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Based out of sunny Los Angeles, DJ and Producer Mama Jugo is no stranger to outdoor workouts, especially being a personal trainer herself.
In fact, she launched her mix series Fittest on Earth to bring sunshine to locked down party-goers like herself who needed the extra motivation. Her workout mixes and party fueled playlists on Mixcloud bring high energy sets aimed to keep you moving — whether that’s for a beach party, leg day workout, or an aperol spritz fueled vacation. Today she’s working on original music and planning to launch herself as an artist in 2023, but until then she’s focused on her work as a DJ and presenter for Pitbull’s Globalization on Sirius XM.
Read on to learn about Mama Jugo’s top five tips for creating the perfect workout mix.
Start with Something Upbeat
Everyone needs a little nudge at the start of a workout, so it’s important to make sure your mix starts off strong. You can do this by using motivational audio from a big sports moment, or using a positive, energetic and uplifting song. Before I start my workouts I think about what song would take my excitement levels from a 10 to an 11.
Mix it Up, Surprise Your Listeners
The perfect workout mix includes high intensity moments mixed in with fun surprises. What I mean to say is, if I am playing an EDM song at 128BPM, I like to every so often switch to a hip hop song anywhere from 60 to 100 BPM because that unexpected change of pace keeps your listeners on their toes. Whether you are on a run, doing HIIT intervals, strength training or everything in between my mixes are like a musical roller coaster.
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Make Space for Rest in Your Mix
In line with my last tip, it’s helpful to remind your listeners to rest between reps, so changing the pace allows space for that. A hip hop or pop track at a lower BPM will give your listeners a cool down and lower intensity to their workout (if needed) or to simply get a drink of water. But remember this is not a moment to check out of the workout completely! Don’t get any ideas.
Use Your Mix To Share New Music
Every workout has a different goal and vibe, and sometimes it’s your job to set the mood. I like to curate a mix that features current, fresh sounding tracks, the occasional throwback is always welcome because it keeps people going but, overall I like to introduce my audience to new music, remixes, edits that are exciting to me. I may use a certain song across a variety of mixes but it will never sound the same because I have so many edits of my favorite songs. To be honest, one my favorite parts of being a DJ and being the one to share new, fresh and current sounds!
Get Your Mix Branding On Point
Before the pandemic I worked with open format king, DJ VICE and learned the importance of branding. Personally I want my branding to be super colorful, so the cover art for my shows stands out amongst the dozens of other mixes on my followers’ feed. Usually I feature some of my favorite athletes in their peak performance poses on my workout mix cover artwork as a preview of what to expect when my listeners press play.
Discover Mama Jugo on Mixcloud.
