Flux refers to continuous change and movement, the opposite of stasis. A constant state of flux best describes any Kai Greene workout; there’s nothing static or predictable about the man or the way he trains.
In many ways, Greene is a throwback to the old days of bodybuilding. His attention to posing and presentation are on par with Ed Corney’s, Frank Zane’s, and Mohamed Makkaway’s. His workouts, predictable only in their volume of exercises, sets, and reps, have much in common with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s and the Gold’s crew’s high volume routines. Like Arnold or Sergio or Serge, Greene presents a physique that is truly unique from year to year and show to show. One Olympia he comes in streamlined and aesthetic; the next he’s packing so much mass you scratch your head doubting he could add another ounce of muscle.
Greene’s physique is complete from his one huge dreadlock down to his toes. His deltoids are completely developed through and across heads. In the shoulder training feature that follows, you’ve got to keep a couple of things in mind. One: What Kai Greene did for shoulders last workout almost assuredly isn’t what he’ll do for them next workout. The reps and sets, the exercises, and the way they’re performed, constantly change (Flux, remember?). Two: Kai does stuff no one else does or thinks of doing. Seated cable rows and chins to stimulate the delts?
Huh? Yeah, the delts. Proceed, FLEX reader, for a snapshot of insight into the man and how he might train his shoulders on a given day.
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CABLE FRONT RAISE
Depending on how
he feels, Greene will perform this exercise at the cable crossover station with a straight triceps bar attachment, a cambered-bar attachment, or on the gym floor with a barbell or pair of dumbbells. Remember, a Kai Greene workout is all about mixing things up and keeping the body guessing and growing. “You don’t want to use your traps on this movement,” says Greene. “Keep your elbows bent, almost like you’re doing a biceps curl.” When he does this move with dumbbells (not pictured), Greene will supinate his hands at the top of the movement, bringing the alternating dumbbells across the front of his body. If this exercise comes first, he’s pre-exhausting his front deltoids, pumping blood into them for what comes next.
DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISE
Greene will perform these standing or lying on his side on an incline bench (not pictured). Standing, he keeps his palms toward the ground at all times, raising his arms perpendicular to his shoulders so his upper body appears as an enormous T.
Greene’s shoulders burn as he performs these, and the range of motion shortens from his first to his last rep as he ekes out every ounce of growth and stimulation he can. Performing laterals lying on the incline bench, Greene brings the dumbbell back behind his butt, raising the arm of the deltoid being worked up to the level of his head. With laterals, Greene fries the anterior and medial heads of his delts.
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UPRIGHT ROW
Always mixing things up, Greene will do these with an EZ-curl bar, a straight barbell, or situated at the cable station. He brings the bar to his upper chest at the beginning of the set but is only able to reach the level of his lower pecs as the set progresses and his shoulders scream at him. Again, he’s feeling these in his front and side deltoids.
MILITARY PRESS
If this exercise
falls early on in Greene’s delt workout, you might see him pushing some crazy weight. Two 45-pound plates on either side of the barbell go up easily for 15 reps. Three plates require a little more work, but Greene makes it look effortless. If he goes up to four plates he might get only a few reps, but then his spotter strips a plate from either side and Greene busts out more reps. Again, a plate is removed from both ends of the barbell and Greene continues the dropset, grunting, his nostrils faring like a bull’s in his all-out effort. In the spirit of mixing it up, Greene will switch between seated and standing military presses, dumbbell presses, and a machine press. However he does them and no matter how heavy he chooses to go, Greene’s range of motion is full and his form textbook in its execution.
PULLUP/CHINUP
Here’s where things get unorthodox. We all know Greene likes to chin. He’ll incorporate chins in almost all workouts, even legs, as part of his overall body warmup. He’ll chin when he’s looking to grow his lats. But chinning for the delts? “Try it,” says Greene. “With a traditional body-weight chinup, with a wide grip, when you lower your torso to the ground you’re stretching your lats. Don’t. Concentrate on the top third of the movement, on your traps and rear delts. Focus on the squeeze at the top of the movement.” If he’s doing these at a lat-pulldown station, Greene leans his torso forward to really feel the contraction through his delts and top-most back.
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SEATED CABLE ROW
Seated cable rows for delts? Yes, delts. “Have you ever brought the attachment into your chest?” Greene asks. “Where did you feel it? In your rear delts and traps.” And that’s just the feeling Greene is going for. Traditionally this exercise is performed by bringing the attachment into the abdominal area, which maximizes the feeling in the mid and upper lats. Bringing it up a scant six inches changes the entire focus of the movement.
REVERSE CABLE CROSSOVER
With the cable pulley near its highest setting, Greene grips the cable handles with opposite hands (his right hand grasps the left handle and vice versa). Sometimes he’s not even using cable handles; he’ll grip the insulated cable itself directly above the little balls atop the carabiners. At the beginning of the exercise, Greene’s hands are up of to either side of his forehead. When he pulls his arms down and across his body, his hands end up at chin level on opposite sides of his body.
