Bodybuilding’s Promised Land, California, was calling my name after about three years of bodybuilding and I was going to seize the opportunity. California was, and had always been, the place that all the top IFBB Pros “lived and breathed” bodybuilding. I knew I had to get down to Venice and train at the Mecca of bodybuilding - Gold’s Gym, Venice. I had hit a point in the sport where I had to make a decision; do I trudge onward and devote all my passion to bodybuilding or do I walk away from the sport I loved. I had come to the conclusion that before I go forward with bodybuilding, I needed to go to Venice and test out the waters. Media back then isn’t what it is today. All I knew of the world was my parent’s basement and Niagara Falls. I had no idea what really went on within the depths of the sport or what the industry was really like. This was going to be a trial period for me.
I called a family meeting to discuss my intentions of travelling to California. My parents, my grandmother and I sat down. I told them the truth; I couldn’t afford to go to Venice without some assistance. I had been working as a bouncer, saving every nickel and dime, but I still didn’t have enough to go there. I had intended to fly down and stay there for one month to figure myself and bodybuilding out. Being the angels that they are, they supported me (as they always have) and they said they would help me. I am blessed with one of the most supportive families in the world. My father worked his fingers to the bone in a factory to support my two sisters and me. I have to give them credit for giving me the confidence and courage needed to follow my path.
My mother worried for me as any loving mother would worry about her son. She worried for my well-being; not money or anything else. I was an innocent, blue jean wearing, naïve, farmer from rural Canada. Here’s a Kovacs-fun-fact for you: Blue jeans rarely fit my quads at that time unless they were tailor made or torn into shorts. Anyway, I had never travelled anywhere. . . never been on an airplane or been to the U.S. by myself. My mom had a long talk with me; warning me not to trust people “down there” (as she put it) . . . warning me to “be careful”. She couldn’t have been more right; bodybuilding “schmoes” are a sneaky bunch. I’ve learned to trust my gut. If someone gave me a bad feeling, I listen to my intuition and I stay clear.
Like an enormous child on the night before Christmas, I could barely sleep the night before I left. Not only was I excited, but I was scared and nervous too. It was freaking me out that I would be training beside all my heroes from the magazines. Again, at that time, the internet wasn’t as prevalent and popular as it is today so you couldn’t just log on and contact your favourite bodybuilder. There was no insight into their real personalities, so it was getting to me. I was imagining training with them and training with thesame weights that so many champions had used before me. The feeling was indescribable. Any true bodybuilder would understand what I’m alluding to.
The morning inevitable came and my parents drove me to the airport and off I flew. Upon arriving in California, I read reports that my flight from Canada was lopsided the entire trip. Until this day, I can’t figure out why??? I got out of the airport and I took a cab to my hotel, the legendary Marina Pacific Hotel (nowadays called The Erwin).
The hotel was perfect for bodybuilders; it was the only hotel I had ever been to that specifically catered to muscle heads. The rooms had full kitchens, bodybuilder room service and the lobby had a restaurant that had a bodybuilder-specific menu. I thought I was in Heaven. Being the meathead that I am, the first thing I did was find a grocery store and stocked up. Chicken, steak, sweet potatos, a bucket of ice cream or two and so on - all the good stuff.
As my thighs rubbed together on the walk back from the grocery store, a voice chirped from a jeep behind me as I entered the hotel lobby. At first I thought it was some guy picking a fight or something. All I heard was “Who the hell are you?” I turned around and it was Mr. Olympia Samir Bannout. He blurted out, “You are a monster!” I had been in Venice for all of a few hours and Samir Bannout had already called me a monster. It was fuckin’ awesome.
He was, and still is, one of my biggest heroes. The “Lion of Lebanon” and I chatted beside his jeep for a solid 20 minutes. We talked about the industry and he kept repeating “I can’t get over your size for a 20 year old.” He had me posing for him right there; he started giving me little tweaks to my posing almost immediately. Samir knows his stuff and to get some pointers from a legend, I felt honoured. He told me I had great potential. That was one of the things I had originally came to California to find out and, within hours, I had Samir Bannout telling me that I did. I took that as a good omen and was totally motivated to make the most of my remaining time there in Venice, California.
Next week, I hope to impart to you all the experiences and emotions of what it was like to be training at those legendary gyms with legendary bodybuilders. In a word, it was overwhelming. Just as an example, I interacted with Arnold everyday I trained at World Gym. To me, those days were “something special” that happened in a time that has yet to be recaptured in modern bodybuilding. I would hope that, through my stories and experiences, I can share that special time with you. . . helping you to understand what it was like. That being said, I still can’t understand why my plane was flying lopsided. It’s like some enormous weight was on one side of the plane. Bah, whatever. Check in next week, same Kovacian time, same Kovacian channel...
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