THE HANDSHAKE THAT CHANGED THE FACE OF BODYBUILDING
Looking at this month’s cover, I can’t help but think you are looking at a future Mr. Olympia. Kai Greene is without a doubt the greatest bodybuilding sensation to come along in quite some time. As far as the total package of size, shape, symmetry, condition and posing that rocks the house, I can’t think of another bodybuilder in recent memory who has made such an impression on our world. When I look at this amazing athlete and the bright future ahead of him, it almost gives me chills to think how close our world came to not having seen Kai become a top contender today.
If you know anything of his life and competitive history, you know that Kai Greene is certainly not a newcomer to bodybuilding. He has been around since he took second at the Team Universe way back in 1997! If you go back and read Flex Wheeler’s profile on him in MD August 2006 you can get a feel for the tortured upbringing this man had as an orphan and ward of the state of New York. In New York City, that means a life of chaos, crisis, violence and uncertainty from a very young age. Building his body became a means to his survival both as a kid on the streets and then as a grown man trying to make a living. In such a situation, it would have been almost natural that he would have gone the route of the gangster, gang-banger, hoodlum, thug, or other nefarious character who would have probably landed in prison, or worse— just like many of the guys he grew up with. But Kai’s calling was to a more artistic and spiritual means to an end, and lucky for us, it was bodybuilding that satisfied the call. Looking at Kai today, it seems almost impossible to think how close we all came to not seeing this great champion fulfill his destiny.
It was after the 2007 New York Pro when Kai made that fateful turn in his career when he shook my hand backstage at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. I had known Kai for years since he competed as a natural competitor and we featured him when MD covered only natural bodybuilding. But at this point, he was competing out in the open and the competition was tough. Kai had placed a disappointing sixth and his soul seemed lost…like he didn’t know where to go or what to do. He simply looked out of sorts. I went over to him and shook his hand and asked when we would see him compete again. He looked up at me with almost tears in his eyes and told me that he probably wouldn’t. Although he had made a tremendous improvement from the year before when he placed 18th, he was out of resources and had no means to continue.
I couldn’t stand what I was hearing! There was no way I was going to sit there and watch this incredible talent go to waste. I asked him what it would take for him to be able to continue and make it to the Keystone Classic later that year. He told me, and I told him to call me on Monday and I’d send him out a check. When he called me on Monday, not only did I send him out a check and a publishing contract, but I snagged him a supplement contract as well! Well, as the story goes, he grabbed third at the Keystone Pro and wowed the crowd to the point where no one wanted him to stop posing! He went on to not only win the best poser award at the Colorado Pro, but also the entire show! After that it was all eyes on Kai Greene as he bulked up to over 300 pounds with his sights set on the 2008 Arnold Classic, where he took third. There were many who had him winning the show!
Now it is the plum of all plums of our world that Kai is gunning for the 2008 Mr. Olympia. But first, he must conquer the New York Pro. His picture on the cover this month is a strategic reminder going into the prestigious New York show. Even if he wins this show, unfortunately, in his quest to become king, there are many detractors. Not so much for his competitive angle or the implied flaws in his physique, but for the means by which he was able to get here. I find this horribly sad commentary when you have so many competitors (and officials, for that matter) with skeletons in their closets…so many who did what they had to do in order to make it. What I can tell you is that Kai Greene is, behind the bodybuilder, a kind, compassionate, honest man with more heart than I’ve probably ever seen and an entertainment talent that no one can deny. He has a passion for bodybuilding that drove him over a very bumpy road. I for one don’t care where that road started; I only care where it leads. And as far as I’m concerned, that road leads straight to the top. Muscular Development is behind Kai Greene 100 percent because MD always leads and always moves forward. And forward is where we should all be looking. Enzo Ferrari famously said before that fateful race at Daytona in 1963, “What is behind us is not important” and then tore the rearview mirror from his race car and tossed it dramatically over his shoulder. What an incredible statement!
And that is my statement today with respect to Kai Greene’s bodybuilding future, punctuated with my philosophy that is: let he who is without sin cast the first stone. If that’s the mantra we follow, then Kai’s windows shouldn’t have so much as a chip in them because there isn’t another member of our community who isn’t living in a glass house. I believe Kai Greene is one of the top bodybuilders in the world today and with the dedication and sacrifice he has employed thus far, he will one day be crowned king. That’s why he is on the cover of MD, and that is why I am so very proud to call him one of our own. Check Kai out this month on page 226 in the “Alien Invasion.” See how “The Predator” and his mate (Dayana Cadeau) blast their legs. Also check out the Flex Critique on page 386.
On page 194, the “People’s Champ” Branch Warren slaughters chest in such a way that even the hardest of the hardcore will wince in pain just looking at the pictures! And on page 268, see how the guns of “El Matador” Silvio Samuel make the A-list of ultimate arms. I’m very happy to announce the return of the one and only MD homeboy Lee Priest. On page 214 you’ll get the whole story on how and why Lee came back home.
Is there a whole new look coming to the pros? If there is it will be a revolution— a Russian revolution, that is! On page 254 Denis Sergovskiy shows us what bodybuilding means in Russian.
The 2008 IFBB New York Pro is days away from this issue hitting the newsstands. On page 246 you’ll get Flex Wheeler’s complete preview and predictions like only Flex can give them. Finally, on page 286, Senior Editor John Romano figures that after years of paying to have breasts installed into various wives and girlfriends it was about time he had his taken out! He actually went under the knife to show you the gory details of gyno surgery.
The rest of the book is crammed as it always is with the latest breaking research, news views and information on bodybuilding and building your body by the very best in the business. See you next month!
Hi Hank Wood.
I'm with most of the rest of you guys; that's actually one of the best MD covers they've had...clean, bold, and (still) tastefully provocative. I guess someone could see it as Kai just having had a cock shoved up his ass or taken a huge diarrhea shit, but the physique's aesthetics and freaky detail are
photoshopped captured in such a way as to lead most people not to be initially thinking that. I'm preferring to see it first and foremost as him having just completed a brutal set of burn-out dips or sissy squats or something. I think this cover serves as the perfect seque into Kai's time to shine in the sport; he's definitely arrived, and we knew we'd have to find a way to forgive him for the fruit stuff sooner or later because he's just so hardcore. He's definitely one of the sport's "it" guys right now, with Phil Heath, Dennis Wolf, Matt C, and Ronnie Coleman rounding out the top 5.
And oh yeah, somebody at MD should thank Musclephone for this thread, I'm thinking.
