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Grammy-Nominated Fitness Fanatic (with Kitt Wakeley)

Written by David Tao
Last updated on November 11th, 2024

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Today I’m talking to Grammy-nominated composer, producer, and songwriter Kitt Wakeley. Kitt has a decades-long career in music, and he’s also a lifelong fitness fanatic. He joins us to talk about finding a path to wellness in the demanding and temptation-filled music industry, including tips for how he stays on track while on the road in regard to nutrition and fitness. Kitt also talks about his bucket-list collaborators, rock & roll stereotypes, and much, much more.

Kitt Wakeley on the BarBend Podcast

In this episode of The BarBend Podcast, David Thomas Tao and Kitt Wakeley discuss: 

  • Kitt is the second(!) Grammy-nominated artist on this podcast behind Ice-T (1:30)
  • Kitt takes us on his lifelong fitness journey, and how it became part of his artistic persona (2:30)
  • A normal week of fitness for the composer (6:30)
  • Why artists on the road need so much discipline (11:15)
  • The never-ending temptation of food while traveling for work and performance (13:40)
  • Pulling it together in airports and other tips on the road (17:00)
  • There are layers to this game, and orders of magnitude for performance and popularity (19:20)
  • Artists on Kitt’s collaboration bucket list (21:10)

Relevant links and further reading

Transcription

I was in New York. You’re familiar with Carnegie Hall. I’m trying to be strict. I’m trying to do everything, but you get backstage is 45 minutes before the show, and they had these massive chocolate chip cookies. They have every food you can imagine. There’s no carrot sticks. There’s no celery.

David TaoDavid Tao

Welcome to the “BarBend Podcast,” where we talk to the smartest coaches, athletes, and minds from around the world of strength. I’m your host, David Thomas Tao. This podcast is presented by barbend.com.

 

Today, I’m talking to Grammy-nominated composer, producer, and songwriter, Kitt Wakeley. Kitt has a decades-long career in music. He’s also a lifelong fitness fanatic. This guy just loves lifting weights.

 

He joins us to talk about finding a path to wellness in the demanding and temptation-filled music industry, including tips for how he stays on track while on the road. Kitt also talks about his bucket list collaborators, rock and roll stereotypes, and much, much more. Now, let’s get on with the show.

 

Kitt, I really appreciate you coming on the show today. Just wanted to ask how you’re feeling today. We’re going to talk about your passion for fitness in addition to your music career. How has your new year been fitness-wise so far?

It has been good. We always get that fresh reset as of January 1st in our psyche. Yeah, it’s been wonderful. It’s been clicking really well.

David TaoDavid Tao

That’s great to hear. I will say I was doing some prep for this. You’re actually the second Grammy-nominated musician we’ve had on the podcast. We had Ice-T on last year. I was going to say the first, but that would be doing him a disservice. He’s got a couple as well so just want to clarify.

He’s got a little weight that maybe you might want to acknowledge, yeah.

 

David TaoDavid Tao

He’s been around forever. He’s done some stuff in the industry, let’s put it that way. Also, really interesting and actually, I re-listened to that podcast, my interview with Ice-T to kind of set the groundwork here. He’s a legend in the music industry who has a huge passion for fitness. Big background in gymnastics, still a fitness fanatic today. I’d love to hear a little bit about your fitness journey.

 

We’re going to talk about the music, obviously, but I want to hear about your fitness journey. Take us on that chronology a little bit, if you don’t mind.

Yeah, we’re young. We’re in school. We see our buddies’ lifting weights and doing their thing. I caught the bug then and stuck with it through college. I was blessed that I didn’t have to do a lot before I started showing size and strength, so that made it a little more encouraging.

 

Then, being in music at that time as well, I could sport the fitness is part of my persona, and I kept that up. Then when I started to raise two daughters on my own, I fell out of that rhythm like I would.

 

As my career picked back up with music, by happenstance, I was also getting back into fitness. Borderline, I’ll shoot straight. Overweight, borderline, diabetic, high cholesterol, all the things that…I wasn’t proud of how I looked.

 

As my career started taking off, so did my fitness journey again. My doctor chuckles now. I’ve got the blood work of a 25-year-old he says, and I’m very proud of my physique at my age. That’s again become part of my persona within the music industry. “Kitt’s here, we all better eat right.”

 

 “We better be ready to go to the gym this morning with Kitt.” That kind of thing. It’s good checks and balances and keeps me in, this is what people expect. I know it’s good for my body, and I’m able to…It keeps me grounded.

David TaoDavid Tao

Something I was talking to Ice. I don’t know if I’m familiar enough with him to call him Ice. I’ll say Ice-T. I’ll say his full.

