Years can go by without it happening. But every now and then a previously unheralded bodybuilder rockets to pro victories with a physique capable of cracking the Mr. Olympia top 10. As the world grows smaller, we need to search farther to spot the next big thing. In 2014, it was Ghana-born Dutchman William Bonac who won two pro shows. And in a single week in November 2015, it was 5’8″, 260-pound Australian Josh Lenartowicz who did the same. He defeated Bonac (fresh off an Olympia eighth) to win the San Marino Pro, and then prevailed at the Ferrigno Legacy five days later. And as we set out to learn more about bodybuilding’s latest sensation, we discovered that Lenartowicz’s King of the Gym workout system is even more shocking than his recent success.
GET YOUR GOAT
Sale is a rural town of 13,000 in Victoria, Australia, 15 miles from the ocean and a 2ó-hour drive from Melbourne. The Lenartowicz family settled there after fleeing Poland during World War II. On April 5, 1983, Joshua was born. His father “had a failed business but worked his final years as a warehouse manager” before dying of cancer. His mother “was a hardworking nurse on the oil rigs offshore,” Lenartowicz says. He claims he got his never-give-up attitude from his dad and his work ethic from his mom. At 14, he began to apply these qualities to his newfound passion.
Adorning his older brother’s bedroom wall was a Mr. Olympia poster. “I remember looking at the pictures of these massive men and thinking how amazing it was that the human body could get like that. And from that point on there was this fire inside me that wanted to achieve that,” Lenartowicz says. He read all he could about training and nutrition. Because he worked after school, he woke at 5:30 a.m. to hit the weights in a gym void of luxuries like electricity. It was so rural, goats would wander in. “I had that hunger that got me out of bed every morning and made me want to progress,” he says.
“I remember looking at the pictures of these massive men and thinking how amazing that the human body could get like that.”
THE TRANSFORMER
Entering drug-tested bodybuilding contests, he rose through the ranks, including victories at the 2004 Mr. Melbourne (at 21) and 2006 Mr. Victoria (at 23). Still, his goal was to compete against Australia’s best in open shows and progress to the IFBB Pro League. For that, he needed more muscle. So he became “king of the gym,” even in one as celebrated as Doherty’s Gym (no goats allowed), which he joined after settling in Melbourne. He made every workout a man versus metal battle, and he won those duels over and over again, day after day, year after year. In 2009, he even set an Australian deadlift record. (His best pull is 750.)
When he returned to bodybuilding stages in 2013, he had transformed himself into a super-heavyweight juggernaut with two short-term goals: to pro qualify and to be the highest-placing Aussie in the Australian Pro Grand Prix. He accomplished both on the same weekend in March 2014. Ask Lenartowicz how he transformed himself, and he’ll first mention his Christian faith as well as a support team that includes wife Lizzie, mentor Tony Doherty, and coach Chris Cormier. But talk to him long enough, and he’ll begin to fill in the details of the training system he developed over the years via trial and error. He calls it the King of the Gym TWRV system. (TWRV stands for two-week rep variations.) We’ll just call it King of the Gym, or KOTG, for short.
HIGHLY PROGRESSIVE
King of the Gym is difficult to explain succinctly. Try and you’ll end up spouting things like it’s “high-volume HIT” or it’s “like DoggCrapp but with six warmups per exercise and eight exercises.” You’re probably already crinkling your nose with confusion. How can such opposing workout philosophies coexist? The answer is that there are a lot of what are typically thought of as warmup sets. KOTG is highly progressive.
“Current science states that having more than one overload set has no extra benefit in adaptation.”
Let’s look at Lenartowicz’s shoulder routine (see is below). The first thing you’ll probably notice is the big numbers: eight exercises, four to eight sets per exercise, and a workout tally of 42 to 52 sets. Whew! This may seem like some marathon Serge Nubret relic from the ’70s. But this isn’t that. It’s important to know from the start that only the final set of each exercise is done with the heaviest weight. The second thing you’ll probably notice is that there are no reps listed. He’s not winging things. Rest assured, the reps are precise for every set. However, they change every two weeks, which brings us back to TWRV.
