Kai Greene (born July 12, 1975), is an American personal trainer, artist, actor, and professional bodybuilder. He came in second place at the 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions of the IFBB's Mr. Olympia competition and has not competed in it since, though he never formally announced his retirement. He is often regarded as one of the best bodybuilders to have never won the competition.

Training Regime

If you’ve watched several of Kai Greene’s workout videos, you probably know how philosophical he is about training and the process required to build a muscular and aesthetic physique. The Predator doesn’t just show up at the gym and start pounding away at the weights.

He believes connecting your mind and muscles is very important for getting results.

Below we’ve included one of his workout splits. Check here for full details on this routine.

Day one: Chest & calves
Day two: Shoulders and forearms
Day three: Back
Day four: Legs
Day five: Arms

Chest and calves

• Bench press 3 sets x 20, 15, 12 reps
• Dumbbell fly 3 20, 15, 12
• Decline bench press 3 20, 15, 12
• Dumbbell pullover 3 20, 15, 12
• Seated calf raise 4 10-15
• Standing calf raise 4 10-15
• Donkey calf raise 4 10-15

Shoulder and forearms

• Arnold press 3 12-15
• Behind the neck press 3 12-15
• Lateral raise 3 12-15
• Front raise 3 12-15
• Dumbbell shrug 3 12-15
• Reverse curl 4 8-12
• Hammer curl 4 10-12
• Wrist curl 4 10-12

Back

• Barbell pullover 3 10-15
• Lat pulldown 3 10-15
• Bent-over barbell row 3 10-15
• Seated cable row 3 10-15

Legs

• Squat 3 10-12
• Lying leg curl 3 10-12
• Deadlift 3 10-124
• Lunge 3 10-155
• Seated calf raise 3 10-15
• Standing calf raise 4 10-15
• Donkey calf raise 4 10-15

Arms

• Reverse curls 4 8-12
• Hammer curls 4 10-12
• Wrist curls 4 10-12
• Preacher curls 4 10-15
• Spider curls 4 10-15
• Dumbbell kickbacks 3 15-20
• Overhead triceps extensions 3 15-20
• Triceps pushdown 3 15-20
   

Diet and Nutrition

Kai is very knowledgeable about food and nutrition. His diet is very structured although now that he does not compete anymore, his eating plan is much different than when he was a mass monster.

Nowadays Kai does Trifecta meal plans delivery service to ensure he meets his nutritional needs. He still eats about 6 meals a day.

The 3-time Arnold Classic winner just doesn’t have the time to cook like he did as a competitive athlete. His schedule consists of waking up at 4:30 A.M. everyday, getting in some cardio followed by gym training and then he starts working on his projects.

But because he did compete as a Pro bodybuilder, we included an example diet regime that he followed at one point.

Meal 1:

12 egg whites
1/4 Shredded Cheddar cheese
2 Spring onions
2 slices of Ezekiel bread
1 piece of fruit, such as Apple for example

Meal 2:

2 scoops of vanilla protein powder
1 cup of blueberries
1 handful of almonds
1 cup of vanilla-almond or coconut milk
1 cup of water

Meal 3:

170 grams of grilled steak
1 tomato
1/2 of cucumber
1 teaspoon of olive oil

Meal 4:

170 grams of chicken breast
1/3 of a cup of Quinoa
2 walnuts
Dried cranberries

Meal 5:

140 grams of tuna with 200 g of cod
2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese
2 medium sized sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon of butter
4 stems of asparagus

Career and Competition

Kai Greene started training and competing as a teenager. He won several shows and determined that the sport of bodybuilding was something he was good at.

Greene has won major competitions including the New York Pro (2) and prestigious Arnold Classic three times to name his biggest victories. He also competed at the biggest and best bodybuilding show on Earth called the Olympia six times.

In 2011, he started working with George Farrah and the two made for a dangerous duo. Under Farrah’s guidance, Kai won the New York Pro that year.

In 2012, 2013, and 2014, Kai was the runner-up at the Mr. Olympia just second to none other than 7x Mr. Olympia Phil Heath. Many believe he should have won at least one of those Olympias. However, the judges didn’t feel he did enough to knock out the champ. The Predator was known to be vocal about his competitive frustrations.

He did not compete at the 2015 Olympia due to unknown reasons but he did compete in and win three more shows all in 2016 that included the Arnold Classic, Arnold Classic Australia and Arnold Classic Brazil.

While Kai Greene has not officially announced retiring from the sport of bodybuilding, it does not seem likely he will step back onto the Olympia stage.

