Chuck Kirkendall, widely recognized as "Kali Muscle," has become a prominent figure in the bodybuilding, acting, and YouTube community. His path is marked by significant transformations, both physically and in his overall approach to health. Kali Muscle's journey into bodybuilding began during his time in prison, and decades later, he’s still going strong in his 50s. This article examines Kali Muscle's weight loss strategies, workout routines, dietary adjustments, and overall lifestyle changes, particularly after his heart attack in 2021.
From Ex-Con to Icon: The Rise of Kali Muscle
Kali Muscle's story is one of transformation and resilience. He has appeared in commercials for Taco Bell, Geico, Snickers, Honda, Comcast, and other companies. Kali also runs a very successful Youtube channel called Kali Muscle, where he posts videos about working out, outrageously huge lifts, the food he eats for gains, mukbangs, music videos, short skits, and motivational videos. Some of the videos that got him famous were his video series about the workouts and foods he would eat while in jail. From ex-con to icon, Kali Muscle has amassed 2.52 million followers on Youtube and has over 400 million views on his videos.
Born on February 18, 1975, in Oakland, California, Chuck Kirkendall, or Kali Muscle, faced numerous challenges early in life. He excelled in football, wrestling, and track and field as a teen, even securing a football scholarship to Fresno State University as a running back. Unfortunately, in his second year, he got into trouble due to a lack of finances.
It was during his time in San Quentin prison that Kali Muscle began his bodybuilding journey. At San Quentin prison, Kali Muscle began to grow because he was eating foods like honey, buns, ramen, tuna spreads, and Duncan sticks. “I was huge. I was 230 [lbs]. After being released from prison, Kali Muscle had one goal: to spread positivity through bodybuilding and fitness in the streets. “My sole purpose on this earth is to help the kids. I started my foundation XCON to ICON, where I’m going into juvenile halls, prisons, and CYAs,” he said.
The Turning Point: A Health Scare
In November 2021, Kali suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital, where he was told he had a 100% blockage of his left coronary artery. He underwent surgery and was later discharged from the hospital. This near-fatal event served as a catalyst for significant lifestyle changes. He has cut out all steroids and often speaks out against the use of certain substances. Kali has dropped weight while maintaining a shredded build.
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Kali Muscle's Post-Heart Attack Workout Routine
Kali Muscle’s workout routine before his heart surgery was a prison-intense workout with low volumes, high-intensity sets, and heavy weights. However, now, Kali Muscle has changed his workout. Kali Muscle recently dropped a video on his Youtube channel showing what he eats in a day and an at-home workout he did in his home gym. The video starts off with Kali showing off some of the supplements out of his personal line that he takes. Some of his routines are simple at-home workouts that are equally effective in building muscle. All you need is a pair of dumbbells and the determination to complete the routines. Here is Kali Muscle’s workout routine.
His home workout starts with some high rep (20+ each set) machine calf raises with relatively light weights. Kali believes that high reps and working them every day is the best way to build your calves. Kali hops onto his machine chest press for his second exercise and completes 15-20 reps with some light weights. During the exercise, he says to focus on keeping the tension on his chest by just pumping the reps instead of completing each rep all the way till lockout. He believes that not completing the rep each time and pumping the weight is where he started to see tremendous results in his body because he was pushing as much blood as he could into the muscles.
He doesn't want to be as big as he was before the heart attack. Instead, he wants to be as ripped and healthy as possible. The third exercise on his workout was some dumbbell chest presses; just like the previous exercises, he kept the weight relatively light and with high reps in the 15-20 range. You can tell he was focusing more on the pump during the exercise instead of lifting heavier weights. After some quick sets on the flat bench, he moves to pec deck flys on the machine. Just like the rest of the workout reps are high with light weight, focusing on squeezing his pecs at the top of the exercise. For his last exercises of the day, he finishes with a superset of some seated lateral raises with dumbbells and triceps pushdowns.
Here’s a closer look at a home workout inspired by Kali Muscle:
- Calf Raises: High repetition machine calf raises with lighter weights (20+ reps per set).
- Machine Chest Press: 15-20 reps with light weights, focusing on maintaining tension on the chest by pumping reps instead of full lockouts.
- Dumbbell Chest Presses: Light weights with high reps in the 15-20 range, emphasizing the pump.
- Pec Deck Flyes: High reps with light weight, focusing on squeezing the pecs at the top of the exercise.
- Superset: Seated lateral raises with dumbbells and triceps pushdowns.
Dietary Changes and Supplementation
Kali Muscle’s diet is all about what keeps him healthy. Post-workout, Kali's wife makes him a delicious-looking chicken salad with berries, avocado, apples, carrots, and mixed greens. He doesn’t take caffeine anymore and only takes supplements that don’t affect his health. One of the things he takes before his workout is honey, which he says he used to take a lot during his workouts while incarcerated. He also took Hyphy aminos, caffeine gum, and a Hyphy brain supplement to his pre-workout intake. His meals are mostly whole foods with essential macronutrients like protein, carbs, and fats.
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Kali Muscle broke down the reasons why he committed to watermelon for nine days in a row. “That’s the whole precept of this watermelon challenge or whatever or fruitarian diet, raw food diet, is to keep your system not having to struggle to break down food. To get food written out of your stomach and intestines because as you know, all of us that was on a sad diet. Not only did Kali eat watermelon but he wanted everything to be focused around the fruit. “Y’all still be using deodorants, using weird lotions and oils. If this is going to be all watermelon, it’s going to be all watermelon…Anything on this bod is watermelon. “Toothpaste, I use the doctor Broner peppermint. I wish he had a watermelon one. Toilet paper, watermelon. I don’t even use toilet paper no more. I got one log like a dog. It comes out in one piece.
Avoiding PEDs and Promoting Health
During his time as a bodybuilder, he had to take a break after a severe heart attack that nearly caused his death. Since then, Kali Muscle vowed to stop taking PEDs. He even went as far as warning both beginners and professional athletes about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs. Before his heart attack, Kali Muscle admitted to being hypersensitive to steroids. “I was hypersensitive to steroids back then. Taking 500 milligrams per week of testosterone when I was competing. I was scared of tren, so I kept it under testosterone. I was taking 400 mg a week of that.
“To get ready for shows, I would take clenbuterol, T3, winstrol, all the stuff. I was reading. I had books, and I was on the internet for hours a day because I didn’t want to kill myself. Though he used steroids, he claimed he always did extensive research on these drugs. He always made sure he used them safely, occasionally cycling off these compounds for a period of two to three months, leading to weight loss. Kali Muscle has warned fellow IFFB bodybuilders like William Bonac, Nick Walker, and Andrew Jacked against using PEDs. With his experience of using PEDs, he admits their merits. Besides getting cycling off PEDs, his strict dietary routines also yielded weight loss.
Mental Resilience and Motivation
Kali Muscle's journey is not just about physical transformation; it's also about mental resilience. He emphasizes the importance of a positive mindset and determination. After being released from prison, Kali Muscle had one goal: to spread positivity through bodybuilding and fitness in the streets. “My sole purpose on this earth is to help the kids. I started my foundation XCON to ICON, where I’m going into juvenile halls, prisons, and CYAs,” he said.
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