LENARTOWICZ’S SHOULDER ROUTINE
Seated Dumbbell Press: 6-8 sets
Seated Barbell Press: 6-8 sets
Bent-Arm Rear Dumbbell Raise: 4-5 sets
Dumbbell Side Lateral: 4-5 sets
Bench Rear Dumbbell Raise: 4-5 sets
Wide-Grip Upright Row: 4-5 sets
Barbell Shrug: 7-8 sets
Dumbbell Shrug: 7-8 sets
DUMBBELL PRESS SET PROGRESSION
Set: 1| Weight: 25s | Reps:12
Set: 2| Weight: 45s | Reps: 12
Set: 3| Weight: 65s | Reps: 12
Set: 4| Weight: 85s | Reps: 12
Set: 5| Weight: 110s | Reps: 12
Set: 6| Weight: 130s | Reps:12
Set: 7| Weight: 150s | Reps: 10–14*
*To failure.
BUILDING TO OVERLOAD
“I train with a lot of light building sets to create a neurological connection in order to prevent injury with one overload heavy-max set,” Lenartowicz explains. “Current science states that having more than one overload set has no extra benefit in adaptation yet fatigues you for other exercises.” His building sets start very light and then grow heavier with every subsequent set, including his final overload set. (See “Dumbbell Press Set Progression” for an example of what he does during a 12-rep workout.) The rest periods also increase throughout this progression, from virtually nothing at the beginning to more than two minutes at the end. “The heavier you go, the more rest you need,” he says. “I just go for it on my last set until I can’t go anymore under controlled form. No supersets, no rest-pause, none of that.” This overload set is done for the same reps as the building sets, give or take two reps. Because it’s to failure, he doesn’t predetermine when to stop. The important thing is to grow accustomed to using more resistance during the building sets and then go all-out on the overload set. It may look like a lot of volume when you ponder his shoulder routine (and he estimates he spends 20 hours per week in the gym), but the lightest sets of each exercise are essentially a working rest. Stress increases over the last couple of sets, but it’s only the single overload set that truly matters to him. “This has taken my training and physique to a new level where I can reach consistent personal bests with each exercise as the workout goes on. I’m actively recovering during the building sets, all with the use of time under tension, and there is no cheating and no jolting or stressing out tendons.”
Every two weeks on KOTG, the reps are lowered by two, from 12 to six. It’s an eight-week program, and afterward it begins again at Week 1 with 12 reps per set. “The next time through, go a fraction heavier on everything, and keep that momentum going so you’re in a state of constant progressive overload,” the biggest bodybuilding surprise of 2015 advises. “This stimulus creates an adaptation, and adaptation is muscle growth.”
Even the tiniest changes—another rep or another five pounds of resistance—will lead to big improvements when those incremental differences compound over time. That’s why, as Lenartowicz states, “detail is everything in progressive overload.” After accessing his growth, he may change exercises the next time through the program. However, exercise order isn’t radically altered. “I put the exercises that will require the most neurological recruitment in the beginning of the workout so I’m not under fatigue during risky exercises. This has been a key to injury prevention.”
MOTIVATING FACTORS
Lenartowicz is an advocate of inspirational quotes, the sort that fuel his overload sets as well as the slog of cardio sessions and the discipline of a diet that etched in the deep detailing he displayed in his two November victories. Some of these are by diverse sports legends like Phil Jackson and Cus D’Amato. Others are his own, and they pepper his dialogue. “Words determine your world,” he says. “If you think the weight can conquer you, it will. If you believe that the weight will always be that weight, but every day you’re going to be stronger, then you’ll conquer that weight.” Placing his corporal self over material objects, he regularly affirms: “You can get in and out of your house, you can get in and out of your car, but you can’t get in and out of your body. So your body must take first priority.”
Another way the Aussie sensation motivates himself is to clearly state his bodybuilding goals. In fact, they’re listed on his website, from short term to midterm (two to five years) to long term (five to 10 years). He’s now moved on to midterm, and he’ll check off the most difficult of those objectives in September: compete in the Mr. Olympia. With his winning combination of size and striations, he may also reach his ultimate long-term goal earlier than expected: to crack the Mr. Olympia top five.
Lenartowicz has another motivator. It isn’t listed on his website, but it drives him ever onward—to be the best bodybuilder ever from his native country, topping the achievements of Lee Priest, who never made the Olympia top five. (He was sixth three times.) Based on his two victories in his first four pro shows, Josh Lenartowicz may be on the fast track to achieving that lofty mark. The man who began his long journey in a gym visited by goats could one day be Australian bodybuilding’s G.O.A.T. – FLEX