Contest history

• 1994 NGA American Nationals
• 1996 WNBF Pro Natural Worlds – 1st
• 1997 NPC Team Universe Championships – 2nd
• 1998 NPC Team Universe Championships – 3rd
• 1999 World Amateur Championships – 6th
• 1999 NPC Team Universe Championships – 1st
• 2005 New York Pro – 14th
• 2006 Superman Pro – 20th
• 2006 Shawn Ray Colorado Pro/Am Classic – 14th
• 2007 New York Pro – 6th
• 2007 Keystone Pro Classic – 3rd
• 2007 Shawn Ray Colorado Pro/Am Classic – 1st
• 2008 New York Pro – 1st
• 2008 Arnold Classic – 3rd
• 2009 Australian Pro Grand Prix – 1st
• 2009 Arnold Classic – 1st
• 2009 Mr. Olympia – 4th
• 2010 Arnold Classic – 1st
• 2010 Australian Pro Grand Prix – 1st
• 2010 Mr. Olympia – 7th
• 2011 New York Pro – 1st
• 2011 Mr. Olympia – 3rd
• 2011 Sheru Classic – 3rd
• 2012 Mr. Olympia – 2nd
• 2012 Sheru Classic – 2nd
• 2013 Mr. Olympia – 2nd
• 2013 Arnold Classic Europe – 2nd
• 2013 EVL’s Prague Pro – 1st
• 2014 Mr. Olympia – 2nd
• 2016 Arnold Classic – 1st
• 2016 Arnold Classic Australia – 1st
• 2016 Arnold Classic Brazil – 1st

Teasing A Comeback

Since his last show in 2016, Kai Greene and his coach George Farrah have teased the possibility of the Predator’s return to the Olympia stage. However, when years continued to pass and it never actually happened, fans and the Olympia organization were upset that it seemed unlikely he wouldn’t be coming back.

Despite this being one of the biggest disappointments in the sport’s history, it’s hard to not appreciate the exciting and entertaining antics he brought to the sport. His rivalry with Phil Heath was one of the greatest ever and this is what fans missed.

But it was obvious Kai was more interested in pursuing an acting career and other business endeavors.

Kai had the following to say in an interview about the sacrifices to get to where he’s been. It takes a lot of discipline, focus and concentration to be elite at something and it was clear bodybuilding just wasn’t something he was sure he could devote all of his time to.  

“I think one of the things that a lot of times we don’t realize, when we are working in just the capacity of being the athlete, we put so much time, and effort, and commitment into developing that focus that allows you to excel as the athlete.

A lot of times we don’t realize how valuable that power is, how valuable that thing, that human resource that we bring to the table, when investing in the pursuit of being the dominant athlete that you work hard to realize in that event.

I think that it is very real, to understand that with everything that you do, if you do it at a certain level of elite capability, there is a sacrifice. I’ve heard people talk about a sacrifice when I was the athlete, when I saw myself as just an athlete. I thought then that the sacrifice was only ‘Well I have to stay on my diet.’

I thought then, that the only sacrifice was ‘Well I have to eat in this very restricted, and measured way.’ I realize now, on this side of it that no, that’s not the sacrifice. That’s not a sacrifice, that’s what you have to do in order to get to the level of achievement that you’re working for.

I now understand that the sacrifice that I thought I understood then, is the time and the use of your effort and focus. Your time and concentration. That is a very very valuable virtue.”

Documentaries and Acting

Kai Greene has appeared in several bodybuilding documentaries and he’s also landed a few movie and TV acting roles.

In 2009, he worked with director Mike Pulcinella to create the documentary Overkill that followed him as he prepared to compete at his first competition that same year. They joined forces again for the sequel Redemption that documented Kai’s training and strategies to prepare for the 2010 Arnold Classic of which he won for the second consecutive year.

Then he was featured in the 2013 documentary Generation Iron based on the lead up to the 2012 Olympia, before going on to appear in Generation Iron 2 and 3.

Movie acting

Being an artist, Kai was also very intrigued with the art of film acting, deciding to shift a lot of his effort in hopes of landing roles in movies.

He’s appeared in a few films such as College Debts (2015), Crazy Fist (2018), and Pogaru (2021), and played the role of Funshine in the second season of the very popular Netflix Sci-fi series Stranger Things in 2017.

Adult Content 

Kai has appeared in solo gay erotica scenes of which he worked with Jimmy Z Productions, a gig he was involved with from 2003-2008.

In 2021, Kai became the face of a gaming cryptocurrency project called Grapefruit Supercoin.

Personal Life, Social Media and Business Endeavors

Aside from bodybuilding and acting, Kai is an artist. He loves the subject of anatomy and painting the human body. This has helped him to sculpt one of the greatest physiques of all time.

“Bodybuilding is an art. Your body is the canvas, weights are your brush, and nutrition is the paint. We all have the ability to turn a self portrait into a masterpiece.”

Kai has a massive 6.7 million Instagram followers. He also has a YouTube channel with 547k subscribers and posts content regularly. In 2020, he started a motivational podcast called Getting It Done.

Kai Greene and Redcon1 CEO Aaron Singerman started the supplement company Dynamik Muscle. However, Singerman started his company and didn’t have the time and energy to be involved with two companies. So now Kai runs his company but also recently signed with Redcon1.

The Brooklyn native is currently working on many business ideas and has an extremely busy schedule.

Additional Information

Kai Greene is a bodybuilding legend with one of the most illustrious careers in the sport’s history. While he never won an Olympia like many dream of, The Predator was arguably the most exciting competitor to ever stand on the world’s biggest bodybuilding stage.

Outside of the sport, he’s achieved lots of business success and this is just the beginning for the ambitious bodybuilding icon.