RISING STARS
JOSH MALEY
CUTS ABOVE THE REST
BORN IN 1988 AND STANDING AT A TOWERING 6 FEET 6 INCHES,
JOSH MALEY IS A GIANT FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH…
BY DARREN NICHOLHURST PHOTOS: PHOTOARTS BY JAY
I
GREW UP SWIMMING,
begins Josh. “I used to look
to Michael Phelps as my
inspiration and swam at
national level. I actually wasn’t
too shabby,” he jokes.
But in truth, Josh had a far
deeper and more gripping desire;
the desire to become a successful
bodybuilder.
“The entire time I was swimming,
I knew it wasn’t what I truly wanted
to throw my heart and soul into,”
he admits. “I remember thinking
I really wanted to sculpt the kind of
physique you see on a superhero.
I wanted a body fit for a movie
screen. I wanted to become a
bodybuilder”
At the age of 19, Maley decided
to give up his career as a swimmer.
The passion he’d formerly lived
out in the pool had, by his own
admission, come to an end.
“I couldn’t continue putting so
many hours into something that
wasn’t making me 100% happy,”
says Josh. “At 6’6”, I weighed only
84kg and it was often said I’d
disappear if I turned sideways,
but I dreamed of becoming a
bodybuilder. With swimming behind
me, it was time to turn that dream
into a reality.”
Josh was aware of the fact
his height would be against him in
many aspects, but nevertheless he
was determined to step on stage
as a competitive man of muscle.
“You do hear a lot of height-
related excuses in the gym,” says
Josh. “There’s no getting away from
the fact squatting is much more
taxing if you’re super tall, and having
such long limbs can make lots of
exercises tricky to perform. I didn’t
want to be just another excuse, so
I sought inspiration from someone
with a similar physical structure to
myself.”
Josh found his inspiration in Eddie
Ellwood, a man mountain who was
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