I call him T.

David TaoDavid Tao

We’ll call him T. He’s got these old friends, it’s just a bunch of us old pals reminiscing. He talked about the physical demands of being a performer. He’s into his ’60s. He gives still very electric performances. He’s running all over the place.

 

He talked about some collaboration, these concerts he did with rock musicians, and how he happened to sprint 100 yards across these massive stages into the crowd or on the catwalks.

 

He talked about those physical demands and how it’s always a reminder to him that at the end of the day, he’s a performer. There is physicality in music, and there’s also a lot of travel when it comes to music.

 

We were talking before we start recording, you travel a lot, and making your body more resilient helps you travel easier, at least one would assume. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that and how physicality impacts both performance for you, but also the rigors of travel and being on the road for a lot of the year.

When you’re hitting six cities in eight days, and the way the schedule works out, you get in at eight o’clock at night. By the time you get to your hotel, you’re at most restaurants, “I’m so sorry. I thought I had everything turned off.”

David TaoDavid Tao

It’s OK. The ice in my coffee was shaking and making noise on this, so you’re all good. We’ll keep that in. Actually, it’s a good color

More power to you, the reality. When you’re going from city to city like that and you get in late, even in a place like New York if you get settled, you don’t have that long before restaurants are closed so better meal prep. You are tired a lot.

 

Working out for me gives me that little sense of reality when you’re staying in hotels and things of that nature. Sometimes union workers don’t want to do their job so you’re lifting a lot of equipment.

 

When you’ve got a 100-pound keyboard case and your guitarist isn’t there yet to help load things, there’s so many variables. Then I’m sure maybe as Ice-T talked about, you’re in the studio or you’re on stage, you’re on, you’re just on.

 

When you come off, you get to flip the switch off a little bit. It’s exhausting. I never dreamed at how exhausting it could be. I think that staying in shape and keeping yourself grounded in some structure for the workout in all your travel is key.

David TaoDavid Tao

What does your fitness routine look in a normal week? Obviously, on the road, you get what you can. You’re scraping together what you can with hotel gyms, body weight. You name it. We’ve all figured that out for ourselves or constantly figuring it out.

 

Say that you’re settled. Say you’re in your routine, might be home. What is your fitness routine in an ideal scenario look like?

Of course, we all have our method behind our madness. What I personally do is I spend 30 minutes a day hitting a good compound movement on a particular body part. It might be chest one day with three or four exercises to push the strength variable.

 

Then right after that, I have a 50-minute class that I always attend. It’s not CrossFit, but it’s cut from the same cloth.

David TaoDavid Tao

Functional high intensity. Got it.

Thank you. High intensity and so I’m able to work on my cardio there. I’m able to get that lactic burn that maybe I got from my chest. The way that works out, if I go at least five days a week, I’m hitting every body part twice a week.

 

I’m getting my cardio and I’m not spending…I used to believe, “Oh, you got to spend two hours a day in the gym doing a jillion sets.” Then you realize, “Wait a minute, get the lactic burn, get some…” You can do a whole lot with a little less than you think. That’s how mine…

 

Then if I’m stuck somewhere, 9 times out of 10, if I will do 25 burpees, 10 man makers, 20 thrusts, and give myself a 60-second set of rest and do three rounds of that in a hotel with a little bit of lightweight, you are worn out.

 

You’re worn slick. Now, the people who are listening to this may go, “You got to get in better shape.” For me, I’m tired and I feel I got a worthy workout.

David TaoDavid Tao

What I always tell people with my jet lag care, because when I travel, if I’m traveling time zones, could be even one time zone. I get hit with jet lag really bad. The best thing for me is I do 100 burpees as soon as I get to my hotel room as a reset.

 

Some people listening to this will say, “Oh, that seems terrible.” Some people listening to this will say, “Oh, it’s not that bad.” If you do 100 burpee…I warm up a little bit beforehand, by the way. I’m not going into that cold.

 

If you do 100 burpees as quickly as you can, I don’t care who you are. You are going to break a sweat and you are going to be breathing heavy at the end. You could be the fittest person in the world and you will still feel that.

 

It is non-negotiable. If I change time zones and I get to a hotel, it is a non-negotiable for me. I’ve said that before and I tell people to do it. I get so many angry texts from people who say, “I did it and I sat on the floor for 20 minutes after.”

[laughs] I did that at the beginning of the pandemic. I would go, “OK, today I’m going to do 100 burpees.” That’s a special torture. More power to you.

David TaoDavid Tao

The thing about doing 100 burpees…Sorry to get on this train, but as someone who’s done it before…

No, you can do that.

