Kansas State University Athletics
‘Become the Dream Killer’
Aug 16, 2024 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
"You're going to be the dream killer. It's on, men!" Phil Heath concludes near the end of his 31-minute, 47-second speech to the Kansas State football team, which sits inside the team theatre room at the Vanier Family Football Complex in the meat of training camp. It's a Friday night. There's no time off. Not for the Wildcats, who are picked No. 18 in the AP Top 25, and not for the players working daily to prove their team as one of the tops in the 16-member Big 12 Conference.
A certain newness wafts around the room although K-State returns 46 lettermen, including six starters on offense and eight on defense from a squad that finished 9-4 and won the Pop-Tarts Bowl. There are plenty of new faces, too, in this the sixth season under Chris Klieman, regarded as one of the top head coaches in the FBS.
K-State is the only Big 12 program, and one of only 11 Power 4 teams, currently riding a straight of eight-plus win seasons.
Heath, the 44-year-old seven-time Mr. Olympia wears a black tank-top and gold necklace and stands front and center in front of the seated K-State coaches and players in the Vanier Family Football Complex. His movements and words are direct; his passion and yearning for victory limitless, as he takes K-State football on a very personal ride — one that began with his childhood in Seattle, Washington, moved to the University of Denver on a basketball scholarship, and crested with a distraught Heath, so overcome with pain from not receiving playing time on the hardwood, that he says that he laid on the roadways in Denver hoping the impact of a fast-moving vehicle would "run my ass over."
"I was thinking, 'Why am I not playing? Why am I not doing this?'" Heath says. "I lacked gratitude. I was going to a great university where I could actually get a degree (he received two degrees) and be something of myself. Obviously, I wasn't successful at taking my own life, and I began living my life and realizing there's so much life after basketball."
He landed on his two feet and during his fifth year of college discovered a sport that would change his life forever: Body building.
"I knew nothing about it," he says.
He experienced a meteoric rise up the sport and turned professional after just two and a half years on the amateur circuit. Known as "The Gift," he won the Mr. Olympia competition every year from 2011 to 2017, tying Arnold Schwarzenegger for the second most Mr. Olympia wins — a number that trails just Ronnie Coleman and Lee Haney (eight apiece) in all-time history.
"My first show, I got up there and instead of being excited, I walked up there with this false bravado in anger, and I'm very, very stiff, and I'm not really enjoying the experience, and the crowd is actually laughing," Heath says. "I think they're laughing at me, but in fact they're laughing because I just beat every freaking person at this show. I didn't know that.
"Sometimes, we put these things into our heads that aren't real. When you're out there on the field, you're going to be out there with your teammates, your coaches, and I've seen FAMILY written all over this place. You have nothing really to fear but what you have to conquer is what's between the ears. You're worried about three things: 1) the shame, 2) the pain, and 3) losing."
"You don't look at them," Heath says in his introductory video. "You don't need to look at them. You look at the mirror. You ask yourself if you gave it your all. You ask yourself if you have another rep. You ask yourself can I go to work when I'm pissed off because I'm about to get fired or something bad happened or I lost my girlfriend, or whatever it is. You ask yourself do you have the guts to go after it when nobody is watching, nobody is patting you on the back and no one is liking yourself on social media. If you have the guts to go after it, you put yourself into the best position to win.
"That's what I did for this entire prep. It was not easy. A lot of people say, 'Oh Phil, he's got genetics and this and that,' but I put that God-given talent to work each and every damn day."
Heath experienced loss in 2010 when he finished fifth at Mr. Olympia due to food poisoning, which caused him to lose 20 pounds the day before competition. The next day, the day of photo shoots, he arrived two hours early and trained his legs. He told onlooking reporters from FLEX magazine, "I need to prove something to myself." The reporters asked, "What's that?" Heath replied, "God needs to know how stubborn I am."
Heath went on to capture his first Mr. Olympia title that following year.
"You get that feeling of, 'Man, it was all worth it,'" Heath says. "It might've happened when you got the phone call to come (to K-State). You have to harness that. Then you have to realize you have to do it again. Now it's time to remind yourself it's your time."
Heath demanded total dedication.
"I still had the commitment to excellence," he says. "I had to remember I wasn't alone. I had to get back to work and make it fun for myself. People on social media chirped and I thought, 'You know what? They're trying to crush my dreams.' I said, 'They're trying to crush my dreams, man.'
"Guess what I did? I flipped it around and called myself a dream killer. Because now I'm going to crush your dreams."
Which brings us back to the gridiron.
"When you go out there on the field, people are going to try and crush your dreams," Heath says. "They want you to fail. They want the YouTube and Instagram love, the money and opportunities that you have. What are you going to do about it? What commitments do you really have that are going to deliver for you the results and joy and more value and deliver you more progress and more proof in your damn performance? Where's the proof? You can talk about it all you want like I did in 2010, but you have to prove it.
"You can declare it all you want but you have to prove it in the weight room and everywhere you go. And you have to do it when nobody is watching. You're grown, right? You're grown right? To be a grown man is a business all the time because your adversaries are doing the same thing. They're grown-ass men who want to mess you up."
Heath pauses.
"Flip it around and become the dream killer."
"You're going to be the dream killer. It's on, men!" Phil Heath concludes near the end of his 31-minute, 47-second speech to the Kansas State football team, which sits inside the team theatre room at the Vanier Family Football Complex in the meat of training camp. It's a Friday night. There's no time off. Not for the Wildcats, who are picked No. 18 in the AP Top 25, and not for the players working daily to prove their team as one of the tops in the 16-member Big 12 Conference.
