The Physique Competitor

Kyle Green, 29, from Leeds, is a personal trainer, coach and bodybuilder

I must’ve been about eight. Someone – it could’ve been a distant male relation – flexed his biceps and motioned, ‘This is what you can get one day, if you want it.’

My dad wasn’t always around, but I gathered by the size of him that he must’ve gone to the gym. We have a Jamaican background and we always talked about being strong, eating good, solid food.

As a child, I remember playing the Disney Hercules computer game and being gripped by all the things he could do. It just struck a chord with me: maybe one day I could be super-strong and admired by many people.

At high school, it was always about having a six-pack in the changing rooms. I started doing pressups every day. I seemed to get quite a few eyes. So that was good for the ego, I guess.

When I was 17, I got my first job in the stock room of a department store. I was determined to build muscle. I trained at a gym across the road five days a week and brought in two tins of tuna and four slices of buttered bread every day for lunch. I managed to see changes, which was great.

I found a job as a PT at the back end of a period of depression. A lot of things came into play: family life, bereavements. At the time, I wasn’t that interested in getting clients. I just wanted to feel better. I knew that, if I could exercise consistently for a few months, I’d see massive changes. I wouldn’t feel so much of a failure.

I’m very resultsorientated. The standard of my physique is always at the forefront of my mind. I’m known in the industry for my muscle density, so I feel pressure to maintain that.

I see my body as a trophy of my accomplishments. I’m in the process of prepping for a [bodybuilding] qualifier which, if I win, will take me to America. I remember my coach saying that in about four years I could win the Men’s Physique Olympia: the top, top show in the world. If he’s said it to me, I believe I can do it.