Kai Greene shared his bodybuilding wisdom with IFBB Pro bodybuilders Yarishna Ayala and Jessica Reyes Padilla to help with their lower body development.
Kai Greene is best known for being a top-ranked professional bodybuilder in the 2000s and 2010s era of bodybuilding. The IFBB Pro bodybuilder is considered among the greatest bodybuilders that never won the prestigious Mr. Olympia title. Greene had a rough upbringing as a child and bodybuilding became his passion at a very young age. As a Men’s Open division competitor, ‘The Predator’ won several pro shows in his storied career.
The 48-year-old bodybuilder is a 3-time Arnold Classic winner and scored victories at the 2009, 2010 and the 2016 Arnold Classic. Greene’s fierce rivalry with seven-time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath is one of the greatest in the history of the Men’s Open division. It saw the 48-year-old come dangerously close to winning the Mr. Olympia crown with three runner-up finishes behind Heath – at the 2012, 2013 and the 2014 Olympia.
Kai Greene has not competed professionally since winning the 2016 Arnold Classic but he has not closed the door on a potential comeback. ‘The Predator’ continues to train rigorously and stays in shape to put on the posing trunks. Greene is also a huge proponent of maximizing the natural potential rather than using PEDs in sports like bodybuilding.
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Kai Greene helps Yarishna Ayala and Jessica Reyes Padilla go through a glute and hamstrings workout
IFBB Figure Pro bodybuilder Jessica Reyes Padilla and IFBB Wellness Pro bodybuilder Yarishna Ayala joined Kai Greene for a glute and hamstrings focused lower body workout. Padilla is a dynamic competitor and a multiple-time Olympia participant. She has several top five finishes at Olympia and secured a runner-up finish in 2022. The performance capped an amazing competitive season that saw her win three pro shows – the 2022 Sur Cup Pro, Tampa Pro and the Texas Pro. Padilla also achieved a runner-up finish at the 2022 Arnold Classic.
Meanwhile, Yarishna Ayala is also a rising contender in the Wellness category. She has competed twice on the Olympia stage and achieved 4th and 8th place finishes at the 2021 and the 2022 Olympia, respectively. She is also a famous fitness model and influencer. Both women learned minute details of lower body training from Kai Greene and walked away with bodybuilding knowledge. So let’s see what Kai Greene taught them about the craft.
Warm-up
The workout started with Kai Greene and the ladies doing bodyweight exercises like variations of crunches and calf raises to increase the blood flow. Following this, they took to the main workout.
Superset – Hip Abduction Machine and Barbell Step-Ups
Greene instructed the girls to perform machine hip abductions for kicking off the workout. This movement targets all the muscles involved in hip abduction like tensor fasciae latae, gluteus maximus, medius and minimus.
Greene superset the hip abduction with barbell step-ups for working the lower body further. Step-ups work all the major muscles in the lower body, However, it allows for a greater muscular overload and helps build glute strength. ‘The Predator’ instructed Padilla and Ayala to flex the glute muscles at the top of the movement to stimulate them. His focus was on getting the mechanics right and therefore the sets were performed with moderate to light weights.
“Kai is not making us train heavy. But he’s (Kai Greene) more focused on the contraction. Too many people train with heavier weights but do not focus on the contraction. So this is so important and I learned so much about that (today).” Yarishna Ayala stated.
After finishing all the sets within this superset, Greene guided both women toward the next exercise.
Barbell Romanian Deadlifts
While traditional deadlifts help build full body strength, Romanian deadlifts primarily focus on the lower posterior chain of muscles. Glutes and hamstrings are the main focus of Romanian deadlifts. Kai Greene encouraged Padila and Ayala to take up this compound movement next. While explaining the correct form for executing RDLs, Greene stated:
“When I lean forward, I’m almost trying to grab the floor with my feet. And as I am grabbing the floor with my feet, I am consciously using everything we’ve done so far to sense and feel where my glutes are. I am still pulling from those activation exercises that we’ve already done to identify where my glutes are and bring them online. Making them responsible by contracting and making that contraction responsible for erecting my upper body from the floor.”
Smith Machine Lunges
While Smith machine lunges target quads as the main muscle group, you can modify it to be more hamstrings and glutes focused. Maintaining a larger split stance and driving through the heel of the foot shifts the focus on hamstrings and glutes.
Kai Greene, along with the dynamic female bodybuilders cranked out a few good sets of smith machine lunges and took to the final exercise of the day.
Kneeling Leg Curls
The workout reached closure with this hamstring isolation movement. Put simply, kneeling leg curls are preacher curls of the lower body. The quad is firmly pressed against the pad while performing this movement on the machine. As a result, the weight is lifted by using hamstrings and other muscles cannot take over the movement.
Kai Greene stated that doing hip abduction is the great way to start the workout as the muscle activation achieved through this exercise translates well to other lifts. Kai Greene explained:
“That hip abduction exercise that we opened up with, I believe is a fundamental exercise because technically, to do it means to isolate specifically what your glute activation is designed to do. And with that, we’re able to build off of that and make every other exercise for the glutes and hamstrings and quads that much more effective because we had that there as a foundation.”
A few solid sets of kneeling leg curls followed in the workout and Kai Greene wrapped up the training session following this.
The glute and hamstring focused workout composed of following movements:
Dynamic Warm-up
Workout
- Superset – Hip Abduction Machine and Barbell Step-Ups
- Barbell Romanian Deadlifts
- Smith Machine Lunges
- Kneeling Leg Curls
Kai Greene has not officially retired from the sport and looks to be in an excellent shape to grace the stage. He can shake up the professional bodybuilding scene if he decides to come back and test himself against the younger generation of bodybuilders.
You can watch the full video below, courtesy of Kai Greene’s personal YouTube channel:
More on Hamstring:
- Leg Training: Hamstring Workout with Dumbbells
- Best Bodyweight Hamstring Exercises for All Levels
- Five Ways to Fix Tight Hamstrings
- 15 Best Leg Curl Alternatives for Stronger Hamstrings
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