The King Of The Gym Is Down But Not Out!
Muscular Development|November 2019
A HEALTH SCARE KNOCKS JOSH LENARTOWICZ OUT OF THE OLYMPIA
Ron Harris
The King Of The Gym Is Down But Not Out!

Josh Lenartowicz has already seen his share of ups and downs in his four-year pro career. He was on a roll and doing well in the summer of 2017, with three pro wins to his credit, when tragedy struck. Josh was training for Mr. Olympia in Florida with his friend Dallas McCarver, until that tragic night when Dallas died suddenly at only 26 years old. As most of you know, Josh was the one who found his lifeless body. It took him a while to process that event and get his motivation for the sport back, and this year was looking to be a triumphant comeback. Lenartowicz qualified for the Mr. Olympia and was on track to hit that prestigious stage for the third time when fate assaulted him yet again with a totally unexpected health issue. We spoke shortly before the

Olympia he would have competed at and went over what happened to this gentle giant from Australia.

We have a lot of catching up to do. The last time we spoke on record was after you had won the San Marino Pro and Ferrigno Legacy shows in the fall of 2015. That was when people really started to take notice of you.

That time was a breakthrough for me. I won those two shows, and I also placed a close second to Cedric at the Kevin Levrone Classic in Poland the next spring. My heritage is Polish as you can tell by my name, so it was cool to go there for the first time and meet those fans. Getting third place a few months later at the Arnold Classic to Kai and Cedric also helped establish me in the sport. I did my first Mr. Olympia that year and got ninth in a tough lineup. So that was a nice run there. I got to compete with Kai at the Arnold and Phil at the Olympia. I’ll never forget being backstage at the Arnold that year. There were these stairs we had to go up to get to the stage, and we were waiting there for a minute. Kai was on the step above me, so those hanging lower lats of his were right in my face. I was thinking, man, I have a lot of work to do!

This story is from the November 2019 edition of Muscular Development.

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This story is from the November 2019 edition of Muscular Development.

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