How To Stay Healthy As A DJ - Ep #13

As DJs, we're no strangers to late nights and heavy equipment, but who says we can't be the epitome of health and vitality while spinning tracks? Strap in as we share how pumping iron and hitting the treadmill boosts not just our biceps, but our ability to keep the dance floor alive until the break of dawn. Our laughter echoes as we recount those killer workout sessions, but it's not all sweat and dumbbells – we circle back to the mind, discussing the serenity of a workspace that's all business, even if it's just steps away from your bed.

Then, we steer clear of the haze of smoke machines and dive into the clear waters of a substance-free lifestyle. Taking cues from the powerhouse Steve Aoki, we explore how ditching the party favors can supercharge a DJ's career and health. Let's chat about Canada's stand against vaping, find peace in the sound of silence on a long drive, and remember that life's got more to offer than beats per minute. And if you're tossing and turning about how to catch those elusive Zs, we've got a hot tip: it's not about how long you sleep, but when you wake up that can leave you feeling more refreshed than your favorite track. Tune in for an energizing session that will have you rethinking how you DJ, rest, and play.

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Transcript

Ilia 0:20

Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Clever DJ, our final episode for the month of March. Yeah, this is Ilya.

Nino 0:30

And this is Nino Lucky number 13.

Ilia 0:33

Yes, we have an episode that kind of works with the previous one. So last episode we spoke about the cons the cons of DJing, yeah, just why you should not DJ, or the things you're not going to like in this industry. But now, instead of speaking of the pros, we thought, you know, let's be more creative. How to keep healthy as a DJ, right, how to maintain good physical and mental health, like clarity as a DJ. Yeah, you know, let's start with one that's very obvious, not just for everyone, but like specifically in our case.

Nino 1:23

It's something in general to stay healthy.

Ilia 1:26

We spoke about it before right and working out. I was really struggling to keep up with what we had to do. I mean, I was always on top of it but I was like breathing so heavily right, because I wanted to be quick and, you know, and impress you when I started working for you yeah, for free, by the way, everyone. If anyone wonders, the guy didn't pay me a dollar.

Nino 1:49

Hey man, that was the deal that we made.

Ilia 1:52

But I got really good gigs from you after.

Nino 1:54

You did Anyway nice, you paid me as a pro. I was teaching you too as well, right, yeah, it's hours.

Ilia 2:03

How are you sitting at your chair? Your chair almost leans back all the way. He's just sitting there on his phone. He's not complaining as life, like, why am I teaching this guy? And yeah, I remember all the decisions I had to make in order to actually be able to focus on it, right, yeah, so it actually goes well.

Nino 2:24

Yeah, so you were struggling, like the first couple of gigs, right? Because you realized, oh man carrying all the equipment into the gig and setting up and stuff. And then by the time you were done setting up, you're like sweaty and tired, yeah, and we still have to do the gig Hard burn Right.

Ilia 2:40

So yeah, Because over the last few years working from home I really gained weight and man.

Nino 2:46

Kushi just staying home right and you, literally you wake up and then you can do it from your bed.

Ilia 2:54

Literally right. I could work. I could work from bed, I could work from the kitchen, while eating and snacking.

Nino 3:00

Or anywhere, Just as long as you have internet connection right.

Ilia 3:03

Yes. Now the thing is, I choose not to work from bed because it's just to me, You'll fall asleep.

Ilia 3:10

Literally you will right, yeah, and you know I deal a lot with clients and that's not something you want to do, of course. But also it just makes me kind of not respect the job, not respect myself enough. So I say get out of bed, at least sit. You don't have to dress up, you know suit or anything like that, because nobody's there to To watch your dress code. But at least you know, get your corner a home, or you know that's your working corner.

Nino 3:37

It's also healthy for you. Yeah, it is mental health, it is. So we're talking about working out right.

Ilia 3:43

Working out is extremely important, is very important.

Nino 3:47

You may think that it actually drains you, takes energy away from you, but it actually gives you more energy, improves your stamina.

Ilia 3:54

It is so not just, you know, becoming all muscular work on your cardio, because a lot of this stuff is cardio. Carrying all this, you know, all this gear back and forth, back and forth.

Nino 4:07

Yeah. Dismantling and putting it back together, back together and it's it's important to stay healthy doing that. Another thing is just just to have a partner to, so you don't have to do all that by yourself too as well, so it helps to yeah, perfectly, someone you will do it for free.

Nino 4:26

Exactly right. So staying healthy is very important. Working out is number one on the list and I before well right, I'm out of it a little bit, but I used to have a workout routine every day, right One. The first thing I do when I wake up is it do at least a hundred push-ups, hundred sit-ups and then hundred like dips and yeah, I tried working.

