Phil Heath vs. Kai Greene - The Untold Story Of The Biggest Feud In Bodybuilding

talk to me about how you reflect on your relationship with Kai Greene because people yeah the greatest rivalry in bodybuilding and it's then the stakes are raised with generation again is the Inception of social media right talk to me about that relationship with Kai Greene I think it's I think it is the greatest rivalry I think it's bigger than Jay and Ronnie's just because they were friends we weren't and I think we wanted to be friends Kai and I but I feel like because of we want us both wanting something so freaking bad and during the social media era one camp the other camp they're talking so much and we can see the chatter that it kind of made it look like so you don't like me Chris okay uh it's like high school you know I mean like you talking [ __ ] and then all you do is look at me weird and I'm like all right what's up so I know that Kai had to play psychological warfare because this is bodybuilding it's not MMA it's not boxing you know like it's not even basketball or football right it's just a person lifting weights and dieting and doing heavy amounts of cardio imposing that is hard to impose your will on someone physically so you got to figure out how he can beat me so for him to start a fight you know like in 2014 flipping the hair and all this other stuff I don't blame him people used to get mad at me for like accepting it like in my like friends circle they're like man like you're just cool but I said I expected it they're like how did you why did you expect this I said listen it all started at the damn press conference but I knew he was going to do something I didn't know what I was going to respond by saying the three facts and all this other stuff he'd signed his name oh yeah Mr Olympia yeah he started doing your like over your face or something yeah yeah yeah so we have a we have an Olympia poster that comes out every year so when we get our Olympia credentials you know our per diem all that good stuff we have to sign a bunch of merchandise one of it is like a big ass poster that we give all the VIP holders so you know of course you know I'm like it's front and center so people are going to sign like maybe the leg or this and that this fool like on the face I'm like oh it's like that Annie wrote Mr Olympia I'm like okay how many times did he do it for like a whole row of them I'm like oh he's trying to send a message so uh you know basketball mentality comes out right now it's like oh this is ah I love it the disrespect I love it like now I get to make this more intentional and he has no idea what I look like he's then going to try to probably say something at this press conference why because that's what I would do know thyself know your opponent know how to respond versus react see when you don't play through these things I mean you only get fixated on how much food and water do I drink and yes I have to do this mundane stuff you need to work on the mind of figuring out all the different permutations that can exist all the different scenarios that can happen that way you know how to handle yourself in anything that comes towards you so I get I gave him what he needed at the press conference and he had nothing to say after that and that's when I knew the only thing left was for him to try to do something physical and I handled it well and unfortunately that was like the end of that prejudging yeah they split you apart right yeah Dennis wolf in between you and yeah no one's walking through him I mean in a way it was it was it was effed up because I'm like we're not performing now um and it was a big adrenaline dump as well for he and I both I know he probably had it because sister talk to me you're on stage you've worked toward this thing for ages Generation Iron is out yeah it's already out for the second year yeah so you've got the Rivalry is not only private it's public yep you've had him signing his name on your face literally on posters you've had him talking [ __ ] at the press conference yep and then you get on stage and he's got this like Predator ponytail thing he whips and hits you with and then has something to say and then you sort of jostle against each other and then there's this legendary photo of you finally turning and looking and it's you guys face to face on the Olympic stage what's that emotional dump like with all of this pressure and all of this preparation coming up it's it felt like high school when everybody's like fight fight fight fight and then you're basically getting into it and then there and then there was the fans energy that I felt that got calm because all you could hear is if you if you if you were there you would be able to hear Steve weinberger's voice get elevated and they turn the music up louder because they wanted I guess they were trying to drown out the crowd noise like like it was cheering it on because they kind of were and then I realized two big ass dudes oiled up in posing trunks you're supposed to fight nah you're not paying enough for this nah exactly someone's getting their drawers pulled out you know hey it ain't happening that's not the fight that I signed up for so uh let's go ahead and calm this [ __ ] down and get back to work but you're right so I realize right then and there the fans really messed this up because the fans were egging us on for two two years now because you got to think uh 2012 there was a moment where Kai and I are posing you know you do the back shots and I used to always kind of like that was in 2013. so 2012. we're doing a back shot and I look back no I look like this and I'm kind of like looking at the glutes because it's kind of like letting the judges know he ain't got what I got so I was like come on man oh you slapped him on the ass I I kind of like touched like touch his lower back or something like that should have slapped him on the ass and then uh so then he was he there's a picture of him like looking he was gonna punch me yes yes so no one remembers this right but but you know what it did that was the no Flinch with Matt Barnes versus Kobe so I was like yes I got him yep now I'm in his head he wants to like you know all right 2013 Arnold Classic uh Madrid that's when we're doing this and he's just pissed and I'm like got him how do you think so it seems like your ability to deal with discomfort both psychological physical it's balanced I I think discomfort in the time but it doesn't seem to Echo you don't seem to ruminate beyond what you need to to learn the lessons right what do you know about how Kai felt during this rivalry well he had to feel I mean of course he's going to feel robbed right because he's going to think well I look good too I put in so much effort I've gone through so many levels so many levels of adversity I deserve this and I'm only one person away one person away and then once I got him out of my way I can have everything I've ever wanted I get to now every time I see Phil Heath I see success I see what life is presented him and what he's been able to experience and I can't have the same thing without going through him I got to go through him so there's a level of empathy I have even now like I I realized I've spoken to him yeah we've you know it's very interesting is that we've had a few conversations Kai Greene gets credit for me because he was the first athlete in the ifbb to call me after I lost in 2018. and he was the only one he was the only one that picked up the phone and we talked at length and