I have always asserted that the strongmen are nice people, and when I met Kevin Nee on Storefjell in July this year I experienced that he in no way did shame on my statements.
The boy is smiling and sympathetic, and when I asked him to get an interview with him, he said yes with a smile. It was not easy to make time for this interview on Storefjell, so this is taken by e-mail afterwards.
Name: Kevin Nee
Age: 23
Location: Phoenix Arizona
Work: Athlete/part owner of company
Height: 6'1(185 cm)
Weight: 290 (131,5 kg)
Marital status: single
Sponsor: RecoveryX
I became a light weight pro at 18, heavy weight pro at 19. Went to my 1st WSM at 20 and became the youngest person ever to make it to WSM. I have been to WSM 4 times and I have made the finals once. In 2002 I was the strongest teen in the USA and was placed in Sports Illustrated"faces in the crowd". In 2007, I was ranked as top 25 fittest men in the world by "Men's Fitness Magazine" joined by Matt Damon, Kobe Bryant and Justin Timberlake, to name a few. The highest I have ever ranked is 8th in the world in 2007.
Well first off, I'm kind of a geek ... ha-ha. I like to mostly just hang out, watch movies and play poker when I'm not training. I don't really like to go out too much because I try to stay away from parties, alcohol, and bad influences. I also enjoy working for my sponsor/company, RecoveryX, because I really believe in the product and I want to help it get out there to everyone. People are going to be blown away when they see what this product can do.
Mobile phone: Blackberry, world edition from Verizon
Dream car: escalade
Favorite movie: Snatch
Favorite drink: RecoveryX
Favorite food: anything Italian
This is really tough, we have sooo many good strongmen in the US right now and on any given day there are a lot of people that can be in top 5. It depends on the events and where it's being held. But here is my best guess for top 5 in no particular order.
Dave Ostlund, Travis Oartmeyer, Derek Poundstone, Phil Pfister and Myself (on any given day though, Jason Bergmann, Brian Shaw, Tom McClure and a few others could grab a spot)
Well, I originally started training in the gym for basketball at 13 years old. I was the little annoying brother in the gym asking a million questions and pissing everyone off ... ha-ha. But I really listened to what they had to say and used all that information that I had received to help me become stronger and bigger. By the time I had reached 15 years old, I was a lot stronger and bigger and Bruce Tessier, a former pro strongman, had noticed. (He was one of the guys i was constantly asking questions and annoying ... ha-ha). One day, Bruce asked me if I would like to try strongman and use it as another way to train for high school sports. I jumped at this opportunity and never looked back. I feel in love with strength sports and put all other sports on the back burner. After a few months of training, Bruce signed me up for a competition and there was no turning back. I was bit by the iron bug.
Have you been active in other sports?Yes, I actually played basketball all through-out high school. I was top 40 in my state, my senior year and was offered a few division 2 scholarships for college, but I turned those down in order to focus on strongman.
I also played soccer for a few years when I was younger as well.
I wake up, take a shower, eat some food and go to the office at about 9. I have a shake at about 10:30, go eat some more food at 12 and go back to office for another 2 hours of work. After work I go eat something else and then I take a nap. Later I train for 2-4 hours (depending on what I'm doing that day), eat again and go to bed.
Well I would like to be World Strongest Man someday, obviously, but more important I would like to be very successful in my business life and have a happy family. Family is very important to me and I love kids, so hopefully I can use strongman as a way to become successful and set myself up for a good life after strongman and be able to support a family. I really want to be a good father.
Some advantages would be being able to move furniture and awkward home appliances easily ... ha-ha. But that's also a disadvantage. Every time people get a new piece of furniture or are moving, they always call me and ask me to help. And I'm too nice so I don't know how to say no ... ha-ha.
Yes and no, I'm happy with my progress, especially after tearing my bicep last year, but I'm not satisfied. I will not be satisfied until I win WSM. Until then, I have not progressed enough.
My training tends to be much different than other strongmen that I have spoken with, but it works for me. I don't have a press day or a leg day or a pull day or anything like that. My workouts are structured like this.
1. Stretch slightly and warm up
2. Olympic lift
3. Power/strongman movement
4. Power/strongman movement
5. Power/strongman movement
6. Accessory movement
7. Accessory movement
8. Accessory movement
- Chest - dumbbell press
- Shoulders - push press w/ axle
- Triceps - skull crushers
- Biceps - hammer curls
- Back - dead lift
- Quadriceps - front squats
- Hamstrings - stiff leg dead lifts or glute/ham machine
- Calves - I don't have any calves to work them ... ha-ha
- Abs - planks
The only way to train for a competition is to train the events that are in the competition and to simulate competition atmosphere and conditions. The goal is to be as prepared as possible and have lots of hours of practice with the specific events.