Ilia 4:53

I try working out with this guy. I Was. I'm about what I dropped, about 15 pounds, when you 12 pounds. Yeah, I'm up maybe two or three, but I'm doing. I'm doing well for myself. I'm losing weight.

Nino 5:05

How? How is it working out with me.

Ilia 5:07

Working out with you was Should I tell them what you used to do? Go ahead, man. So this guy was mr Philippines 2007, so like he looks the same, by the way, no he oh you, you look a little older in your face, but like you guys, just don't age. It's incredible.

Nino 5:27

It's our Filipino blood. Yeah, agent of blood for incredible. Yeah, I used to work out hard, like really hard. I used to live in the gym, so literally, yeah, yeah so 10 hours in the gym and.

Ilia 5:41

I remember I told you I want to work out with you one day. I remember, and you said, let's do it now. I said, oh well, it's so late at night we end up going to good life fitness and I was ready to hurl After about seven minutes with him, maybe four minutes. I mean, we're just doing like bodyweight exercises, bodyweight exercises. We did, we did. Oh my god, I'm forgetting the words those are leg lifts. No like when you, when you jump from one workout to another, oh no breaks of super sets.

Ilia 6:12

Super sets and not like just two machines or like two types of workouts One, two, three back to back two. One no rest in between two right, Right so two three, four workouts, very intense and no rest, and high reps, high weight, and I'm like what are you doing, dude?

Nino 6:31

Amen.

Ilia 6:32

I think the very first thing we did was cycling. Yes you remember that I almost killed you man, that was normal, but then you get your second win and you feel amazing. And then I was walking so far Like a duck.

Nino 6:48

It's like you've been on a horse for like hours.

Ilia 6:52

Oh man, and it was almost frustrating when the lady went like come on, your last round and then you go to the next level. I'm like eight times your last round. I mean like I don't believe you now and I look at you all like defeated. You're like that's the last one. I'm like okay, good, anyway, it's important. I mean, if anyone says, oh, it's important to work out anyway, but it's especially important when you do something like DJing.

Nino 7:20

It really requires you to stay on top of it, because you have late nights as well, so you need to stay fit for that, you have to DJ, and then you have to tear down as well. So it's like it takes a lot out of you and if you don't have that extra energy, that extra boost, you're gonna feel it for days after.

Ilia 7:39

Honestly. And another really important reason for that is you're going to be awake at times. You should be asleep, and people are becoming so much more aware of the adverse effects of improper sleep. Lack of sleep, right Lack of sleep it's all over Instagram now, all of these doctors, everyone is getting into how important it is just influencers, and I was thinking to myself how could I sleep Well if that's what my job requires? But you know what? Do other things to keep your body strong by working out, so your body is not just getting beat up from every direction. You're already sleeping improperly, so at least also work out. Keep your body strong, right.

Nino 8:36

The next one would be meditating and visualizing how your gig is gonna go in your head, like manifesting yeah, you're really into that right.

Ilia 8:49

I am, I am and you know it really changes my life.

Nino 8:54

It helps, I mean, it works.

Ilia 8:55

Yeah, and you can't just stand in front of me and say I'm strong, I'm successful, I'm powerful, and then boom, it's done. You gotta really believe it.

Nino 9:05

You gotta really imagine it, take the steps toward it, right?

Ilia 9:10

You know, I, like you, have to almost feel like you're being filled with this, like positivity, every time you say it and you can see how everything is happening. And people, the ones who manifest and they're all about you, know that positive energy. They'll understand what I'm talking about. The ones who don't, and maybe they're interested. One day you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about, but it's a very powerful, very, just, very strong feeling. It's not just saying something and you're done with it, right? Yeah, so meditating, visualizing your gig, visualizing how your life improves and everything. It's very important to keep your brain healthy, your mental health in check. Yes, because we deal with a lot of stress, a lot of noise and, yeah, lots of competition. We need to give our brain a break. Yeah, so that's one Staying away from certain foods in general and at gigs.

Nino 10:10

So I think staying away from certain like there's certain types of foods that you should stay away from, right Like anything sugary, and sugar is just horrible for you. It's terrible, like it'll give you a boost when you need it, right, but if you're eating sugar all the time, oh man, it'll make you lethargic, right. You're gonna crash and burn, literally.

Ilia 10:33

So it's terrible. It's absolutely unnecessary. Your body does not need it, yeah exactly Staying away from.

Nino 10:40

I think a lot of DJs drink energy drinks. That's terrible, so bad for you.

Ilia 10:47

I used to do that when I was working sales. I would drink two or three in a row and I would feel some sort of like high of energy, right, but then my heart would do this like, yeah, there was someone I saw in the newspaper a few years ago that all she drank was energy drinks.

Nino 11:10

She ended up dying literally dying, because of the energy drinks. I'm like the stuff that they put in there is terrible.

Ilia 11:19

Yeah, or regularly it destroys your liver, it does, it does so anyway. That's a very quick solution when you just need it, but it's not a solution long term.

