Exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel is back examining another bodybuilding icon who led a one-of-a-kind career. In a recent YouTube video shared on December 6, 2024, he critiqued the training and diet of Kai Greene.
“Mr. Kai Greene. One of the best bodybuilders to ever do the thing and one hell of a personality.”
Although Kai Greene never managed to earn a Mr. Olympia title, he is widely regarded as one of the great bodybuilders to emerge in the 2000s. He gave former seven-time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath all he could handle on stage, which to this day, remains one of the most heated rivalries the sport has seen.
Kai Greene took a methodical approach to his diet, training, and supplementation. ‘The Predator’ has never officially retired, and continues to boast an unbelievable physique years after his last competition, which came in 2016 at the Arnold Classic Brazil in first place. At 49 years old, he’s lauded for his youthfulness and muscular physique, with many fans still holding out hope that he may one day return to the stage.
Exercise Scientist Critiques the Training and Dieting Strategies of Bodybuilding Veteran Kai Greene
To begin, Dr. Israetel examined Greene’s incline presses on the flat bench, praising his form and slow execution.
“You can’t unload completely on incline presses, but if you’re there for hypertrophy it’s better to do what Jared Feather IFBB Pro says, which is put the bar down on top of your chest so you can feel the metal on your t-shirt but don’t let it sink in hardly at all so you still have to use chest power.”
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By placing the bar on top of your chest during repetitions, you get the optimal chest contraction in its lengthened position, says Israetel.
“You get a chest contraction at its lengthened position which is awesome for muscle growth and because you don’t unload re-load, you probably reduce your probability of injury,” says Israetel.
In light of Kai Greene’s massive lower body, it’s only right Dr. Israetel examined his Jefferson squat technique, offering insight to lifters who are eager to try this exercise.
“We got Jefferson squats. You can’t do these if you have a long torso and short arms because you just jack yourself in your taint and balls every single time, remember that please, for me.”
He also looked at the squatting pattern of Jeffersons.
“It’s a general squat pattern. It’s engaging adductors, it’s engaging quad, it’s engaging glutes. It’s relatively deep so fairly stimulative.”
Next, Israetel gave tips after watching Kai Greene hit a high bar squat.
“Notice that even though Kai has very long femurs relative to his torso, his knees are pointed out, his chest is fairly upright, there’s not any kind of bending in his lower back, sort of rounding forward, and his mid-foot and his heels seem to be on the ground and it looks like to me he’s getting hamstrings to calves on that, this is a very good squat. Quite unusual for a bodybuilder to even put his hands back there.”
In addition to analyzing his training efforts, Israetel looked at some of Kai Greene’s unique eating strategies.
“120 degrees in the kitchen, it’s kind of interesting, he’s getting all the Joe Rogan sauna benefits while making a meal. At least he’s saving time. There’s some research recently that heating the muscle could promote hypertrophy.”
While there have long been whispers of his potential comeback, it remains uncertain if we’ll ever see Kai Greene back in action. Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped him from maintaining his physique with intense training sessions. He also works alongside active IFBB Pros, having shown as much after hitting a workout with 2024 Mr. Olympia fifth-place finisher Andrew Jacked.
There’s no denying that Kai Greene is one of the greatest bodybuilders to not win the Mr. Olympia title. Dr. Mike Israetel can appreciate his eccentric attitude, which translated inside the gym, and helped him sculpt a legendary physique that fans believe would still hold its own on the Open Mr. Olympia stage today.
RELATED: Dennis James and George Farah Discuss Validity of Kai Greene Comeback Rumors
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