David TaoDavid Tao

It gets you sore and you feel it in places you don’t expect. You think you’re going to feel it in the arms but you feel it in the lats. You feel it in the legs. I feel it in my calves, too.

If I’ve had a hardcore day the day before, really worked abs, I’m dumbfounded at how much we use core when we do a burpee. It’s the strangest thing or legs or whatever. Sadistic as it is, I love what…How about this? I love what a burpee can do for the body. I don’t love burpees.

 

David TaoDavid Tao

We’re not going to release the video of this recording, but I’m looking at Kitt, and the face he made after he said, I love, was just like second guessing. Just like, “Mm, is that right? Is that right?” Let me give some context here.

Like a bad ex-girlfriend.

David TaoDavid Tao

We don’t talk about that. We don’t talk about it. You love what they do for you. It’s like an old relationship. You love how it changed you, what it taught you. Going through it is a whole lot of grief, though. You know what I mean?

OK, I’m enjoying this. I appreciate that. That’s great.

David TaoDavid Tao

 I’m curious, Kitt. In your experience in the music industry, because you’ve been at this for a minute, met tons of people. I’m sure, worked with tons of different artists. It’s the nature of your game. Have you crossed paths with anyone who you’re immediately like, “Yeah, they share my passion for wellness, for fitness,” and it’s a part of them as a performer and as a musician?

No. Specifically, what I can tell you is I’m amazed at how many times I will sit down at a meal, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever. A lot of my peers, they may not have the size. We can tell they still have the physique, but they will eat very healthy. It’s the salmon or some type of protein with their salad. A lot of them, I don’t even see drink.

 

Specifically, there’s some that I don’t know that have been around like a John Legend or a Kevin Hart that I just really take it to passion. Then there’s all these engineers and producers and people in the industry that make it happen that are very strict about their physique and health and because they’re in a studio all day or they know they’re going to be traveling a lot.

 

I think it’s about 50/50, the ones that just don’t care. You can tell that I’ve got a lot of friends. They live and breathe by the lifestyle of trying to keep healthy.

David TaoDavid Tao

Do you think that there is…I mean, look, we’ve all seen VH1’s behind the music. You hear the horror stories. You see the biopics. Is there a temptation in the music industry to indulge in ways that are unhealthy? Is that still the way it is?

Oh my God, yes. I was really trying to be on my best behavior. I was in New York. You’re familiar with Carnegie Hall. I’m trying to be strict. I’m trying to do everything, but you get backstage is 45 minutes before the show and they have these massive chocolate chip cookies and they have every food you can imagine and there’s no carrot sticks. There’s no celery.

 

When you go night after night like that or you go to a granny party and it’s alcohol, I don’t drink. That’s one part I have in my side, but there’s alcohol for days and there’s food of every kind. The food is in front of you all the time and you don’t have a meeting to discuss a new project or who you’re going to work with or just to catch up.

 

You don’t just have a meeting at someone’s house. Where are you meeting? You’re meeting at a hotel. Food is just part of the world, if you will, and then we talked about how difficult it is to get in the gym and you’re so busy. I was in LA recently for four days. To get it all in I did breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner for four days.

David TaoDavid Tao

That’s just meeting. That’s just so you can meet with people. Each of those is a meeting?

Yeah. That’s the only time they want to meet. Thank you for tying that back in. If your world is centered around food before you walk on stage or during breaks or a union has food there, that is so easy just to grab, and it can be addictive.

David TaoDavid Tao

Convenience is the enemy of discipline, that’s for sure.

Yeah.

David TaoDavid Tao

That’s interesting. Now, you talked about meal prepping. I’m curious, are you someone who takes food on the road with you, or are you just pretty stringent about what you’re eating on the road and making sure you can find those sources ahead of time?

90 percent of the time I’ll do my meal prep before I go on the road, especially flights. That usually helps me out for a day or two. By the time you’re in a hotel and you’re coming back or you’re in a hotel going to your next stop, meal prep is just not an option. I usually take my protein bars, my protein mixes. That always gets airport security a little curious.

 

I take my powders and things like that with me. I would be pretty disingenuous to tell you that there are days I’ve went two or three days in a row through an airport, I’m in a hurry. As embarrassing as this is, I grab a bag of Cheetos in a Hershey’s bar and that was my meal for the day. I think to tell your audience anything different would be an out lie.

 

When it’s time to turn it on, and I don’t mean once every six months, when you’re back after three days of travel, you can’t afford to keep up that poor habit. You just fill in the blanks where you can.

David TaoDavid Tao

One thing I will say is I think traveling, the thing I don’t like in airports is the prices, but I will say the options have gotten better.

