Kevin Levrone

Kevin Mark Levrone (born July 16, 1964)^[2] is a former American IFBB professional bodybuilder,^[3] IFBB Hall of Famer.^[4] blogger, musician and actor. During his professional career Kevin competed in 67 IFBB Professional contests. He has won 23 Pro Shows, holding the record of the most wins as an IFBB professional until Ronnie Coleman set the new record in 2004.

Biography

Childhood

Kevin Levrone was born on July, 16, 1964 and was the youngest of six children. He had a country upbringing with a lot of property, pets and animals around. His family - the Levrones, were the close Italian family. Kevin started lifting being a child. Once he was completely amazed how big his cousin Stoney was when he came back from Marine Corps, and Kevin wanted to be just like him. His older brothers Ray and Chris had a 110 pound sets in their bedroom, so he started lifting with them when he was 11. Kevin remembers that he was always stronger than anyone else, he was always good at lifting.

The first bodybuilder who inspired Levrone was Eddie Robinson, who was the guest at the NPC Maryland (which Kevin Levrone has won by the way). During the competition when Eddie Robinson had a little chat with Kevin he said - “Now that’s how a professional bodybuilder looks like!”. Kevin started picking up magazines and learned about Mr. Olympia, Lee Haney, and all other top bodybuilders back in ‘80s. He studied Lee’s workout routines, his diet, his posing, all of the important details, because Lee Haney was the best in what he did. Kevin says that of course “Pumping Iron” with Arnold Schwarzenegger brought in a big turning point for a lot of people. Arnold brought fun to the game, he made it look so easy.

Professional career

The first show where Kevin Levrone participated was AAU Mr. Maryland in 1989. This was a combination of bodybuilding and powerlifting event. He was totally natural there and he bench pressed 435 pounds at 189 pounds and won this competition. He was there with his training partners who were looking at the bodybuilders coming to compete, and Kevin’s friend John said that Keiv should have done a bodybuilding contest, because he looked as good as those guys coming on stage. After that friends brought over him. They rushed out to the store and got some razors, shaving cream and competition underwear, Kevin shawed off his hair borrowed some oil and won the whole show! He posed with song by Living Color, "Cult of Personality". After that competition Kevin also won the AAU Mr. Annapolis and found out about NPC where big guys went to compete. His cousin Chico trained Kevin for 1990 NPC Maryland. On NPC Maryland Kevin was 206 pounds and won the show. When Kevin won the NPC Nationals his weight was 233-236 pounds

Jim Manion was a big inspiration and mentor to keep him moving forward. Once right in the couple of months before turning Pro, Kevin nearly quit, because Paul DeMayo defeated him at Junior Nationals and Kevin felt really down. After the show Jim came to Kevin looked in his eyes and told him that he has a great potential and should go to the Nationals that year. Jim trained Kevin for the Nationals, and Kevin said that Jim became almost like a father for him. Kevin won the National competition, and when Lee Haney presented him the trophy, Kevin understood that bodybuilding is his future and something that he wants to do in his life. After that show Kevin hasn’t looked back, and till now he is very thankful for that to Jim Manion. During his competing years Kevin mentions Scotty Raynor as the best training partner that he had. They trained for about 5 years together from 1989 to 1994 and became very close friends. Kevin told that if he had ever won the Olympia he would dedicate the trophy for him.

Training

After 1992 Olympia in February 1993, Kevin has completely torn his major and minor pectoralis while bench pressing 600 pounds, and he needed a surgery to reattach it. At that time everyone thought that Kevin’s career was over. That time was very hard for Kevin. He had 2 surgeries, first one lasted 8 hours, while he was healing from first surgery he got an infection and he needed a second surgery. His weight dropped from 260 to 220 pounds. Most of the weight loss came from upper body. After the surgeries his right side was so weak that he couldn’t do a single push up. Kevin had only 8 weeks to gain all the weight back until the Olympia contest, and he did and took 5’th place at the 1993 Olympia. After that Kevin got an invitation to compete at the 1994 Arnold Classic and surprisingly for everyone he won the show! After Arnold Classic Kevin decided to train and do everything his own way. He understood that beating up his body the whole year can really hurt the health, and decided to make his health on the highest priority. He understood that in this sport if you had an injury once, people forget about you very shortly.

Kevin realized that even not training for 6 month, it took him only 8 weeks to recover and gain back muscle. He understood that he does not need to train more than 3-4 month to get ready. Kevin understood that can do other things during the year, and can starts preparing to the Olympia at late summer and after Olympia do the Grand prix contests. This worked out perfectly for him. That is how Kevin Levrone did professional career his own way. And that is how he managed not to gain a lot of weight during off season.

Kevin always trained hard. Every time he went to the gym, he challenged himself. He used to train with powerlifters, and being strong was very important for him. Kevin have never been afraid of getting underneath heavy weights. He looked at workouts as a chance to “tear his body apart” to make it bigger and stronger.

Kevin considered his greatest rivals - Dorian Yates, Flex Wheeler and of course Shawn ray, who was always in great shape. Kevin considered his best shape was at the 2000 mr.Olympia.

After professional career

Kevin did not officially announced his retirement, he explained this as he never thought about retirement, he decided to do something different, find other challenges. ^[5]

After Kevin ended his competition career, he lost weight and felt comfortable about it, it's difficult to carry so much weight during the whole day. Kevin changed his training and increased the amount of cardio he does weekly, he also enjoys playing other sports like tennis and golf. Levrone's first film as an actor was Backlash. His later film Redline and Burning Hollywood(TV Series). In 2009 Kevin has launched his website The Levrone Report a training/fitness guru blog on which he shared his resumed training program and provided tips and philosophies on a wide range of subjects. Kevin considered his greatest rivals - Dorian Yates, Flex Wheeler and of course Shawn ray, who was always in great shape. Kevin considered his best shape was at the 2000 mr.Olympia.

In January 2015 on his Facebook page Kevin announced launch His Supplement Line- Kevin Levrone Signature Series. Also starting from 2015 he started uploading and making available his music in online music stores like iTunes.

Stats

• Height: 5 ft 9 in
• Off Season Weight: 120 kg (260 lb)
• Competition Weight: 110–115 kg (243–254 lb)
• Arm Size: 60 cm (24 in)
• Leg Size: 82 cm (32 in)
• Waist Size: 82 cm (32 in)
• Chest size: 145 cm (57 in)
• Best Bench Press: 300 kg (660 lb)

Nicknames