Hey guys

I'm curious what do you guys do to keep yourself healthy? You know as producers we tend to sit a lot. Hours, days, weeks, months, years. When you're young your body can deal with almost anything, but as you're getting older, problems arise. I'm pushing 30 and I've never had any problems before, but the last couple of months....yep it's coming. >_< ^_^; I have some back problems now. Minor problems, but enough to made me realize that the back is definitely not the part of your body that you want to mess with.

Of course the main problem solvers are sports and healthy diet, but I was wondering what do you guys do to make the producing in itself healthier. I know that the height of your chair and desk is very important.' @OxygenBeats' I know that you work at a standing desk right? When did you make the change and how is it to work up there? ^_^ Any other producers who work standing up?

What I'm testing right now is a contour roller mouse which eliminates the unnatural movements of your right arm, when using a regular mouse. It's way better than I thought. In general I feel like I'm actually quicker with it, even though there are some work steps that I still need a regular mouse for.
It's expensive but you can test it for 3 weeks for free and then send it back if you don't like it. I'm happy to answer questions, if you wanna know more.
Using a regular mouse means that you're constantly moving one arm way more than the other, plus it's a quite unnatural movement, not to speak of the bending of your wrist. If you're right-hander it causes problems in the lower left side of your back and your backbone. Also everything in your right arm, from shoulder to fingers, will mess with you eventually.

So, I would love to hear your guys thoughts on this. Also, maybe this could be something to address in one of the next soundgine Crowd episodes if some more of you guys feel like it's a good topic to talk about. I think it's worth addressing and important to share some advice and experiences, especially for the young producers out there.

I decided to invest in a standing desk. I think the first couple of days/weeks are going to be hard, but I guess it's long overdue.

Any more thoughts on this topic? I'm curious :)

This is an interesting post to me because I'm currently going through physical changes as a producer. I started my musical journey roughly 3-4 years ago. The first two years was just me trying to find myself in the scene and trying to find my sound. It was more or less a hobby at that time but I was also really into body building at this time. I went to the gym literally every single day, at one point I was even going twice a day. One time at 5:00 a.m. after I got done with my night shift job, I would go for 30 minutes just to do ab's and some cardio. Then I'd go home eat and shower, finally go to sleep and wake up around 11:00 am where I would then go back to the gym but with my gym partner. We would do our regular lifts on top of a little more ab's and cardio after the workout. My diet was also amazing, since i was still living at home with my mom I had the luxury of eating whatever she made on top of whatever food I bought. DIET IS HANDS DOWN THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF BODYBUILDING/WORKING OUT!!!

I kept at this really strong and consistently for 2 years and was starting to see really serious gains. I finally reached my goal of a 200 pound weight, consisting only of like %7 body fat. I was able to lift with the big boys, doing almost 275lb bench presses, 350lb squats, 300 lb deadlifts. Overall my body looked and felt really great.

Fast forward a year or two and I'm now in college with a part time job studio engineering job as well as trying to run a business. At the start of my college career I was still going to the gym however my diet was starting to become very unhealthy. I know how to cook and i'm a decent cook when I want to be however I started using the excuse of 'I dont have time to cook right now' and it turned into a really bad fast food habit. This sounds really bad, but for my first year at college I was eating fast food almost every single day.

I was trying to maintain my work outs while trying 'Out work' my bad diet, but any body builder will tell you that it just doesn't work like that. Food is fuel for the body, and just like a car, if you put in bad fuel in the car, it will run horribly and in the long run it will have major effects on the car.

I started noticing my stomach was constantly feeling like crap, I was becoming more lazy physically and was even starting to skip gym days just because 'I didn't feel like going.' This became a horrible habit that I wish I never started. It got to a point where I wasn't going to the gym for multiple weeks, and when I would actually go to the gym I wouldn't even do a full work out because my body was not in the same physical shape as before.

What I'm trying to get at is that your physical body and physical health plays a big role in your mental health. During my time of the no gym grind, I was noticing my school work and also my music was being affected. A lack of physical endurance and stamina will give you a lack of mental endurance and stamina as well.

In the last 2 months I've decided to stop using excuses when it comes to my physical health so I've cut down on the fast food alot, started cooking at home and cooking healthy food (not just making food that comes in a bag or a can because that stuff is usually just as bad as fast food.) I started at least running again to try and get my stamina back and then eventually going back to the gym and doing lifts. In just the two months that I started back up I've physically, mentally & spiritually have felt amazing. I've also noticed more motivation in general.

