The Best Bodybuilder Ever

Who is your favourite bodybuilder? Are you a Dorian Yates fan, or maybe Kai Greene or Phil Heath top your list? Which of these do you think is the most accomplished bodybuilder of all time? In actual fact, none of them are! It’s actually 10x Olympia winner Iris Kyle

- Darren Nicholhurst

Phil may be the current Mr O, having been crowned champion 8th this September, but he still has a long way to go before he reaches the heights of Kyle’s trophy cabinet.

Iris Kyle is the most successful bodybuilder of all time. Nobody else has ever won 10 Olympia titles and if there was still a female bodybuilding category, we are sure she would still be racking them up.

IN THE BEGINNING

Raised in a large family in Michigan, Iris was no different to many other youngsters. Like her friends, she loved sport and soon began to excel in cross country, softball and her true passion, basketball.

Just like her fellow Olympian Phil Heath, Iris was hugely inspired by Michael Jordan and had no real interest in lifting weights. This didn’t come until much later when she was 18 years old and living in Orange County California.

“When I lived in California, my friend and I soon realised that everyone around us was buff,” begins Iris. “They all had fit, sculpted physiques, so my friend and I decided to join a gym in a bid to look buff too. We bought every book and magazine possible to learn about nutrition.”

It wasn’t long before the pair were spending hours in the gym every day, hunting down those abs and biceps they both desired.

“Suddenly it dawned on us that we   spent so much time in the gym, we may as well both get a job there!” Iris laughs. And they did just that.

Things got serious and the girls began reading all the information they could find on nutrition and training in the local library. It was at this time Iris set her sights on greatness.

“I was reading a copy of FLEX magazine and saw a picture of Lenda Murray; I was blown away by her,” recalls Iris. “At that very moment, I knew I wanted to sculpt a body like hers.”