 Yes.

David TaoDavid Tao

You go to little newsstands or you go to the little places they have to get snacks. Sometimes they are having protein bars. I mean actual protein bars, not the candy bars those guys. You can get sometimes, I see hard-boiled eggs now.

 Yes. Fruit cups.

David TaoDavid Tao

I see fruit cups. I see nuts. Not like trail mix, it’s just all M&M’s, but I see actual options now. What always gets me is the fact that I look at the fruit cup and it’s $13, and I’m like, “What are you talking about?” but there are options. I think for travel, the thing I’ve always run into, it’s getting slightly better, but still an issue. It’s honestly a good source of protein is the issue.

I agree. My problem, like I said, not to make excuses, when you’re getting on airport at 8:00 and you’re waiting for your flight at 9:30 at night, the Hudson’s usually shuts down before that.

David TaoDavid Tao

Yep. Hudson News. [laughs]

f I can grab Panda Express, grab some chicken there, I’m really happy. We just kind of make do with what we can. I think the biggest thing that keeps me in check is I was doing a show in Austin. They’ve got all the photographers, they take the pictures and the videography, and I’ve never let that footage out of my hard drive because I saw what I looked like.

 

Like I said, I can’t stress to you enough, I’m not one of those guys that works out for a week, takes off for three weeks. I’m a guy that works out every day. Then sometimes I have to go a week and a half trying to figure it out.

 

That was a really bad stretch of me trying to do that. I was embarrassed, so I’ve never let those pictures out. I think that that is one of the biggest blessings I’ve had to to see the appearance and go, “OK, you’ve got to figure it out and do something better.”

David TaoDavid Tao

I do want to change a little bit just because we can talk about this all day. We can talk about this in the past, and that’s good. This is the BarBend Podcast. That’s what we like to talk about, but I would be remiss if I did not talk to you a little bit and ask a little bit about your music career because you’ve been in the business for a good long while.

 

Recently, you’ve experienced, I’m not going to call it breakout success because you broke out a long time ago, but you’ve had some real career triumphs in the last 24 months, 18 months even. I would love to hear a little bit about where your career is now and looking forward, what goals you still have in the industry?

Well, thanks for acknowledging that. I’ve been really blessed. Everything from Billboard Awards to number one billboards to now I’m nominated for a Grammy and we’ve got our fingers crossed for February 5th. I’m able to play some incredible places and I have a great team of people around me.

 

Even just going to London to record with the orchestra and then coming back here and recording with these famous Rock musicians. I live a very blessed life. It’s opened up a lot of doors for me. I really like to produce. I’ve got several projects I’m looking to do next year that are very highbrow.

 

Then actually this year I’m hoping to just produce and not have to compose. It’s just opened so many doors for film. In our world we can sell out 3,000 and 4,000 seats. We can’t sell out the 23,000. It’s still in our circles something I’m embracing and proud of. However, just as a plug, I am playing in Chicago. I’m playing United Center February 11th and it’s 23,000 people.

 

That one will be, we’ll have lots of photographs. If I have to Photoshop my physique, so be it but we’re going to embrace 23,000. It’s been a very blessed time.

David TaoDavid Tao

There’s a lot of history in that arena.

Yes.

David TaoDavid Tao

[laughs] You’ve got some tough acts to follow, but I’m sure you can. You talked about, I’m curious, you mentioned highbrow projects. What does that mean for you? For someone like me, I’m not in the music industry. I’m a consumer of music. I’m curious what that means for you.

 

I would say, one, you’re getting to work with some of the best musicians, some of the best engineers and producers. Of course, I’ll be on that team or heading the team.

 

Whether you’re working with one of the most famous guitarists there are or whether you’re working with one of the most famous engineers or the London Symphony or if you know it’s getting ready to be ready for a bigger budget movie, that’s what I consider a higher brow. I’ve been told, don’t ever take a step backwards.

 

I have so many things in line with some of the top musicians in different arenas that I couldn’t get these people to answer my calls two years ago. Now they’re calling me.

David TaoDavid Tao

They’re like, “Kitt Wakeley, what’s going on?”

Exactly.

David TaoDavid Tao

Who in the music industry are you hoping you get the chance to work with and maybe have not crossed paths with yet?

Wow.

David TaoDavid Tao

I’m sure there are a few, but it’s a big space.

The first one that just comes to mind is John Legend. I would do anything to sit in the same room as him and pull his creativity and just watch it. As far as in another world, it would have to be Hans Zimmer who scores the biggest movies in the world. Between those two, you’re getting a heck of an education.