that made me feel I mean it wasn't like an emotional like like I'm gonna cry it was more like the person who knows me the most is the one that I battled against the most right and he basically gave me some some much needed words of like Phil they didn't beat Phil that I know they beat an injured one you're still the best ever and to hear that you know it it made me feel good because well in my opinion he was right and he would he would know that because he was he knew what he was going against and he knows that man if if imagine the amount of stress Phil had to go through and I need to I need to reach out to him and let him know like everything's cool man you're gonna be okay like and he's already he was mind you 2018 I mean he was already four years or three years removed because either the Arnold Australia I believe in 2015 um so he had already started that transition away yeah and I had yet to decide if that was what I wanted to do so he was giving me an option on that phone call of saying Phil now you're at this point where you don't have to prove yourself to anyone um the judges can do whatever the hell they want you've solidified yourself like I respect you and I thought damn like thank you and you know since then I mean we've always had that you know casual I mean now granted during the conversation there was still Fu Phil and this and the other you know just because we can't it's like we can't be like Hallmark cards and roses and [ __ ] we still got to be like I respect you but [ __ ] you man you know what I mean like and I'm cool with it I saw Kai last year at the gym shark event here in California and we both were just like there's just that Vibe and we both know that it's cool it's cool to be like him saying [ __ ] you Phil Heathen I said [ __ ] you Kai you know what I mean like it's all and you know it's funny it's sweet yeah it's like a term of endearment and fans though like when they see us in the room like everyone would get quiet oh they think they're still yeah and there isn't there's more respect than anything because that's what it should be but it always was it's just that when you're battling we respected the game when when I don't think people have seen I mean outside of a a j and Ronnie situation two highly competitive people that were boisterous about what they wanted we were extremely voicerous and if that meant that we ruffled the feathers of the opposite team we didn't give a [ __ ] we just didn't we couldn't because we needed their support we needed those fans sometimes to remind us like yeah man like okay we got this I mean I would see people arguing at the Olympia Expo over who's going to win and this that Kai's fans coming up talking trash and I'm like remember posing in the audience and people would you know say stuff and I'm like what happened to your boy you know and then the fans like Oh and it was like the so it was like some WWE uh stuff correct and as much as some fans want to make it seem like for me I was being like extremely like negative or whatever I was playing along just like them because at the same time I mean we're providing Sports entertainment and if I can have a little fun with a troll online I'm gonna do it you know like and and uh because I should have fun I should have fun with this this is great like it's really cool that I can have certain types of powers that I can literally transform my physique into something that no one that could ever imagine well think about it this way as well that it's not just the enjoyment of being the Sportsman but it's the enjoyment of being a personality as well of you know developing a brand and if the brand for a short amount of time is to be the villain like no one no one looks back Floyd Mayweather you know like played for a very long time they did a he fought on Cinco de Mayo and called it Cinco de Mayweather yeah and came out with the sombrero yep yeah and just a professional troll before the word troll exists that's right right do it and now looking back people I mean some of his most recent fights maybe his padded his right record a little bit but uh I think that playing that heel and doing that is I don't know if you have the psychology to be able to absorb it yeah and stay equanimous yeah I think that that makes for a much more exciting it the greatest rivalry in bodybuilding right it wouldn't have existed had you not have had the Rivalry yeah right it's not it wasn't because of the bodies maybe it was in some regards but it was because of the personalities yeah that was what made it happen and it drove competitiveness how much better do you think you became because of Kai Greene oh extremely I mean every year it was like you get to see him guest pose on the circuit and you're like oh [ __ ] did you respect his his physique oh of course I I knew I respected it all the time the problem is is that just because I respect it and I have an opinion of it like parts of me was like gosh all they had to do was be who he was when he did those Arnold Classics and the 2012 Olympia and he might have got me maybe that's the difference because he got bigger and he was trying to imagine uh manage too much size Kai green is probably probably if not the most dense bodybuilder we have ever seen that includes Coleman like density wise because you got to think you're shorter than Coleman weighed as much nearly as much and it was like deep separate deep Cuts Like deep deep like very like slabs of beef like when he does the pulling the elbows back and you see the Christmas tree thick let's try it in lats um just very deep now he lacked the chest size and the depth with that and the shoulder so that's why Coleman would get the edge but you know people think of Dorian Ace like being very dense if we could see those two up on stage together I'm telling you right now Kai Greene like because of the quads because of the side of the hamstring the hanging of the forget it it was just slabs of beef dude like this guy you've seen him walk around off season and and every 3x pants that he's wearing looks like they're leggings I mean it's just it's amazing and he was able to keep this condition throughout the entire bodybuilding season so I I would always look at him and say well you're you're not focusing on one major thing and that is the peak and bodybuilding is about the peaking you can run the 100 meters in the semifinals and break the world record but wouldn't you rather do an Olympic final I'd rather do an Olympic final it's more significant then and it takes more discipline it takes more strategy so that's where I I looked at bodybuilding it's like everything is a strategy everything is a process leaning up to two days that's it all you got to do is be ready for two days and that you know I was able to do that obviously countless times but yeah uh did he raise my game level up absolutely and I and I benefit from it in other news this episode is brought to you by element element is a tasty electrolyte drink mix with everything that you need and nothing that you don't it's a healthy alternative to sugary electrolyte drinks and it is the best way that I've started my morning every single day for over three years now it contains a science-backed electrolyte ratio of sodium potassium and magnesium with no sugar no coloring no artificial ingredients or any other junk your adenosine system the caffeine acts on isn't active for the first 90 minutes of the day but your adrenal system is and salt acts on 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