Joe Lindner’s Death: My Big Concern

Joe Lindner’s death is nothing other than a tragedy. Whenever someone as young as Joe passes away, it forces those of us who are still here to question why something so terrible can happen and forces loved ones to have to deal with the loss for the rest of their lives.

Today, I want to talk about the passing of Jo  Lindner. It’s been about a week since he passed away, tragically at the age of 30. Many people  have chimed in and made videos about the topic. I’ve been asked for my opinion on this. I’ve been  hesitant to make a video.

I wanted to take my time to formulate my thoughts, to be respectful of his  family and his loved ones. To potentially look for a message of hope in such a dire situation. And  I think there’s one. You see in these situations, normally when I do cover the loss of one  of the people in our industry, I know them. John Meadows is a dear friend of mine.

Somebody  that was part of my own direct community and team Athlean, passed away in his early 40s  from cancer, I made a video on him as well. And these are tough videos to make. In this situation, I did not know Jo Lindner. I never met him. I never spoke to him.

I never  had a text message conversation with him. Nothing. I knew who he was, I think everybody did. He  was, by all accounts, an incredibly positive man, somebody who inspired a lot of people. Somebody  who seemed to be a giver in this industry.

Kind, wanted others to succeed, already making him an  anomaly in this industry. Sadly, but truthfully.

He was 30 years old, born in 1993, the  year that I graduated high school. The year that Jesse, who works here at  Athlean-X, was born. To me, Jesse’s a kid. Jo Lindner s also a kid. Whenever a kid  passes away at an early age, it’s tragic.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those whose  lives will be changed forever by his passing. His girlfriend who will no longer be able to  experience the dreams that she had of living a long life together with Joe. It’s tragic. His  mother and father who no longer be able to share in any of those moments with Jo and will forever  have to live with the fact that they lost a son at likely half of their age. It’s tragic.

And there’s so much speculation, so much desire to try to find some potential cause of  death and what actually led to his death. Is that really, at this point in time, the most  necessary thing? I think the most necessary thing is to is to provide the comfort, if possible, to  those that were most deeply affected by his loss, to be able to provide that for them in some way,  shape or form. Making videos that speak about what he provided to the community. Making  comments on his previous Instagram posts showing your love and appreciation for what he  did.

That, I think, makes people feel better. That being said, in watching a lot of the videos  that were made about Joe, I thought there was something that I observed that really provided  a wakeup call that I think is necessary for us all to face. And that is why I decided to make  a video about Jo Lindner s passing, because I think that there’s an opportunity here. To take  this industry in a very different direction. So, when I watch these videos, yes, I saw the  same charismatic, fun loving, caring, helpful person that everyone else did that endeared him to  allow him to get eight plus million, nine million followers on Instagram alone.

However, I  also saw some struggle. I saw some pain. I don’t know if you saw that, I did. I’ve been in this industry a long time, I’ve been around a lot of athletes, I saw it. There are some instances where he even just discussed like a mini war he was waging because  of his PED use against gynecomastia and having to use an aromatase inhibitor to combat the gyno,  but having the side effect of lowering libido.

Which of course was an undesirable side effect,  so in order to combat that, he’d come off the AI and then he’d have his gyno return. And of course,  not being able to live with that because of his presence on social media, he’d have to go back on  the aromatase inhibitor and then of course, his libido would go down. Again, this mini battle, and  it’s one of many, unfortunately, that are going to step squarely in your path if you decide to go  down the road of performance enhancing drugs. And that’s a reality. And it’s one of many,  because these things don’t just happen in isolation.

There’s a lot of things that happen  as a result of PED use. And when you have to start taking other drugs to combat side effects  that happen from the other drugs that you’re on, it becomes a really, really nasty war that  becomes, I think, very much a psychological struggle as well. And you could hear it and  you could see the pain in these interviews. Likewise, he talked about when you get off of  steroids, the psychological downflow that happens when you are left with less of the gains that you  became accustomed to having and feeling less than because of it. And then what happens?

There’s this  desire to go back to become the person you were even weeks ago. And that starts to weigh on your  head and that becomes a struggle inside. Again, not something that’s probably shared publicly  every second, but a private war that’s waged every single day that can lead to a state that’s  not necessarily the same person that you saw in your Instagram feed or Facebook feed  or whatever on YouTube. That’s tragic to me. That’s tragic.

Because the people in  this industry are good at hiding pain. Let me ask you. If you’re regularly lifting  weights and you have done so for a very long time, have you had pain in your life? Because I could tell you I have. I could tell you that the very reason that I  got into this is probably the very reason that 98% of us have in the first place.

And it was to  combat some inner pain or struggle that we had as younger kids or teenagers. Right? Trying to build up an external defense mechanism against whatever’s hurting us. Maybe  it’s just being insecure about your height. There s been a lot of short bodybuilders.

It’s a way to sort of overcome whatever limitations you think you have. Oftentimes, again, created by your own mind. What about the people who have been abused? We’re  told that they were worth nothing. Made to feel that way.

Lifting weights was our great escape,  the opportunity to do something and under our own control to prove to ourselves that we’re able  to do something to make ourselves better in some way. Never addressing necessarily what was painful  inside but giving us that external appearance that made us feel better about ourselves that one  day we hope our insides could catch up with, so that we felt about ourselves as good as we  looked on the outside as to everybody else.

This community is incredibly supportive. Social media is incredibly negative. People that get to hide behind their keyboards  and type like this and say nasty comments are not part of the community that I’m talking about. Those that have actually gone to the gym in that inferior position in our minds and bettered  ourselves did so, requiring a lot of courage. And every single one of us that did the same thing,  acknowledges that courage and looks to lift them up.

Think about the first time you were in a  gym, and you didn’t know how to use a machine. Did people make fun of you, or did they come over  and help you? I can guaran-damn-tee you in almost 99. 9% of situations that someone came over and  they helped you and they were eager to do it. This community can be incredibly positive.

Don’t get swayed by the many haters in the community that, again, pretend to be part of  it. But instead, just like to drag people down by pointing out the things  that they don’t like about you. Not doing a damn thing about  fixing what’s wrong with them. But making those that are in that limelight feel  that pressure. It s that internal drive that’s forged out of this potential hurt or pain or  sorr