Josh the giant: what it takes to become the world's best bodybuilder

Updated

After reaching the top of the bodybuilding game in Australia, 'king of the gym' Josh Lenartowicz is on a quest to conquer the globe.

At his Brunswick gym, a hub for Melbourne bodybuilders, Josh Lenartowicz is a local idol.

His look is certainly not mainstream, but here, the 125-kilogram rising star is surrounded by others who admire his pain, suffering and utter commitment.

"What's it like to finally be pro?" asks another man who by all standards is large, but only half the size of Lenartowicz.

"I was crying on stage. I've been working my whole life towards it," he replies.

Two years ago the 32-year-old decided to commit to the sport full time and has since reached his Mount Everest: Mr Olympia, the pinnacle of the bodybuilding world.

The question now is, will he make it to the top?

Muscle man from the country

A son of Polish migrants, Lenartowicz grew up in Sale, country Victoria, and has been in the gym since he was 14 years old.

Bodybuilding wasn't exactly on the list of pathways presented by his high school career counsellor, but for the young gym junkie it was always the only option.

"If someone was talking about a car engine, I'd switch off, but if someone was talking about nutrition or training my ears would perk up and I'd be really involved. I absolutely loved it," he said.

"There's a couple of footballers that have come from Sale, but no bodybuilders ever have come out of Sale.

"So it was advised against me. But then, I think if you listen to people and don't do what you love, then you end up living someone else's life and being unhappy."

Bodybuilding is an expensive sport, which meant juggling two jobs with gym, school and homework

Up until he was sponsored by a protein meal company recently, Lenartowicz was forking out up to $700 a week on food.

"It's like you're feeding six or seven people," he says.

"It's changed over the years — sometimes I've had eight or ten meals a day — but I've found that having six meals a day is really good at the moment for keeping my waist a bit more slender.

"The meals are quite big, it takes sometimes 30 minutes to eat a meal. So you can see how your day turns out that it's a full-time job."

Now that he has committed to the sport full time, relying on money from his sponsors, he spends between four to eight hours in the gym each day.

It's all-consuming.

King of the gym

Right now he's in peak condition for shows and trimming down every last ounce of excess body fat.

That means extreme exhaustion.

Josh's weekly workout breakdown Monday: chest and triceps

chest and triceps Tuesday: back and abs

back and abs Wednesday: quads and calves

quads and calves Thursday: shoulders and traps

shoulders and traps Friday: arms

arms Saturday: hamstrings and calves

hamstrings and calves Sunday: cardio and stretching

When he's not working out, he's fighting off a constant craving — often not for anything in particular — just for something as mundane as a piece of Vegemite toast.

"I'm not the type of guy that'll have one piece, I'll have a whole loaf," he says.

"I could eat chocolate or schnitzels, gravy, chips. I just like to eat anything that's not bodybuilding food.

"You get the craving, and you do get incredibly hungry, but it's denying that and pushing through. It's a mind game."

'I've never ever cheated in my life'

Lenartowicz knows the immense strain he is putting his body and organs under.

Even posing, where he tenses every possible muscle in his body, leaves him exhausted and out of breath.

"The bigger you get, because muscles require oxygen, it's almost like I'm breathing for two, three or four people and I've still got the same sized lungs and mouth to take that oxygen in."

Since it began, the sport has raised obvious questions around steroids and growth hormones.

Steroids are illegal in the United States.

While they are not strictly tested at many top level competitions, they are against competition rules.

Lenartowicz denies using steroids and growth hormone.

He says his physique comes down to good genetics and many years of hard work.

"I've never ever cheated in my life," he says.

"We always get criticised and analysed.

"It's almost a form of bullying in a way. If people said that about Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods … it is disrespectful in a way because it disregards all the hard work.

"My brothers are both really big as well. They don't have the work ethic, but we're all genetically gifted.

"Anyone who knows about nutrition and training knows that you can adjust your hormone profile through increased cholesterol, which is increased fats."

A dramatic before and after photo posted by Lenartowicz last year was shared widely on social media, many speculating about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The first image, he says, was taken while he was on honeymoon and had been on a two-week break from the gym for the first time in 10 years.

Hence, the extraordinary transformation.

Unless prescribed by a medical practitioner, anabolic steroids are illegal in the US, Australia and many parts of Europe.

"There's no magic potion. It takes years," he says.

"Anyone thinks that you can get it through taking a performance enhancer is kidding themselves.

Anyone that wants to take it that way should wait til they're old enough and reached their maturity level and seek medical advice.

"I don't judge anyone. But at the same time I don't like being labelled."

Following in Arnie's footsteps

More than a decade after his deb ball partner bought him Arnold Schwarzenegger's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding as a gift, Lenartowicz is competing at the level of his lifelong idols.

I'm still really a no name, but anyone that reached some level of greatness had to at some point start somewhere and had to beat competitors who people never thought would be beaten.

Wins at the San Marino Pro in Italy and the Lou Ferrigno Legacy in California won him a spot at this year's Mr Olympia, a title that determines who can call themselves the world's best.

Josh is competing in Portland, Oregon this weekend before competing in back-to-back Arnold Classic events, first in California and then in his home city of Melbourne on March 19.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger's definitely been an inspiration throughout my life. And now doing his contests … it almost seems surreal that it's my life.

"I'm still really a no-name, but anyone that reached some level of greatness had to, at some point, start somewhere, and had to beat competitors who people never thought would be beaten."

And if he doesn't win?

"If I finish and I don't get the result that looks like success, I'll still be happy because I've given it everything," he says.

Topics: exercise-and-fitness, brunswick-3056, melbourne-3000, sale-3850

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