Kai Greene: Beyond Bodybuilding The KAI FILES
Kai Greene: Beyond Bodybuilding
Interview by Ron Harris
“One thing I want to say to all the up-and-coming athletes and aspiring champions is to ask yourself, what do you want to be, and where do you want to go? You need to be clear about it.” -Kai Greene
In a sport rife with characters and personalities, there’s never been anyone quite like Kai Greene. You probably know his “origin story.” He spent his youth in institutions with other kids who had no one to care for them, and it was there that he discovered weight training and bodybuilding. While still a teenager, he competed as a pro in natural federations. After winning the Overall Team Universe for the second time in 2004, he earned pro status in the IFBB. Often homeless and barely scraping enough money together to eat, he clawed his way up the ranks, eventually adding 80 pounds of muscle from his teenage shows, until he began winning shows.
By 2014, he’d collected two Arnold Classic wins and had pushed Phil Heath to the very edge three years in a row at the Mr. Olympia. Greene set entirely new standards in dense mass with shape, and took posing performance to the level of true art. Since then, Kai has evolved into something far beyond a champion athlete – in conversations he comes across as more of a philosopher and a motivational speaker than a bodybuilder.
After co-starring in the film “Generation Iron,” Kai went on to other roles including a recurring character on season two of “Stranger Things” on Netflix. In 2021, he signed with supplement industry powerhouse Redcon1 and this interview demonstrates how Kai Greene has grown and evolved in many ways since he stepped away from the stage.
You certainly had a fantastic career, with plenty of big wins. Could you be satisfied with that, or do you still feel like you have some unfinished business in the sport?
I feel as if I am a creator now. I’ve grown to a place where I see that thinking of myself as just a competitor can hold me back. I’ll always be an athlete, but to be a competitor is to discredit the larger possibility of what I’m trying to express. When you walk away from a contest without taking top honors, you’re likely to identify that as a failure. You don’t see that you’ve won on so many levels.
I’m sure you understand why your fans are so insistent on you making a comeback. Nobody has a physique like you, nobody poses like you, we haven’t had any epic Olympia battles since you and Phil went back and forth. The sport is just more interesting with you in it.
It’s humbling to hear all that, because there was a time in my life when I didn’t see it as possible to ever wield that type of power. As a kid doing push-ups in an institutional facility, I looked around and saw hundreds of other kids with dreams, just like me. I used to look at the stars in the bodybuilding magazines and imagine what it would be like to look like them, to be them. I dreamed of being so good at what I did that every day would be a sunny day. Being a competitive bodybuilder was the experience I needed to help me reach that place.
People see your success now and may not realize the types of obstacles you overcame in your early years of bodybuilding. How did you continue to believe in yourself and your dreams when it didn’t seem as if you would make it?
One thing I want to say to all the up-and-coming athletes and aspiring champions is to ask yourself, what do you want to be, and where do you want to go? You need to be clear about it. That removes a lot of the question marks as to what to do next. I was very clear even as a teen as to where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. That made it easier to focus and not get lost. I committed fully, took off the gloves, and put on the full armor. Of course, I had negative thoughts invade my head when I didn’t do well. I’d think, “the judges don’t like me,” or “some unseen force out there wants to hold me back.” I vividly recall going from 20th place at the 2006 New York Pro to sixth in 2007. That gave me such a boost. I thought if I could make that much of a leap in one year, surely I can win this thing. And I did the following year. But it was that 2007 show where Steve Blechman gave me an opportunity. Flex Wheeler was interviewing me backstage after the show for MD, and he asked me, “What’s next?” I came back with a quote from the great Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers. When he was trying to get drafted, he said, “All I need is six inches of daylight.” I was willing to work for this, to bleed for it. Steve interrupted the interview and signed me to MD on the spot. That was then that things really started to turn around for me.
The sport is changing, with different divisions and expansion all over the globe. What are the changes you have personally enjoyed seeing?
These new divisions have allowed the experience of competition to be available to a lot of people who otherwise would be too discouraged to attempt it. There are many options now. For years, people were either forced to make the decision about having to grow and become much larger, or else they couldn’t compete. Many of them didn’t really feel comfortable with putting on that mass, or the things they needed to do in order to grow to that degree, but they had no choice. Now there are various divisions for different levels of development and size. I think it’s fantastic.
You’ve been on six covers of MD since 2008, counting one that was just your quad and the cover in the ‘90s when it was called All Natural Muscular Development. How does it feel to be have graced so many MD covers?
I’m honored, of course. I need to thank Steve Blechman for all the publicity and opportunities he gave me over the years. I met him over 20 years ago when I was just a kid starting out in the sport. He believed in me long before anyone else in the industry did. Steve has been a powerful influence behind the scenes not only in the industry as a whole, but also in the lives of so many athletes. I’m certainly one of them.
For more information, visit redcon1.com
DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMS
SUBSCRIBE TO MD TODAY
GET OFFICIAL MD STUFF
VISIT OUR STORE
ALSO, MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON: