Despite a profession that quite literally involves partying all over the world, legendary DJ and producer Steve Aoki is anything but a hedonist. In fact, he's as invested in his health and longevity as even the most hardcore biohacker.
MH sat down with Aoki to talk ice baths, muscle-ups, his 50-a-day supplement regime, and his philanthropic quest to support brain science organisations through the Aoki Foundation.
This is gonna start in a dark place. My father died of cancer in 2008, and after he passed away, I dove headfirst into a lot of cancer books because I wanted to understand what it does, how you stop it early. And what I realised is that I knew very little about nutrition. I was a vegan for ethical reasons, but I was pretty much just carb-loading.
After he died, it just led me down the path of nutrition and health. It really opened up my mind – how to hack the body, certain things you can do to increase your longevity and your energy. I started using my energy levels as the barometer for quality of life.
Meditation. Everyone can find time for that. It can be a five-minute thing. I brought in a transcendental meditation (TM) coach and she sat with me two hours every day, sometimes three and we meditated for the whole time. Like anything, to create a pattern that's consistent, you have to do it every day for at least three weeks. You're not going to see results unless you're consistent.
When I'm at home, I'm pretty diligent with my cold plunges, with my saunas. I take about like 50 supplements a day. It's a bit excessive but I don't mind. I can swallow 25 in one go.
The other thing I learned is the importance of [tracking] metrics. You need to know what your baseline is.
Blood work is a go-to, that's something I think everyone should be doing. I also do something called neurofeedback. You put on this brain-cap and it detects all the frequencies across your whole brain! You can get a lot of information about areas that of the brain can result in anxiety or depression or ADHD. I'm obsessed with the brain. It's really important to just take a look under the hood.
It's difficult because I do 200-plus shows a year. I've played five countries in 40 hours before. One of the basic things is I just don't partake in 'nightlife extras', you know? I just don't do it.
There are extra things you can do, like getting a cold plunge when you get back to the hotel, but one of the most important things is just sleeping whenever possible. I treat myself like an athlete.
My show is already a cardio workout. And I've seen the burn: some shows, I've broken 1,500 calories, when the stage is big and I'm doing a lot of running. You need strength-bearing workouts as well. Gyms are everywhere, so whenever possible, I do a quick strength-training workout.
And I am an adrenaline junkie. So, especially when we're doing the summer tours and we're on the coast, we're on a boat and finding cliffs to jump off or I'm rock climbing. Free diving is something I've picked up over the last couple of years. It's fun and kind of scary.
Bruce Lee. Well, I mean, he's just the ultimate human. His philosophy, his training. I'm obsessed.
I love pull-ups. I'm pretty shit at them, but I love a pull-up. I'm always doing pull-ups before I go on stage. You're getting your upper body, your back, your core. My goal is to do a muscle-up, but I can't do a one yet.
Yakitori. But it's got to be done correctly, like binchotan charcoal.
That's important, because you get that smokiness on the chicken. And by a Japanese chef.
Sixteen-year-old Steve was a very scared, very shy. He definitely had no idea what his future had in store for him. I would just tell him to do what you're doing because you're gonna be really successful later on. And if one thing fails, it's absolutely ok. Don't give yourself a hard time.
You can watch the full interview on the Men's Health podcast at the top of the page, on YouTube, or listen via Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
2024-07-26T14:10:56Z dg43tfdfdgfd