot as shit. How hot? I don't remember the exact temperature, but it was the hottest sauna that I've ever been in. Like my skin was on fire.

Joe Rogan (1:22)

Whoa.

Khalil Rountree (1:23)

After maybe a minute, two minutes of being in there, I was like, this is the most unbearable.

Joe Rogan (1:27)

They probably threw a lot of water on there.

Khalil Rountree (1:29)

A lot of water.

Joe Rogan (1:30)

That makes a fucking difference.

Khalil Rountree (1:32)

Right after you just walk downstairs, or you walk outside, and there's a set of stairs where you walk literally right into the ice. Like at night, we did it, it was like nine or 10 p.m.

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (1:42)

And so they just cut a hole in the lake?

Khalil Rountree (1:44)

Mm-hmm. Then you just walk, there's like a metal walkway that you can't see. So it looks like you're just walking into the water at night, but there's like a little walkway, like a railway underwater, and you can hold on to the rail and do your lap. And I think I did it like maybe four times, like four sessions, and it was one of the best things at the end of the night. I slept like a baby.

Joe Rogan (2:06)

Oh, you definitely do that. When I do it at night, when I do the cold plunge and the sauna, like back to back at night, oh my God, you sleep so good.

It just drains you. I love to do it before a podcast because it empties my brain. Mm. Because the sauna, I put it at 189 degrees, and today I did 15 minutes on, and then I did three minutes in the ice bath, and then I had a run here. And so that's all I did today. But most days I do 20, and then I do the ice bath, and then I'll do another 15

Khalil Rountree (2:34)

Got you. But in the morning is good, man. I feel like if I do that in the morning, I feel alive.

I don't have to do this crazy hard workout, just sauna and ice tub in the morning. I feel really revitalized, regenerated.

Joe Rogan (2:46)

Well, that's something that I think more athletes and more fighters in particular need to concentrate on is the recovery stuff. There's a lot of guys who just train like animals and just hope their body is going to recover just naturally, you know, just from hard work and eating well.

But I think things like hardcore stretching, yoga if you can get it in, hot yoga, and particularly sauna and ice bath, they're so beneficial.

Khalil Rountree (3:14)

Yeah. My conditioning coach, who's like a gigantic fan of you, he...

Joe Rogan (3:20)

What's his name?

Khalil Rountree (3:21)

His name's Lorenzo Pavlicevich.

Joe Rogan (3:22)

Shout out to Lorenzo.

Khalil Rountree (3:23)

Shout out Lorenzo. No, it's something that he has me do almost, I'd say like three to four times a week, is that's a part of our training, is sauna and ice and stretching and breathing.

Joe Rogan (3:37)

What kind of breathing?

Khalil Rountree (3:40)

It's, I mean, I think what he calls it, tummo breathing?

Joe Rogan (3:43)

Tummo.

Khalil Rountree (3:44)

Tummo. I don't remember, that might be, I might be saying it wrong, but. How's it go?