Moral of the story is, physical health is SUPER important to mental health. I mean I guess it's not rocket science right? But I felt the need to comment on this post because it hit right at home for me. I definitely think there is a fine line though because bodybuilding is certainly a FULL TIME job, and as a producer we need all the time we can get. When I was really in my prime for body building I was at the gym roughly 25 hours/ week, which is really alot of time if you think about it. I think it's important for us to all get a good routine that will keep us in good physical/mental shape without spending every waking minute at the gym.

'@countmorris' So true.
Before taking up music I was a lifeguard that required me to work out 5 days a week. Working on a desk without exercise has been happening more and more. I bought a bike for quick rides but it has been sitting in the garage more than anything.

It's so important to get not only exercise but get enough sleep too. I notice that if I don't enough sleep the night before, I have the energy to sit and work but can't be bothered exercising.

@BVB09'' @countmorris' So true.
Before taking up music I was a lifeguard that required me to work out 5 days a week. Working on a desk without exercise has been happening more and more. I bought a bike for quick rides but it has been sitting in the garage more than anything.

It's so important to get not only exercise but get enough sleep too. I notice that if I don't enough sleep the night before, I have the energy to sit and work but can't be bothered exercising.

Yeah sleep is important when you're training to be a bodybuilder but honestly in my opinion if your aspiring to be a musician/producer/engineer/artists than you should be training your body to function off as little sleep as you can. Anything over 6 hours of sleep is really just wasted time, but that's just my subjective opinion

@countmorris' This is an interesting post to me because I'm currently going through physical changes as a producer. I started my musical journey roughly 3-4 years ago. The first two years was just me trying to find myself in the scene and trying to find my sound. It was more or less a hobby at that time but I was also really into body building at this time. I went to the gym literally every single day, at one point I was even going twice a day. One time at 5:00 a.m. after I got done with my night shift job, I would go for 30 minutes just to do ab's and some cardio. Then I'd go home eat and shower, finally go to sleep and wake up around 11:00 am where I would then go back to the gym but with my gym partner. We would do our regular lifts on top of a little more ab's and cardio after the workout. My diet was also amazing, since i was still living at home with my mom I had the luxury of eating whatever she made on top of whatever food I bought. DIET IS HANDS DOWN THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF BODYBUILDING/WORKING OUT!!!

I kept at this really strong and consistently for 2 years and was starting to see really serious gains. I finally reached my goal of a 200 pound weight, consisting only of like %7 body fat. I was able to lift with the big boys, doing almost 275lb bench presses, 350lb squats, 300 lb deadlifts. Overall my body looked and felt really great.

Fast forward a year or two and I'm now in college with a part time job studio engineering job as well as trying to run a business. At the start of my college career I was still going to the gym however my diet was starting to become very unhealthy. I know how to cook and i'm a decent cook when I want to be however I started using the excuse of 'I dont have time to cook right now' and it turned into a really bad fast food habit. This sounds really bad, but for my first year at college I was eating fast food almost every single day.

I was trying to maintain my work outs while trying 'Out work' my bad diet, but any body builder will tell you that it just doesn't work like that. Food is fuel for the body, and just like a car, if you put in bad fuel in the car, it will run horribly and in the long run it will have major effects on the car.

I started noticing my stomach was constantly feeling like crap, I was becoming more lazy physically and was even starting to skip gym days just because 'I didn't feel like going.' This became a horrible habit that I wish I never started. It got to a point where I wasn't going to the gym for multiple weeks, and when I would actually go to the gym I wouldn't even do a full work out because my body was not in the same physical shape as before.

What I'm trying to get at is that your physical body and physical health plays a big role in your mental health. During my time of the no gym grind, I was noticing my school work and also my music was being affected. A lack of physical endurance and stamina will give you a lack of mental endurance and stamina as well.

In the last 2 months I've decided to stop using excuses when it comes to my physical health so I've cut down on the fast food alot, started cooking at home and cooking healthy food (not just making food that comes in a bag or a can because that stuff is usually just as bad as fast food.) I started at least running again to try and get my stamina back and then eventually going back to the gym and doing lifts. In just the two months that I started back up I've physically, mentally & spiritually have felt amazing. I've also noticed more motivation in general.

Moral of the story is, physical health is SUPER important to mental health. I mean I guess it's not rocket science right? But I felt the need to comment on this post because it hit right at home for me. I definitely think there is a fine line though because bodybuilding is certainly a FULL TIME job, and as a producer we need all the time we can get. When I was really in my prime for body building I was at the gym roughly 25 hours/ week, which is really alot of time if you think about it. I think it's important for us to all get a good routine that will keep us in good physical/mental shape without spending every waking minute at the gym.

thanks so much for sharing' @countmorris'