It is hard to take Mumbi Kagombe at her word when she calls herself an introvert, even when she insists on it.
Not on this chilly Nairobi morning, with the air still wet from last night’s rain. Mumbi is anything but quiet. She is a burst of motion and sound – loud, vibey, playful, almost electric – even as she dead-hangs on a calisthenics bar she built in her backyard in one of the city’s swanky neighbourhoods.
It is even harder to believe that beneath all that energy and aura, the well-toned, slim-thick (a compliment she affirms) 39-year-old – who turns 40 next month – is carrying grief.
About two weeks ago, she parted ways for good with a man in her life. Her favourite man. The one she says loved her deeply, so completely he could not have hidden it even if he tried – and whom she loved just as fiercely.
“You would know he loved me from just how he looked at me. Genuine love, you always know when you see it. I saw it in his eyes every time. He never hid it. He just couldn’t,” she says.
The laughter, bubbliness and mischief drain almost instantly when I ask what happened. Her voice softens, and then tears follow – slow and unhurried, tracing her cheeks.
“My father died about two weeks ago. The love of my life. He was 85 and had been unwell. He was diabetic. This… this is how I choose to grieve him.” She gestures towards the bar.
“Working out has been incredibly cathartic for me during this difficult season. He loved that I did. He fully supported my addiction and always encouraged me to stay strong, mobile, flexible, healthy,” she adds quietly.
Memory keeper
The man she called dad was no ordinary man. Dr Maina David Kagombe was one of Kenya’s most respected archivists – a keeper of memory – fittingly, a former director at the Kenya National Archives.
Even at 85, ailing Dr Kagombe still enjoyed having a front-row seat to his daughter’s fitness obsession.
“When I wanted to build the calisthenics setup at my parents’ home, my mum was against the idea. So I went to my dad, and permission was granted,” she says, managing a faint smile.
She pauses, then adds, almost laughing through the ache:
“He loved the noise I make, especially on Saturday mornings during my kickboxing session. He would hear me and enjoy it. He even had Kikuyu names for the moves – ngudi for a punch, teke for a kick.”
Even as Mumbi prepares to carry on with her fitness ritual without her number one cheerleader, her body tells its own story. You cannot miss it. The discipline, the years, the quiet war she has waged with gravity.
Coach Joseph Oloo, whom many regard as Kenya’s master of the craft, has walked by her side to date.
“At some point in my career, I worked in Juba and built my calisthenics gym there, too. I would train with Jos online. I have never had an excuse. I am a creature of habit, and that is what helps me stay consistent with my workouts.”
Mumbi Kagombe, 39, executing a sissy squat, a high-intensity bodyweight exercise that isolates the quadriceps by forcing them to work through a large range of motion while the hips stay extended, causing the knees to travel far forward, at her backyard in Nairobi, on May 1, 2026.
Photo credit: Sinda Matiko | Nation Media Group
Body work
The evidence is written all over her. Her back is sculpted and feminine, carved by countless reps targeting the lats and rear delts, giving her that clean V-taper and upright posture.
Her abs are sharply defined – the kind that would hold their own even in a men’s bodybuilding competition. The rest of her frame follows suit: lean, toned, balanced. All of it earned, rep by rep, on bars and calisthenic rings.
And then there is the quiet flex. Even with a shoulder injury, Mumbi still knocks out 10 pull-ups with ease – a move that would trouble many fit men.
But the story of how she got here did not begin in a backyard like this. She was about 18 when her aunt, a fitness enthusiast, took one look at her and decided something needed to be done.
“My aunt is actually the one who dragged me to the gym because my hips were getting… let’s say, very generous. I am bottom-heavy, you know, and at that age, I was filling up really well because I did not care about what I ate. I ate everything,” she says with a grin.
Mumbi became consistent at 21.
“Since then, I have been working out all those years.”
She became disciplined with the gym and weights, and also formed a serious running habit – one that once had her clocking 30 kilometres on Saturday long runs through Tigoni, the Arboretum and “just about every road in Nairobi worth running”.
Then Covid-19 happened. The gyms closed. Her brother, who had at one point reached 150 kilos before losing a remarkable 60 kilos over three years through lifestyle change, introduced her to calisthenics coach Oloo.
That was the beginning of something that would quietly take over her life.
“When I went for my first calisthenics session, I thought I was strong. I thought I was fit, flexible, everything. But that one session humbled me, and I knew I had no idea.”
She now trains with him four times a week, adds two kickboxing sessions on weekends, and maintains the routine even when she travels outside the country for work.
Mumbi Kagombe executes a dead hang pose, which works to relax the body weight to decompress the spine, stretch shoulders/lats, and build grip strength in her backyard in Nairobi on May 1, 2026.
Photo credit: Sinda Matiko | Nation Media Group
Deep discipline
“For me, it is a privilege we take for granted, that you can wake up and move your body. Not everyone can. I saw that with my father as he grew weaker, every day, until he could no longer walk by himself without help. There are people who struggle to get out of bed. So for me, it is also a way of thanking God for the body I have. You only get one. You have to maintain it. There are no spare parts.”
Over time, her routine sharpened into discipline.
“People want a microwave body. But muscles you cannot buy. Getting to the weight or physique you want, that is actually the easy part. Maintaining it, that is where most people disappear.”
That is why her lifestyle is as structured as her physique. She eats deliberately — a self-described pollo-pescatarian, a semi-vegetarian eating pattern that includes poultry and seafood while excluding red meat and pork. Sugar is also out of bounds, though she allows herself the occasional indulgence: a cake today, perhaps a soda next month.
“I eat like an old person. Lots of omena, njahi, eggs, smoked salmon, dark greens, chicken — plenty of protein,” she laughs.
Alcohol is off the table too. It has been a year and a half — a decision shaped partly by the realities of approaching perimenopause and the changes it brings.
“The hot flashes, the moodiness — it is not comfortable. You feel like you have a thermostat inside you and it has some personal vendetta against you. You are sweating in the cold, your sleep is affected. So I had to adjust.”
For Mumbi, the motivation to keep going is now beyond aesthetics. It runs deeper. It is personal.
With her late father diabetic and later developing hypertension, she watched — up close and over years — what lifestyle diseases can quietly take from a person.
“I saw it firsthand,” she says quietly. “I saw how his muscles just wasted away. If you do not use it, you lose it. And I do not want that for myself. He knew it — and that is why he became my greatest motivator.”
Health hedge
Some people, she admits, often wonder how she keeps it up. They cite children, schedules, husbands, and life. She listens, understands — and then gently pushes back.
“I may not be married or have any children. But working out — at least you owe yourself that. And you owe it to the people who love you and depend on you. They need you well. For you to be well, you need to be strong. And how else can you be if you cannot challenge your body? Making excuses is always the easiest thing to do.”
Her non-negotiable is simple: she will be in bed by 9.30 pm and up by 5.15 am. Everything else arranges itself around that. Her family knows. Her friends know.
“Even my four-year-old niece, whom I sometimes train with — and who already knows how to perform a handstand — knows that Tata Mumbi and her workout are a package deal.”
