Articles The Kovacian The Kovacian: My First Trip To Venice- Part 2: Meeting Joe Gold & Arnold!
I was feeling exhausted. I had been lugging around an enormous body, all the way from Niagara Falls to California. I went to bed early and planned to go train at Gold’s Gym and World Gym first thing in the morning. Again, like an enormous child on the night before Christmas, I couldn’t sleep. I decided to go out and cruise around bodybuilding’s version of Disneyland; the streets of Venice! During my meandering, I stumbled upon the world famous, Muscle Beach. It was unbelievable to see the great Venice Muscle Beach deserted and so quiet after seeing the craziness and tremendous energy of it as depicted in the magazines for all those years. I figured that’d be the highlight of my night so I went wandered back to my hotel room to try to get some sleep.
After a few restless hours, I got up and went to train at the Mecca of bodybuilding, Gold’s Gym. Right out of the gate, I had a game plan. First, I would hit Gold’s Gym and set up my visitor pass and get in my morning training session. Second, I would head over to World Gym in the late afternoon to do the same thing and get in my afternoon workout. I slipped on my Otomix training shoes and started walking over to Gold’s. I sauntered up to the front desk, half exhausted from the walk, and I met a young guy working there. As I approached, his eyes lit up and, right away, he asked me if I was a wrestler or football player because, as he put it, “Bodybuilders don’t look so big in sweats”. I wasn’t a tank top sort of guy; I was a sweatshirt aficionado. Anyway, after some laughs, he gave me a free pass to train for the time I would be staying in Venice. That young guy at the front desk would later grow up to be WWE Superstar, John Cena.
The size of the place was overwhelming. People said that about me sometimes so I guess I kinda knew what it was like to be overwhelmed by sheer size. I felt like I had walked into a jungle; there were gorilla-like men everywhere. The place was littered with freaks. Pros and their followers were eying me as I strolled unassumingly through the gym. I approached a few of them and, like dogs that felt threatened; no one would make eye contact with me. Maybe this big farm boy was throwing them off and they didn’t know how to make sense of it; I didn’t know for sure. I figured I’d do what I knew best. I went over to the barbell bench press, loaded on a plate and started warming up. Every time I added on a plate, the group around me grew bigger – just like my pump. I got to 4 plates-a-side and slammed an easy 15 reps. Now I had the attention of the big names. One random guy said “You realize that people don’t see that in here. Most big guys don’t bench in here.” Well that was it; that guy threw gas on a big fiery heap of Kovacs. I threw on another plate. I had 5 plates a side and I slammed out 12 reps so clean my own mother would’ve been impressed. The guy said “You just ruined a lot of egos in here buddy.” From that point on, no one really talked to me, I got some respectful nods but no conversations. I assumed it was because they must’ve been there to train; but who knows?
The days went by and I began talking to more people. I may have been slightly intimidating to some at the gym because these guys saw a kid in there with a ton of potential. Also, I don’t think that most of the big name guys in there enjoyed me taking precious attention away from them. I was, more than anything, disappointed that I wasn’t welcomed with open arms. Gold’s didn’t live up to the world I saw in the magazines.
World Gym was totally different; it was a different environment and I found that the two gyms balanced each other off. After I had finished my bench press expo at Gold’s, I went for an afternoon workout at World. I walked in the front door and Joe Gold was sitting there at the reception area with ‘little’ Eddie Giuliani. Joe took an interest in me immediately. We had a short conversation and he let me get to my workout. World Gym, at that time, wasn’t very busy – the exact opposite of Gold’s. Gold’s was a zoo and jam packed. World Gym had no music playing; it was quiet like a church. It you dropped the weights or grunted too loud, Joe would be in your face faster than a koala on a eucalyptus plant. Joe was old school and wanted the gym to be treated with respect. I pulled the same bench pressing stunt and actually scored an extra rep with 5 plates. Hey, if you were me back then, surrounded by the legends of bodybuilding in the Mecca of bodybuilding, you would’ve done the same thing. Joe said that I was welcome at his gym any time, and he gave me a pass to train for free.
I have never been weak in the knees in my whole life, except once. I returned to World Gym the next morning and it happened. I opened the door to World Gym and was greeted by the sight of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Immediately, my legs felt like they were gonna collapse on me; I felt a surge of adrenaline out of nowhere. I had to contain myself. I sauntered over and Joe introduced me to him. I’ll never forget Arnold telling me that he had already heard of “this Canadian monster” from Joe. Over the next few weeks, I would see him there and we would talk. Meeting Arnold was the height of bodybuilding motivation for me. He even had me pose for him a few times.
Joe Gold saw great potential in me, a fact that I am still humbled by to this day. Joe Gold called up Joe Weider and set up a lunch for the three of us. I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me; it was like a dream come true. First my experience with Samir, then Joe Gold, then Arnold and now Joe freakin’ Weider. . . the father of bodybuilding. It was unreal.
When we met up with Weider, he was a little reluctant and stand off-ish. I later found out why he was acting like that. Paul Dillet had just recently met with Joe and told him he was an IFBB Pro from Canada. Joe signed Paul under the assumption that Paul was actually a pro; however, Paul was not a pro. He hadn’t even competed yet. It was now apparent why he was acting the way he was; he didn’t want to get bamboozled again by another shifty Canadian. The truth was that I wasn’t looking for a contract; I was only 20 years old and I had only done a few small shows. Joe Weider told me that once I had earned a pro card, I should come out and see him. I did just that.
No one got special treatment at World Gym from Joe; no one. Big Lou Ferrigno was there one day and he was making a hell of a racket and Joe came over and gave him shit. Other guys that I saw there regularly included Bob Paris, Eddie Robinson, Victor Richards and Rich Gaspari. Samir used to train at both World and Gold’s and I saw him regularly at both clubs. I really enjoyed training at both gyms because I got a nice variety of environments and met a lot of different people. I learned more than I had thought I would about training, the insides of the sport and nutrition. What was even more shocking was that I actually received an “answer” to the question set forth at the beginning of my quest to bodybuilding’s promise land. Yes, I did have the potential to take my physique to the “big leagues” of professional bodybuilding!
In summation, the trip to California was an integral part in my quest to becoming a pro bodybuilder. I’ll leave you all with the final thought of big ol’ Kovacs being approached by gay and weird “schmoes” offering me all kinds of stuff in exchange for “favors”. My response? I fed them a good ol’ Kovacs “fuck off” sandwich and those sneaky bastards left me alone for the remainder of my trip. Tune in next week. . . same Kovacs time; same Kovacs channel.
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