Nino 11:33

Yeah, Same with sugar. Carbs like pastas. You can eat it, right, but just don't go too heavy on that stuff. Yeah, in general and in gigs, you can control yourself. You get wedding food.

Ilia 11:48

We're really spoiled when it comes to late night, yeah, late night table a lot of a poutine pizza donuts. All kinds of delicious wedding cake.

Nino 12:01

Yeah, we're really spoiled at weddings, right? So it's important to pick and choose the types of food that you want to eat, especially if you want to stay healthy.

Ilia 12:12

Right, so yeah, so the portion and the type of portion is very important, man, not to just go over and don't mix things, mixing things that should be mixed. I mean, your body is going to go through so much trying to digest that and just yeah, it's gonna. It's all common sense but people still do it. Yeah.

Ilia 12:35

I know, yeah, people still do it. And then they wonder why they have no energy left or why they're so sick after an event. You just beat yourself up. You beat yourself up in every way possible. You stayed up late, you were around noise for 10, 5 to 10 hours A junk food you drank, you smoked potentially.

Nino 12:55

Yeah, and then and then after the gig you grab some McDonald's to, because you're tired, you're hungry, right.

Ilia 13:01

Yeah, and it's just.

Nino 13:05

It's tough. It's a tough lifestyle to deal with to stay healthy, right, but you gotta take that.

Ilia 13:10

Lots of temptations right, but anyway, moving, moving along, stay hydrated. Drink lots of water, so that actually helps With the food too, right? Yes, you don't want to eat as much.

Nino 13:23

Yeah, if you drink water all the time. Tea, I love tea. Yeah, tea, water, anything, anything that keeps you hydrated. It helps to less lessen your your urge to eat and stuff, so it keeps you healthy too. You need to be Hydrated from the inside out too, right, it keeps your skin good, moisturized and everything. So there's lots of benefits from drinking water, all the time Helps with, of course.

Nino 13:51

The more you work out to, the more you have to drink water, because your body needs it, right, you're perspiring and stuff. So, in general, drink lots of water, as much water as you can, right.

Ilia 14:02

Now, that's a very important one staying away from alcohol, substances, smoking in general.

Nino 14:09

You know the all devices right.

Ilia 14:13

Alcohol will also dehydrate you. Exactly. It's the opposite of staying hydrated. Yeah, so that and I think most Am I right that most DJs, like big-time DJs, actually don't do drugs, as opposed to what people believe they do.

Nino 14:31

Depends. It depends if you're more of a celebrity DJ, you're more up to to getting that stuff you have that.

Ilia 14:42

Access. I'll tell you where it's got warm coming from when I say that and I'm not just making this up. And again, if I'm like under a rock and I don't know the truth, then tell me. But I watch this documentary with Steve Aoki and no, he does drugs for sure. Well, it's actually, it was a Netflix, I believe. Yeah, so, unless he lied. He said how can I go through over 365 gigs a year? That's the thing. On drugs, he said that if he did drugs on top of all of that, he wouldn't, he would have been.

Nino 15:15

You know, I think he's, he's telling the truth because he's Insane, he's he has gigs more than like two or three gigs a day sometimes, yeah, different countries, different countries.

Ilia 15:28

So, he's in Europe and there's like bordering countries, yeah, so he has almost 400 gigs a year. That's crazy, the guy. The guy is just made out of something else. Insane, insane.

Nino 15:39

Yeah, so.

Ilia 15:42

Yeah, I think, I think that's that he's, he's telling the truth.

Nino 15:45

Yeah, I'm sure he does, but I'm sure there are DJs that do some yeah, so.

Ilia 15:49

I'm just saying like to get to that level of success, to get the level of like being able to achieve all of that I mean. There's a drug can help you a short term, but there's upsides and downsides to like.

Nino 16:03

Being that successful is great, but then you're never with your family. 365 days, you're never with your family. It's good thing, maybe, if you don't have a family, that's, it's perfect. You have the bachelor life.

Ilia 16:14

But if you do, I couldn't imagine living. Living, that's terrible. That's terrible. Yeah, I couldn't imagine that. You know I would not trade with him. I'm telling you right now Right, that's just not what I would want to do and and just even like smoking in general, it's bad for your long.

Nino 16:29

I'm so.

Ilia 16:31

I can't believe how many people vape tons of people terrible for you.

Nino 16:36

Yeah, wow, it's more concentrated than it is. Well, it's delicious, though I.

Ilia 16:41

Tried it a couple times. I'm like, wow, that that tastes good. I can't blame them. They're our flavored Vapes. Now, right, they're. Well, they banned them here in Canada, I believe it. You know that they banned most of them, if not all of them the flavor, the flavor ones, really, in some stores.

Nino 16:58

I didn't know that they banned some something.

