Australia has many champions in the bodybuilding field, and we now have another to add to that list in the form of Kal Savi. I know without a doubt that no one knew of Kal’s desire even to compete in, let alone win, one of America’s top amateur shows, but that, my friends, is all about to change.

I met Kal at Gold’s Gym, Venice, almost three years ago to the day. He inquired about training with me, and I remember thinking at the time that this had to be a very intelligent man. How did Kal look back then? Well, he was sporting what I like to call the fat/skinny look: he was holding a lot of body fat and precious little muscle. If you’d told me that Kal was going to take out the Ironman Amateur Masters’ Class in three years’ time, I would never have thought it possible; but Kal had desire in his heart and a dream to live out, and thankfully I was able to be part of one of Kal’s great moments. I am all excited as I write this as I know how great a story it’s going to be; I am telling Kal’s tale through my own eyes since I lived the last nine weeks with the champ.

Kal was born in 1960; that makes him forty years old, and a very

young-looking forty-year-old at that. From what I gather Kal was no school sports champion; he was not the most athletically-gifted person in the world, nor did he compete in any major sports that I know of. I don’t think Kal looked like he should have been in that movie Revenge Of The Nerds, but he was no Mr. Cool, either. I learnt quickly that throwing Kal a drink or anything else for that matter was not a good idea as the guy is the most uncoordinated person I have ever met. Why am I putting shit on my good buddy? Only so you know that he was no genetic freak, nor a super-gifted athlete; he’s a father of two who’s been married for eighteen years, so he was just your average forty-year-old man. But look at what he’s been able to achieve. I want to go on record now saying that I have never seen anyone improve so much in such a short period of time. The only person who comes close is my good mate Con Demetiou.

Kal trained on and off with me for about two and a half years. It was hard to get any real momentum going in our training as Kal had a lot of work commitments; oh, by the way, that is why Kal was in America: he is one of the top communications guys in Australia - so good in fact that he was asked to come over to the states by Lucenit Tech. So Kal is very clearly a smart guy; I love the guy, I truly do, but I was always amazed - truly amazed - at how he would forget everything I told him within the space of a few minutes. I learnt later that Kal had many things on his mind: for one, he missed his wife Linda and his two beautiful children Tara and Kati-Rose, who’d been unable to come with him to America due to school and work. He also had an amazingly demanding job; at least once every two weeks he would call to tell me he had to visit some country or other on a work-related trip. The guy had a lot on his plate. And I stopped training people as things were finally going well for me in my career.

Then right out of the blue Kal called me up to tell me he was competing and needed my help. I met him and was really impressed with how good he looked; he’d lost a lot of size, but he still looked good. He was already down to 213lbs (at 6’ 2’’), but I could see the look in Kal’s eyes: he really wanted this show. He told me: “Guy, I am forty years old. I have been talking about this since I got here and now I know it’s now or never.” I was so pumped I started working with Kal straight away. We had five weeks to the Sacramento Championships, which Kal wanted to do as a tune-up, so I busted his ass like never before. He was totally focused on the show; every day my respect for him grew and grew as he put in 100 per cent every workout while holding down an extremely demanding job. I swear that in that five-week period he put on 10lbs of muscle and easily lost 8lbs of fat. I know that sounds like bullshit - even I have a hard time believing it - but I saw it with my own eyes so it has to be true.

Kal walked on stage at Sacramento weighing 215lbs, and he looked awesome. It was a great show. Kal was easily the hardest guy in his class of thirteen competitors. Though I knew that Kal was the better bodybuilder on the day, to be blunt his posing killed him, (I mentioned before that co-ordination is not Kal’s strong suit). He took second.

We had a little celebration back at our motel room. After a few beers, Kal started posing like a professional, so my girlfriend Kiyoko and I left the big fella alone doing his routine with a beer in one hand and his trophy in the other. If only he’d done it like that on stage I’m sure he would have won.

We hit the gym the very next Monday. I wrote down on a piece of paper the areas he needed to bring up to win at The Ironman. The list was simple:

1) Come in 15% harder;

2) come in 3lbs heavier;

3) bring up back by 10%;

4) improve posing by 40%.

I said: “Kal, if you do all this in the next four weeks, I give you my word you will win.” If possible, he gave me more the next four weeks than he did the first five. He trained like an animal. He also learnt how hard dieting can become, as the ever-pleasant Kal became quick to temper. One  funny story is when a technician was screwing us around with Kal’s contest music. Kal didn’t know it, but I rang up the guy and said, “Listen, mate, Kal is getting a little pissed about this. Now personally I couldn’t care less whether you get the music ready or not, but Kal is starting to take this personally. In Australia when something gets personal, it generally gets pretty messy, so I just thought I would pass on this message before it gets real personal.” About fifteen minutes later Kal phoned me to tell me the technician had called him up; he’d finished recording the music, apparently, and even offered to drop it over personally – on CD as well as on tape, if required - to Kal’s house. Kal told me he’d nervously offered to do ten or so other things for him. Oh, and by the way, only two weeks out from the show, Kal had to take an emergency trip to London for three days. Anyone who’s competed knows how hard that is before a contest.

We felt that Kal could have been at least two, maybe even three, pounds heavier because he was a little flat, so we started carbing up twelve hours earlier with an additional 25% of carbs. Kal went from 214lbs all the way up to 223lbs. “Holy shit,” was the first thing I said when I saw him; he was so full he looked like he was about to explode. We cut the carbs back gradually and dropped his fluid intake by 80%.

 The day of the contest arrived and Kal was shredded. I knew there was no way any of the other masters were going to beat him. He was 217lbs, just like we predicted; his back was thicker and fuller, and he was at least

10% harder, maybe 15%. He even posed well and as I’d said: “Bro’, you do these things I told you, and you will WIN.” Guess what, that’s exactly what my boy did: he took it out with first from every single judge. I am honored that I was able to share the experience of Kal’s dream becoming a reality. I am not ashamed to admit that when the big fella came rushing out from backstage to see me, I gave him a cuddle, and said, “Enjoy this because you earned it, mate.” I had tears in my eyes because I knew how great he felt. It’s funny how in bodybuilding we all bag each other and talk shit, yet we all know how hard this sport is. We don’t need to belittle each other: there are a million others out there who will do it for us, and they regularly do. I respect all bodybuilders because I know how hard both they and I work. I know I am not alone in this. So rather than act like children and fight and talk shit, why don’t we all get along. I have been beaten by Brian Anthony and Jonathan Davies. These guys are good friends of mine; I respect them and get along with them. Oh, of course I am waiting for the day when I can avenge those two losses, and when I do - which I will - we will still be great mates. Except I want to get calls at 2 a.m. from Brian Anthony yelling into my answering machine, “Where’s my bitch?”

Kal has picked up a whole bunch of modeling and appearance work; he has become so popular that we will soon be releasing his own Web site. Kal can be booked for appearances by contacting him through me at my site: www.Fitnetusa.com.

Believe and achieve,

Don't forget to check out Guy's Website 'www.fitnetusa.com'

 Guy Grundy.

1999/2000 World Championships 2x best loser.

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