EVERY DAY IS LEG DAY

SA's first black professional bodybuilder has his sights set on becoming Mr Olympia

- MELON RADEBE

WITH his bulging biceps, thick ropes of veins and abs of steel he looks like a superhero ripped straight from the pages of a comic book. 

In fact, Sibusiso Kotelo could be called the Hulk of Joburg - a 1,86-m tall, 138-kg block of rock-hard muscle who has his sights set on becoming the best bodybuilder on the planet.

The 31-year-old is no stranger to record setting: he's the first black South African to get a card from the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness, which makes him eligible to compete as a professional.

"It was a life-changing experience because it validated the work my coach and I put in and will help us reach our dream, Sibusiso tells YOU. "We also made history because not only was I the first black South African pro bodybuilder, I was 27 at the time, which made me the youngest South African to get a card."

His mission now is to go to the Mr Olympia contest, the bodybuilding world's most prestigious competition.

"And I'm going to win it," he announces, chatting to us at the Unique Physique gym in Sandton where he trains and works as a trainer. "It's been my dream since I started bodybuilding. You have to win a pro show to get an invite to Mr Olympia - it's where the cream of the crop compete.

"Mr Olympia is in Romania in October, but I'm targeting the 2024 competition so I'll be doing the Japan Pro bodybuilding championship in November to hopefully win and qualify."

Sibusiso's success didn't come overnight. When he arrived in Joburg from Durban, his hometown, all he had to his name was a car "and R152 in the bank".

He was living in his car and sometimes sleeping in the basement of the gym he was training at.

Sibusiso was only just starting out as a bodybuilder and although he had a small sponsorship with a protein-shake manufacturer, it wasn't paying the grocery bills.