Get to know Khaled Chikhaoui – IFBB PRO Athlete

Get to know the ATP Lab supplement brand and the athletes who represent our lifestyle through our new exclusive interviews.

ABOUT THE ATHLETE My name is Khaled Chikhaoui I am originally from Tunisia and currently living in Montreal Quebec Canada. I am 32 years old, a software engineer / entrepreneur by day, and a bodybuilder by night. Son of a diplomate, I was fortunate to live in various countries while growing up (Tunisia, Italy, Egypt, France USA and now Canada). Having been submerged into various cultures, religions and languages, I feel blessed to have come out of this with a baggage of knowledge and languages that I wouldn’t have been able to attain had I not traveled this way. I entered my first bodybuilding competition in 2008, a few years later I turned pro by winning the overall title of the Canadian national championship in 2016, and now I am at the highest competitive level in the world, and the drive and fire for competitive bodybuilding is still burning inside of me.    

Question 1

WHAT IS THE ONE WORD THAT DESCRIBES YOU BEST?

Khaled: Discipline.

Question 2

WHAT ARE YOUR TOP-3 FAVORITE ATP LAB SUPPLEMENT PRODUCTS?

Khaled: If I had to choose only 3, which is difficult, I would say, in no particular order: E-nos, EAA and Myoprime. But at the same time, I could never go a day without my Total Defense multivitamin in the morning and my training after Synermag ... oh yes and my MindMag before going to bed.

Question 3

When did you start your career as a trainer and professional athlete?

Khaled: Back in college, when I really started getting into training and nutrition, I decided to get my Personal trainer certification to put in practice my acquired knowledge while following a minor in nutrition.  A couple of years later in 2006, I started my first job as a personal trainer at a local gym close to the university I was attending. I started competing in 2008 and attained my professional status in 2016.

Question 4

IF YOU COULD CHOOSE ANOTHER CAREER OR SPORT WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Khaled: It's actually funny because, by asking myself this question I realize that I would have chosen the same exact path I am on right now. I am really blessed to have been able to make choices in my life that led me to where I am today. I keep playing the scenario over and over again in my head, and no matter what discipline or sport I can think of, I still would have made the same choices. I guess this portraits how much passion I have for what I do.
Question 5

WHAT OR WHO MADE YOU WANT TO PURSUE AN ACTIVE AND HEALTHY LIFESTYLE?

Khaled: I think personal goals should align with your personal values and strengths. There is something about following a healthy lifestyle that accentuates some values that are very important to me and I thrive to strengthen. Following a strict regimented lifestyle, forces me to be more structured, organized and focused. When I apply that energy on other aspects of my life, such as business it pushes me to attain new goals because it brings out a side of me that is even more ambitious, determined and grounded. Thats what made me want to pursue a healthy lifestyle.
Question 6

WHEN IT COMES TO OUR PROTEIN SUPPLEMENT FLAVOURS, WHICH ONE DO YOU PREFER?

Vanilla, Chocolate, Raspberry or Salted Caramel?

Khaled: I have always been a chocolate kind of guy, so thats always my first pick.

Question 7

WHAT IS YOUR POSITION ON THE USE OF ILLEGAL OR UNCONTROLLED DRUGS IN CERTAIN SPORTS SUCH AS THE FITNESS WORLD?

Khaled: I have a very strong opinion on this. Health and longevity has always been above and beyond all priorities in my book. It’s really sad to see that many  in this industry are taking health lightly and using products and/or substances without really knowing how it could affect their health in the long run. I have always been pro-health and thats one of the main reasons I associated myself with ATP.
Question 8

IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Khaled: I believe that all humans are imperfect and so we constantly have to be working on ourselves to become better. To successfully do this, we have to first admit that we are not perfect and also have the ability to allocate our weaknesses and flaws on a daily basis. Thanks to my mother, I have implemented this “code” into my conscious behaviour a very long time ago, and it became almost a second nature for my brain to catch these flaws and weakness and to instantly put in the work :) I guess Its kinda kind of hard to pin what exactly I am working on but I like to think that I am a constantly evolving person working on bettering myself. Maybe I could be a little less introvert as well, that could be nice.

Question 9

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE SPORTS HERO?

Khaled: Its hard to just name one, between Micheal Jordan, Bruce lee, and Mohammed Ali. I think I will go with Mohammed Ali. I choose him as a hero, not only because he excelled in his sport, but for how he stood for what he believed in. He was a solid powerful figure with very profound set of principles. Giving up was not in his DNA no matter the ossicle no matter the difficulty, and I vouch for that and thrive to alway be that way.

Question 10

WHAT IS THE BEST PART ABOUT COMPETING?

Khaled: As I mentioned earlier, following a healthy and active lifestyle brings out a very driven side of me. Well getting ready for a competition also does that but even more Intensely. The strict regiment, the attention to details, the timing, the synchronization of the mind and body, the determination, the drive, the visualisation, the patience, the curiosity, the self control, the inner strength… all this structure is indispensable in a competition preparation, and when approached properly, you come out of a prep with a heightened set of skills and abilities that when applied on other aspects of you life you get to be a much better version of yourself. That for me is the best part about competing. It goes without saying that when I get to 3 weeks out or so, a slice of pizza can easily become the best part of life!

