BURLINGTON, Ont. – As soon as Kyle Landi steps foot inside his gym, you know he’s a man on a mission.
Absolute focus – even if he’s got a TV crew following him.
Landi is Canada’s first competitive bodybuilder with Down syndrome. But he refuses to be defined by the condition he was born with.
In fact, it’s become a not-so-secret superpower.
The 26-year-old Landi has more than one million followers on Instagram and TikTok, and has trained with some of the biggest names in bodybuilding – including Arnold Schwarzenegger – and is a certified personal trainer. He’s also a budding businessman, developing an app to help others reach their fitness goals.
But no matter how high he soars, he still remembers to stay grounded and independent – values his mom, Kim Murphy, instilled in him from a young age.
“I would put him in mainstream everything – mainstream dance, mainstream gymnastics, mainstream karate – because we all need to level up when you see other people,” Murphy said from her home in Milton, Ont.
“Don’t ever pity him, because he is the happiest guy in the world,” she said.
It’s a fierce, material determination, which Murphy says could be a response to the way hospital staff made her feel about her son when he entered the world.
On top of having Down syndrome, he was also six weeks premature, and years later, had open-heart surgery when he was just nine years old.
“When he was born, they made it sound, instead of ‘congratulations,’ … it turned into a very mournful event,” she explained. “Like the kid wasn’t dead or dying, but they made it sound like it.” She adds that it took away from the joy of having a child come into the world.
Even as he keeps defying the odds, Landi is inspiring others to do the same, like his step-dad Joe Dominie, a former police officer who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.
“This man has single-handedly helped save my life. Literally. Literally,” Dominie said during a recent workout with Landi, adding that his positivity, optimism and will to break barriers is what keeps him going.
Landi’s mom says the family has received many messages of support, including one from a young mother who was struggling after she had given birth to a child with Down syndrome, but then heard Kyle’s story, showing her what was possible.
Currently, Landi is training for the Pittsburgh Pro Competition at the Pittsburgh Power & Fitness Festival in May, as well as the Muscle Beach Bodybuilding Contest in Venice, Calif., in June.
And through it all, he’s proving to the world that his biggest lift may just be in lifting those around him.
