Here is a list of bodybuilders who have passed away before the age of 50 as a result of heart attacks or cardio related issues
1. Rich Piana 47
2. Dallas McCarver 26
3. Mariola Sabanovic Saurez 43
4. Scott Milne 46
5. George Peterson
6. Novoa Mendez 49
7. John Meadows 49
With all due respect let’s look deeper why a cohort of people who train frequently, are meticulous with their diet for periods and achieve extremely low body fat die below the standard life expectancy which is 83.
Firstly let’s define Bodybuilding as a sport – bodybuilding is defined by competitors by who try to bring as much muscle in proportion to their skeletal structure with the least amount of body fat in relation to their weight and height.
As a result of these judging metrics many bodybuilders take anabolic steroids to increase muscle mass.
Unfortunately steroids have been shown time and time again to
1. Cardiac Hypertrophy (less blood able to come inside the heart chambers to pump out to the body)
2. As a result… Increases blood pressure
3. As a result….increases resting heart rate
Coming back to 1. Cardiac Hypertrophy – this coupled with the individual’s newly found muscle mass and total body weight there is an increased demand of oxygenated blood with less and poorer production and increased blood pressure therefore all contributing to an increase chance of heart attacks
4. Lastly there is also an increase likelihood of blood clot due to all of these factors
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