Question 11

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG TO LISTEN TO PRIOR TO COMPETING?

Khaled: My posing routine song, becomes my favorite one close to the show. I like to listen to it over and over again as it allows me to visualise myself on stage performing. It gives me a little boost of motivation.

Question 12

If you had super powers, what would they be and what would your superhero name be?

Khaled: I think teleportation would be my first pick. I love going to new places, attending various events and conferences at many different locations but the actual time it takes to get there whether it's walking, flying or driving (or the combination of all) is quite exhausting and a waste of time. To be able to instantly be somewhere whenever I want, like visiting my mother back home or friends and family from various countries would be outstanding. I would be able to save hours everyday in my commute, have more time to get more things done, spend some time with family somewhere around the globe, get my workout in at the oxygen gym for instance then be back home in time for a good episode before hitting the sac.

Question 13

What is your guilty pleasure or favorite cheat meal?

Khaled: It depends on when you ask me that question. If I’m asked that question a few weeks out from a show, the list would be endless. But around a more stable time during the year, I would say burgers and ice-cream are my weakness.

Question 14

WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL HEALTH GOALS FOR THIS YEAR?

Khaled: I really want to focus on my mobility and flexibility this year. I feel it's getting in the way of my performance in the gym as well as on stage while posing.

Question 15

Being of Tunisian origin, are you interested or do you follow the fitness scene back home?

Khaled: Oh yeah, I follow my Tunisian Channels on youtube and instagram! I also have many friends in Tunisia that are involved in the fitness industry, wether in the competitive or business scene. It's very interesting and satisfying to see that the fitness industry is rapidly growing in my home country as well.

Question 16

How does it feel to be an olympian and part of the elite in your field?

Khaled: I would say the biggest difference, is that now that I have reached this level of competition, It doesn’t feel that competing is just about me anymore. I feel this huge energy behind me, that stems from all the fans, the people that follow me, support me, encourage me and want to see me succeed. I feel that my journey is inspiring a lot of people around me, sometimes to take the courage to go after the dreams they never thought they could accomplish (weather its to change their health habits, overcoming obstacles of any kind, or believing that hard work does eventually pay off).

Question 17

Tell us about your FitLog app and how your career as a software engineering influenced the way you train?

Khaled: Fitlog is an online platform I created a few years back. Being a coach myself, I have always found it very challenging to keep up with all my clients and make sure I remember all the details about every single one of them.

In addition, it was extremely time consuming to create diets and workouts through the conventional ways (Excel spreadsheet or MS word). So many details would always get lost and buried in emails, its hard enough to keep up with our daily emails as it is.

For these reasons I decided to build Fitlog, to help out trainers and coaches around the world. Fitlog is basically a one stop shop for trainers and coaches. They can do anything for their clients, from creating diets, workouts, supplementation protocoles, keeping track of body compositions, strength and progress pictures, taking appointments and setting reminders and so many other features. Its still a work in progress and will always be. I want to make Fitlog one of the biggest softwares in the fitness industry.

I have always been into science and engineering, which made it very important for me to always understand the deepest reasons and logic behind everything I do in the gym as well as everything I put in my body.

How the exercise movements are performed, the mechanics of training and the science behind it all was so important to me. This was obviously the case too for nutrition supplementation. I always had to dig and understand every reason behind every diet approach, every effect and side effect of every ingredient that is used in the all the supplements I choose to use. People that know me, know that I am very picky and strict when it comes to health so for me understanding science behind everything the whys and the hows became almost an obsession and for that I thank my engineering side.

Question 18

WHY ATP LAB?

Khaled: When it comes to supplements, I always make sure that I am getting my money’s worth, we all know how using supplements can easily hurt our savings account. I very quickly became skeptical about the quality and content of the supplements I was buying early on in my carrer. I dont know if this was due to the powerful advertisement I was seeing, but at times I felt it was all a marketing game, which made me wary vis-a-vis the quality or supplements.

I was introduced to ATP Lab a few years back when I was attending a course on training and nutrition. It was very admirable to see that the person giving the course was one of the ATP Lab’s owners. It's important to me to see that the people behind the products are knowledgeable about what they are selling. In this case it went beyond my expectation. After digging around about ATP products, the team, their methods and vision, I was astonished by how much emphasis they put on the quality and purity of every single product they put on the market. ATP Lab’s  team, stand on very solid values and they go the extra mile to make sure every product is optimized to deliver the highest level of results while minimizing any possible side effects. They do so by using the highest quality methods and ingredients possible, and it really shows when I started using they products only.

Question 19

IN A FEW WORDS, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO FANS WHO SEEK A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE?

Khaled: I strongly advise people to get educated as much as possible. Try to avoid listening to what he or she said or reading random blogs online. Invest in your health and well-being and learn as much as you can on the matter. By educating yourself, whether it's through a course a coach or reading books and articles, you will end up saving a lot of time in reaching your goals and most importantly save your health by not randomly applying other people’s theories. Be patient and commit your self to this for the long run. Find a balance that will allow you to feel good and progress in other aspects of your life as well. Do it for the right reasons, not just for the appearance, thats just a bonus.

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