QUESTION

I always see you training abs at the start of your workout videos. How often do you train abs?

ANSWER

"I always start every workout with 15–20 minutes of abs and stretching. I don’t feel like I can begin my workout unless my abs are warmed up. Doing this reminds me to keep my abs tight throughout the rest of my workout and throughout the rest of the day. People don’t realize that they use abs in almost every exercise, so you need to keep this area tight to maximize your effort when hitting other areas."

This is an example of Greene’s ab workout. He frequently changes the exercises. He typically does all of the above exercises lying on a mat and combines them into a triset. 

2017 Olympia Fitness Call Out Report

QUESTION

You provide me and so many others with motivation (thank you). How does that make you feel? And what motivates you?

ANSWER

"When I travel I meet a lot of people who are just really amazing fans of the sport, and they say the most incredibly moving things. A lot of times people will focus on my quest and the process of seeing my dreams come closer to fruition every day, and sometimes they think there’s something I’m giving them that helps them move mountains in their own lives. Sometimes they give me the credit for it. But I just want to put this out there to anyone who’s ever taken the time to go, “Hey, Kai, thank you for that motivation.” I have to say that I don’t give you motivation.

I’m trying to see my dreams realized and I’m working toward that and I’m not afraid to put everything into working toward that. But the people who view or read this material, if it resonates well with you it’s because there’s something inside of you that resonates well with it. If you’re identifying something that I think is just larger than us both, somewhere in there, whether consciously or unconsciously, you recognize the ability to achieve. That is the common ground that we have. But it’s not me giving you motivation.

Motivation is something that is within, and sometimes we see things in the outside world that refocus our thinking and help to fix our thoughts on something that is important to us on some level but probably wasn’t on the forefront of our thoughts. So we have a stimulus on the outside and it jogs our memory. It causes us to rethink. It causes us to recognize and take notice of some things that are already inside us. And we recognize those things and say, “Hey, that’s me. I identify with those things.” That power in you is you. So I can’t take any credit. I’m in my journey, and you’re in your journey. So if you realize that you’re in the process of seeing your dream realized as a result of your thinking and your ability to work toward the manifestation of your goals, thoughts, and dreams, then I identify with you.

Our common ground is the idea of limitless possibilities. I applaud you and I call you a brother or sister in the struggle and I encourage you to continue to go after your dream. And if you’re someone out there who doesn’t really have a dream yet, you haven’t really thought about what makes you tick and what is your purpose, then I encourage you to find it. Everyone needs a purpose. Everyone needs goals. And going forward, let’s just keep it positive and keep encouraging one another."

Kai Greene on Training Abs and Finding Motivation