Anything that's really heavy and uses lots of back and grip! For some reason I do much better when the events are really heavy then when they are light like WSM. My dream competition is the Arnold. I think the events suit me perfectly and they are all heavy, short distance and standard events. I really hope to get to the Arnold Classic someday.
Really, it's all about the amount of calories and protein you are consuming. I always make sure I'm putting more calories in my body then what I am burning and always make sure I'm getting a significant amount of protein a day.
I usually try to gain weight all year long and then cut down a little right before WSM. That is the lightest show we do all year long, so for this show you are better off having better cardio and stamina and being slightly lighter.
I would obviously recommend RecoveryX, not only because I am a sponsored athlete but because it really works. For example, I was told i wouldn't compete again for 9-12 months after my bicep surgery. I started drinking RecoveryX almost immediately after surgery, and 5 months after surgery I was competing again and 5 months and 27 days after surgery, I pulled 410 kilo for a strongman dead lift World Record. This is how it works for those of you who are curious; it has an alga in it called ProAlgaZyme that specifically gets rid of free radicals and toxins in the blood stream. This allows the body to increase the immune system, decreases inflammation, decrease recovery time and is beneficial for overall health.
It is possible but it very hard to do. When training for strongman full time, your schedule is very tight and when you do have extra time, that should be spent eating or even sleeping, not hanging out with friends. All though that is what you should do, it's difficult because family and close friends should be a priority and when it comes down to it, all you have in this world are your close friends and family members. I would suggest to serious strongmen to find an activity that you can do with your friends or family that won't affect your training. Try to avoid going out to night clubs because that will keep you up late, on your feet and you will be around alcohol, which isn't good for training.
I actually have a few. Obviously I look up to Kaz, what American strongman doesn't! But I also really look forward to be able to talk to Svend, Joko, Janne, Magnus, Jarek, and Karl Gillingham. These are all guys who I have gone to from time to time to ask for advice. All of them have been successful in strongman and also have good lifestyles as well. I have learned a lot from them and I am forever thankful for their time and advice. I came into this sport as an unknown and a little guy. It meant a lot to me that they would take the time to talk to me and share their experiences and opinions on the sport. And that is what is so great about our sport.
I'm a very competitive person and I want to be the best....that's what motivates me. I get some criticism from people sometimes that I'm too laid back and that I'm not positive enough because I tell them that I won't win it this year but I will win it eventually. I say this because it's a marathon and not a sprint. If you treat it like a sprint you will get hurt and you won't last long in this sport. I want to be in this sport for years, so I'm taking my time and I'm going to climb the ranks slowly. I don't want to be a shooting star. I just hope people will stop mistaking this attitude 
as being lazy and negative and start realizing that I'm being smart and setting myself up for a long, healthy and successful career.
Three different performances stand out. The first one was the 2007 Fit Expo. Here it was Karl Gillingham and I battling it out. He ended up edging me out by 2 points I think. I'm pretty sure he had 117 points and I had 115. It was a 3 day comp and everything was going so well except for the truck pull. I got 9th place on that event and I think he won it. That was the event that killed me at that competition. There is always one for me at every show. I really need to fix that. The second competition that stands out in my mind is Mohegan Sun 2007 when I got 2nd place to Mariusz. This was coming off of that 2nd place finish at the Fit Expo and I was on a role.
The other comp that stands is the Viking Power Challenge in 2008. I was coming off of the bicep surgery and still a little timid but I did ok. I got 2nd on yoke, 1st on the dead lift, and 3rd on the Viking press and then I bombed the tire flip and went from being 6 points ahead of 2nd place to half a point behind 1st. Then I tied for first on axle clean and press but I was hurt and forced to drop out with only stones left and only a half a point behind 1st which I believe was Richard Skog. This was very disappointing for me because I really thought I could have won that show if I didn't get hurt and once again I had one really bad event.
Probably, traps or delts
I would say the best advice I could give to a beginner is that they should be patient, stay dedicated, and consume the proper amount of calories and protein. In this sport it just takes time to build true, solid strength and if you rush it you're going to get hurt or set yourself up for a downfall. Also, Rome wasn't built in a day, neither are great strongmen. Be patient and stay dedicated and it will come over time. Don't give up or you'll never know what it's like to be a champion.
he bicep is excellent! It healed really well. I'm very happy with my recovery time. I definitely have to thank the doc, my pt and my sponsors for all helping me come back quickly and allowing me to be able to do the things it takes to recover.
Just want to say thank you for your time and i really enjoyed competing in Norway in July and would love to come back again next year!
From reporter: I ended the interwiev thanking him for his great answers and his time, wishing him the best of luck with both training and competing for the future. I promised to put in a good word for him when I met Svend again. On behalf of all the members on Treningsforum I wished him all the best on his way to the top.