 

Then I would love to watch Paul McCartney work. He likes to do some things that people don’t realize he’s doing to fool and tinker with the psyche of other musicians. Those would be the three right off the top.

David TaoDavid Tao

Paul McCartney, I assume at this point in his career, he’s 80 years old. I assume he can just do whatever he wants.

Yes.

David TaoDavid Tao

Does anyone say no to Paul McCartney?

[laughs] I don’t think so.

David TaoDavid Tao

Whatever kind of music he wants to do, he can call up whoever he wants. They have to just drop what they’re doing and fly to meet him, I guess?

When I was in London last summer, we were recording at Abbey Road and they said he stops by, sits back there. They’ve got a cafe there and he’ll sit there and talk shop, drink coffee. He’s holding court. They love it.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

What else are you going to do? I can’t think of a single person in the world who wouldn’t drop what they’re doing to hang out with Paul McCartney. There’s a level.

 

He is a legend.

David TaoDavid Tao

There are layers to the game, and at the tippy top, I would say he’s up there. I don’t know if Ringo pulls that cachet, I’m kidding.

[laughs] You said that.

David TaoDavid Tao

I’m joking. Ringo fans, if you’re listening to this podcast, love you to death, most underrated Beatle in my mind. Anyway, talk about production versus composition and how you want to do more production. Is your bandwidth for production greater than for composition?

The thing I like about producing other artists is, depending on the level that you’re producing, I’m able to bring in the best of the best musicians. I’m able to listen to that artist what their vision was and go, “OK, that’s cute. Now let’s do this. Let’s add this drum sound. How about we add this fill? How about we add this new keyboard layer?”

 

’80s sounds, that’s coming back on synth sounds. Before you know it, when you see the artists, they just light up and go, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know it could be this.” When you’re composing for yourself, you’re composing every little note, so it’s more stressful but more rewarding in the end. They both have huge advantages.

David TaoDavid Tao

I appreciate that. I’ve never known what to Google in comparing those things. I didn’t have the vocabulary to actually spot much of the difference, so I appreciate a little bit of that taking us to what it was.

 I always try to educate people when you see that hit song, I’m not going to mention artists because there’s a lot of them. They had this big hit song. “Well, I’m glad you came in and sang the tune,” but then the producer is the guy who made the hit.

 

I think they’re the biggest unsung heroes. That’s why they usually are when the artist gets the Grammy, the producer usually gets one right there with them. It’s the unspoken word.

David TaoDavid Tao

 I hear producers get paid decently these days as well.

[laughs] I make a whole lot more money producing than I do off my own albums.

 

David TaoDavid Tao

There you go. I was glad I teased that out of you. I didn’t want to be gauche about that, but hey, it makes a lot of sense. You’re doing a lot of the work, deservedly so.

 

Grammys are coming up, play in the United Center. February’s going to be a big month for you. Holy cow. Anything that you know is on. I know there’s a lot that might be in the goal realm right now or still has yet to be planned. Anything else on the calendar for 2023, you’re like, “Yeah, that, I’m looking forward to that.”

I’ve been going to Cabo and hanging out for about a month.

David TaoDavid Tao

You’re going to Cabo and hanging out. OK.

Just hitting pause in life. I can’t stress to you. By the way, we have a gym right there at the condo.

David TaoDavid Tao

 [laughs] I assumed you had some stuff set up.

 I know it doesn’t sound sexy, but for me, what I’m looking forward to is catching my breath for the first time in about two and a half years.

 

David TaoDavid Tao

Seems like it’s been a roller coaster. It really does. A roller coaster that you’ve prepped for and hey, fitness, wellness, huge parts in being able to weather that up and down as we talked about. Kitt Wakeley, where’s the best place for people or the best places for people to follow along with you, your music, upcoming projects, anything like that?

Obviously, it’s hard for listeners to jot it all down. You can look on iTunes and Spotify. Most of the time I tell people, “Google Kitt Wakeley and something’s going to pop up that you can click on and listen to the music or buy. We only get paid 0.0416 cents when you listen. Download and purchase.”

David TaoDavid Tao

Support artists, purchase the music. Kitt, I super appreciate your time.

 

We’ll have links to social media and things like that in the show notes as well. It’s been a pleasure chatting with the second Grammy-nominated artist on this podcast. Let’s see if we can rack up the score later this year. I super appreciate your time.

You got great disposition. I appreciate that so much.

David TaoDavid Tao

About David Tao

BarBend's Co-Founder and CEO, David is a veteran of the health & fitness industry, with nearly a decade of experience building and running editorial teams in the space. He also serves as a color commentator for both National and International weightlifting competitions, many through USA Weightlifting.

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