· From making your biceps explode to murdering your spouse in a steroid-induced rage, we
count ten people who took their love of bodybuilding too far!
10 – Moustafa Ismail, · Egyptian bodybuilder Moustafa Ismail holds
the Guinness World Record for the largest biceps in the world.
His bulging, absurdly proportioned guns measure thirty-one inches in diameter – about the
size of an average man’s waist – and are supposedly maintained by an insane arms-only
exercise regimen and by eating seven pounds of protein a day.
· Unsurprisingly his strange physique has attracted controversy, with many sceptics
and bodybuilding enthusiasts believing he achieved this look by injecting Synthol into
his arms.
Ismail, of course, took the Lance Armstrong approach of deny, deny, deny.
· He’s known affectionately as the ‘Egyptian Popeye’ – which is weird because he never
touches spinach and Popeye has small biceps and large forearms, not the other way around!
· In an attempt to seem down to earth, Ismail jokes about hating clothes shopping because
regular t-shirts never fit him.
Hahaha, fake humility is the best.
That’s like saying you hate underwear shopping because your junk is so big you have to enfold
it several times to fit.
Ew.
· Anyway, here’s hoping biceps resembling tumours never become fashionable.
9 – Gordon Kimbrough, · San Franciscan bodybuilder Gordon Kimbrough
was a shy and reserved man who wouldn’t hurt a fly – at least until he started cycling
on growth hormone to give his muscles a boost in size and definition.
· Unfortunately, ’roid rage isn’t just something from fairytales and the artificial
hormones Gordon took completely altered his personality and temperament.
· In 1993, Gordon suspected his fiancée, Kristy Ramsay, of doing naked push-ups with
another man – possibly someone better-rounded who was, y’know, interested in things other
than bodybuilding.
He ended up snapping and murdering her.
· Police found Gordon the next day trying to inject himself with a fatal dose of Lysol.
8 – Gregg Valentino, · Like Mr Egyptian Popeye, Gregg Valentino
once held the title of the man with the smallest p—I mean largest arms in the world.
He also regularly injected them with synthol to keep them at their monstrous best.
· Unfortunately, all those injections took their toll on Valentino, and he eventually
developed a hematoma – a swelling of clotted blood – in his right arm.
This soon began to leak pus and he forced to drain it with a syringe.
· While this worked for a time, something had to give.
One day his bicep made like an over-inflated air mattress and exploded.
A bloody mess went everywhere and Valentino was forced to visit the hospital.
· If there’s a better cautionary tale against steroid use and synthetic oil injections,
I’ve yet to hear it.
7 – Sally McNeil, · Sally McNeil was a former marine who turned
to professional bodybuilding after leaving the service.
· After winning the US Armed Service’s Physique Championship twice in the late Eighties,
Sally’s bodybuilding hobby spiralled out of control when she abused steroids and testosterone.
Like a devil on her shoulder, the ’roids made her uncharacteristically aggressive,
telling her to beat people up and pull pistols on them.
· In 1996, Sally’s bodybuilding husband Ray McNeil returned home from working out
only to find himself in a classic Valentine’s Day argument.
He probably bought her the wrong flavour of protein bar or something.
While Ray was in the kitchen, Sally decided she was sick of his face so brought a twelve-gauge
shotgun out of the bedroom and shot him first in the abdomen and then in the head.
· During another argument, she dropped a seventy-pound weight on Ray’s car.
She’s now serving a life sentence.
6 – Chad Brothers, · In 2011, colossal bodybuilder Chad Brothers
was working out at Gold’s Gym in Latham, New York when the unthinkable happened.
· No, he didn’t break the world record for most blindfolded dumbbell flies on one
foot, nor did Sally McNeil come in and start shooting the place up.
He simply tripped and fell off an elliptical machine.
· That was all it took to send him tearing through the facility like the Tasmanian Devil,
threatening people and damaging property.
Surveillance footage showed Brothers’ rampage, which was triggered by a lethal combination
of PCP and steroids.
· He smashed up and toppled all the heavy gym equipment and had to be brought down with
a Taser.
Unfortunately, he passed out and died an hour later.
5 – Markus Rühl, · Markus Ruhl is a former IFBB professional
bodybuilder whose shoulders are bigger than Jesus.
· He enjoyed huge success in the bodybuilding world before being disqualified from the 1999
Mr Olympia Competition for accelerating his own urine production using diuretics.
· Ruhl, who was nicknamed ‘The German Nightmare’ – which is incidentally what I call Volkswagons
– believed drying out his body by purging it of all fluids would cause his muscles and
veins to look even more pronounced.
Pretty cool plan.
I mean, if you want to look like a horse’s cock.
It’s not like we need water to live or anything.
4 – Andreas Munzer, · Austrian bodybuilding legend Andreas Munzer
was just like the great Ghandi.
No, he didn’t peacefully lead a nation to independence, but he had extremely low body
fat.
You might even say it was dangerously low.
· In fact, in 1996, Munzer suffered severe stomach pains and had to be rushed to a hospital.
He later died on the operating table.
His autopsy revealed that he had numerous tumours on his liver, testicles that had shrunken
and a heart that was twice the size of a normal man’s because of his extreme chemical abuse.
· He lived by the motto all things in moderation – except eating habits and illegal supplements.
3 – Candice Armstrong, · London gym junkie Candice Armstrong was
once a petite blonde barmaid before she unwittingly transformed her entire body by abusing anabolic
steroids.
· Growing up, Candice had intense body issues and found pole dancing a great way to get
fit and gain confidence.
Unfortunately, her newfound love of fitness turned into an obsession and Candice became
fixated with making her arms bigger.
· She turned to anabolic steroids, but had an extreme and unexpected reaction.
Her body became hulking and man-ish and she developed thick facial and body hair.
Her testosterone production was through the roof and she even developed a penis-like organ.
· Candice now performs in drag shows.
2 – Giuliano Stroe, · At just nine years old, Giuliano Stroe
is a child bodybuilding prodigy.
His nickname is ‘the Romanian Hercules’, which sure beats ‘Four-Eyes’ or ‘Shit-Stain’.
· Giuliano has been showing off his incredible feats of strength since he was a toddler.
In 2009, at just four years old, he earned an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records
by performing the fastest ever ten-metre hand-walk with a weight ball between his legs.
What records were you breaking at age four?
Playing Nintendo and tripping over your own shoelaces?
Man, not good enough…
· He has broken additional world records every year since, including one for the most
ninety-degree push-ups.
· Giuliano’s ripped torso has more muscle mass than most boys twice his age and this
has caused some controversy.
Many believe Giuliano’s lifestyle and body are unhealthy for such a young child.
One thing’s for sure: nobody’s taking this kid’s lunch money.
1 – Gary Himing, · Gary Himing’s death revealed the dark
side of bodybuilding.
I guess prior to that everyone thought building your life around obsessively sculpting your
own physique was healthy.
· Competing for a bodybuilding title takes a staggering amount of work.
In his preparation for an IFBB event in Victoria, Himing put too much stress on his body and
allegedly resorted to drug use.
· Unfortunately, he suffered cardiac arrest and died in the middle of the competition.
Amazingly, the show continued once organisers had removed his body from the stage.
I guess their empathy muscles still need training.