A certain newness wafts around the room although K-State returns 46 lettermen, including six starters on offense and eight on defense from a squad that finished 9-4 and won the Pop-Tarts Bowl. There are plenty of new faces, too, in this the sixth season under Chris Klieman, regarded as one of the top head coaches in the FBS.
K-State is the only Big 12 program, and one of only 11 Power 4 teams, currently riding a straight of eight-plus win seasons.
Heath, the 44-year-old seven-time Mr. Olympia wears a black tank-top and gold necklace and stands front and center in front of the seated K-State coaches and players in the Vanier Family Football Complex. His movements and words are direct; his passion and yearning for victory limitless, as he takes K-State football on a very personal ride — one that began with his childhood in Seattle, Washington, moved to the University of Denver on a basketball scholarship, and crested with a distraught Heath, so overcome with pain from not receiving playing time on the hardwood, that he says that he laid on the roadways in Denver hoping the impact of a fast-moving vehicle would "run my ass over."
"I was thinking, 'Why am I not playing? Why am I not doing this?'" Heath says. "I lacked gratitude. I was going to a great university where I could actually get a degree (he received two degrees) and be something of myself. Obviously, I wasn't successful at taking my own life, and I began living my life and realizing there's so much life after basketball."
He landed on his two feet and during his fifth year of college discovered a sport that would change his life forever: Body building.
"I knew nothing about it," he says.
He experienced a meteoric rise up the sport and turned professional after just two and a half years on the amateur circuit. Known as "The Gift," he won the Mr. Olympia competition every year from 2011 to 2017, tying Arnold Schwarzenegger for the second most Mr. Olympia wins — a number that trails just Ronnie Coleman and Lee Haney (eight apiece) in all-time history.
"My first show, I got up there and instead of being excited, I walked up there with this false bravado in anger, and I'm very, very stiff, and I'm not really enjoying the experience, and the crowd is actually laughing," Heath says. "I think they're laughing at me, but in fact they're laughing because I just beat every freaking person at this show. I didn't know that.
"Sometimes, we put these things into our heads that aren't real. When you're out there on the field, you're going to be out there with your teammates, your coaches, and I've seen FAMILY written all over this place. You have nothing really to fear but what you have to conquer is what's between the ears. You're worried about three things: 1) the shame, 2) the pain, and 3) losing."
But there's a comeback. There always seems to be a comeback.Thanks Coach!!!! https://t.co/GozvwKPJ1F
— PHIL HEATH (@PHILHEATH) August 15, 2024
"You don't look at them," Heath says in his introductory video. "You don't need to look at them. You look at the mirror. You ask yourself if you gave it your all. You ask yourself if you have another rep. You ask yourself can I go to work when I'm pissed off because I'm about to get fired or something bad happened or I lost my girlfriend, or whatever it is. You ask yourself do you have the guts to go after it when nobody is watching, nobody is patting you on the back and no one is liking yourself on social media. If you have the guts to go after it, you put yourself into the best position to win.
"That's what I did for this entire prep. It was not easy. A lot of people say, 'Oh Phil, he's got genetics and this and that,' but I put that God-given talent to work each and every damn day."
Heath experienced loss in 2010 when he finished fifth at Mr. Olympia due to food poisoning, which caused him to lose 20 pounds the day before competition. The next day, the day of photo shoots, he arrived two hours early and trained his legs. He told onlooking reporters from FLEX magazine, "I need to prove something to myself." The reporters asked, "What's that?" Heath replied, "God needs to know how stubborn I am."
Heath went on to capture his first Mr. Olympia title that following year.
"You get that feeling of, 'Man, it was all worth it,'" Heath says. "It might've happened when you got the phone call to come (to K-State). You have to harness that. Then you have to realize you have to do it again. Now it's time to remind yourself it's your time."
Heath demanded total dedication.
"I still had the commitment to excellence," he says. "I had to remember I wasn't alone. I had to get back to work and make it fun for myself. People on social media chirped and I thought, 'You know what? They're trying to crush my dreams.' I said, 'They're trying to crush my dreams, man.'
"Guess what I did? I flipped it around and called myself a dream killer. Because now I'm going to crush your dreams."
Which brings us back to the gridiron.
"When you go out there on the field, people are going to try and crush your dreams," Heath says. "They want you to fail. They want the YouTube and Instagram love, the money and opportunities that you have. What are you going to do about it? What commitments do you really have that are going to deliver for you the results and joy and more value and deliver you more progress and more proof in your damn performance? Where's the proof? You can talk about it all you want like I did in 2010, but you have to prove it.
"You can declare it all you want but you have to prove it in the weight room and everywhere you go. And you have to do it when nobody is watching. You're grown, right? You're grown right? To be a grown man is a business all the time because your adversaries are doing the same thing. They're grown-ass men who want to mess you up."
Heath pauses.
"Flip it around and become the dream killer."
K-State Men's Basketball | Postgame Highlights vs Mississippi Valley State
Tuesday, December 09
K-State Men's Basketball | Players Press Conference - December 8, 2025
Tuesday, December 09
K-State Men's Basketball | Head Coach Jerome Tang Press Conference - December 8, 2025
Tuesday, December 09
K-State Men's Basketball | Head Coach Jerome Tang Press Conference - December 6, 2025
Monday, December 08