Ilia 17:00

So because kids were, kids were always buying them.

Nino 17:06

Accessible here? Yeah, for sure.

Ilia 17:09

I especially, because weed is legal so we Nicotine, just vaping, whatever it is general.

Nino 17:18

It's bad for your health, so try to stay away from it. Smoke is bad, okay.

Ilia 17:24

I Mental health, let's see and having times here. Okay, that's important.

Nino 17:31

Mm-hmm.

Ilia 17:33

We spoke about mental health, but we spoke about meditating and manifesting. If it, you know, if it's something you would like to do, it definitely will help big time. But just do something for your mental health, something that will Maybe balance you out. For example, for me it's not listening to music for a little while. So if I had two to three gigs in a row and Each gig was five to ten hours and I'm like you know what I drive home, I don't listen to music.

Nino 18:08

Well, usually DJs right, I can turn off the radio, or just not like driving silence.

Ilia 18:13

I know phone calls. No, no is unless I'm tired I'll give my girl a call or someone to call, or call you and tell you how the gig went right now. But yeah, what do you do for your mental health?

Nino 18:26

And spend time with family. Just do something other than DJing right, like I play golf, you play golf.

Ilia 18:34

Nice shot. Was that it what it said on the? What was that what it said on the middle finger? Nice shot, oh, the one that the glove you gave me yeah, yeah man.

Nino 18:47

It's nice to have like to do something other than DJing or listening to music, to give your ears a break from all the noise and stuff, to right spending time with your family, your significant other yeah, you need that time alone.

Ilia 19:02

You have that, have that Balance, do the things that you don't get to do often or, like like Nino just said, find a hobby or something that has nothing to do with music, maybe, and that's gonna make you want to go back to it just so much more.

Nino 19:18

Yeah, you need to recharge. Yeah literally to go back to it. Hard right so.

Ilia 19:24

Yeah, so do whatever makes you happy and Find that balance.

Nino 19:32

And last one Obviously Because we are very sleep deprived. Try to get as much sleep as you can on your off days, right?

Ilia 19:42

and get as much sleep as possible. And also, I know that you shouldn't be Sleeping in too too much you should. You shouldn't be Depriving yourself asleep, but you shouldn't be sleeping too much either. So sleeping in like into the afternoon hours, I mean as as great idea as it looks at that moment because you're tired. I think it's better to wake up at the same time every day. So if you came home super late, I mean, give yourself a couple extra hours, but don't sleep in six or seven hours. It's just gonna make it worse for the next day, right, just have a an easier day the following day, right, don't? You're not waking up with as much energy as you should.

Ilia 20:25

So maybe that day, invite, invite someone in to hang out. Maybe you don't go out anywhere, but they come to you. Mm-hmm, I'm just just take care of, take care of yourself. And here's the thing it's. It's. It sounds all boring and it sounds all like like we're too old. People who were like you know, are so affected by it and and we're so beating up after those gigs. But it's true, like it's gonna destroy your life. If you just Do this every day and not take care of yourself, you're gonna age so much faster, yeah, yeah you will.

Nino 21:02

It's, it's tough. You have to take care of yourself, especially when you do this type, this lifestyle.

Ilia 21:08

Yeah. So, like to sum up, you got a workout, meditate or what meditating does not have to be, you just like sitting with your legs crossed. You know it's, for some people it's a walk, you know they go. I like hiking, hiking, I love hiking. Okay, right, like climbing, like Trails, like mountains, hills, stuff, like that jungle gym, rock climbing, rock climbing. I would love to rock climb, but it's you never done. I just like basic stuff, you know. I mean like real, like rock all real rock climbing.

Nino 21:49

Okay, that's different, that's different.

Ilia 21:51

Yeah, that's it. Just it looks interesting. It looks like you, like you're really pushing yourselves to yourself to like New extremes. It's tough, yeah, yeah but just take care of yourself. Get a couple, get a couple Protein bars or whatever you know something healthy with you, so you don't want to eat that huge meal at the venue or eat less, right, but just take care of yourselves. Guys and girls, Lots of water.

Nino 22:18

Yeah, stay away from certain foods a lot of sugars and stuff, but yeah, it's healthy. Snacking is fine, yeah, right, but just stay away from big portions.

Ilia 22:29

No alcohol, no substance abuse, smoking. I mean, if you really want to drink a little bit, go ahead. I feel like I don't DJ the same when I drink. I know some people who can drink a ton and it may even make them better, but hence them DJing. Yeah right, normally though I I think it's not something's gonna help, you know, and and yeah, I think that's it mental health yes, sleep, that's, yeah, it's it man, that's it All right.

Ilia 22:57

Well, hopefully you enjoyed this list with us, and this is the last episode for this month. Yes, sir, episode 13 join us next month, same day, same time. We'll see you in the next one, guys.