RX Muscle is reporting the death of Greg Kovacs at the age of 44

[CelticMuscle]

Canadian Bodybuilder Greg Kovaks died today of heart failure at the age of 44. "The Strongest Bodybuilder Alive" won his pro card at the Canadian Nationals in 1996.

As he was a contributor to RX Muscle, I think we can safely say that this news has been confirmed.

[/\/\usclekid]

Another non-black bodybuilder dead from a heart attack. He had a thick midsection. As I wrote in another thread about another bodybuilder who died a few months ago I think their is a link between internal adomen fat and heart disease. Eating high calorie-high fat foods like fast food from McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's etc. is no different if you are a bodybuilder or not. The fat is going to accumulate internally in your midsection and it's something that is hard to get rid of unlike fat under the surface of the skin.

[suma]

Fat? Bro none of these bbers have much abdominal fat.
The big guts or thick midsection is due to very muscular trunk from heavy squats & deads
Also GH use.
In any case if they were dying from too much ab fat we'd see more deaths from tons of people who carry way more ab fat

And why u say another non-black bber dead....
Is there a correlation in your mind?

[arpeejay]

http://www.facebook.com/arpeejay

[suma]

Oh didn't know Matt Duval passed to.

Would love to own that old vid he did with Dave Palumbo when Dave was at his hugest freakiest

[raven79]

This is probably the least surprising death in quite some time. Kovacs had to retire from bodybuilding because of health complications didn't he? He looked terrible after he lost all of that weight.

[Mdlftr]

Originally Posted by arpeejay

MK seems to think that size-related premature death among bodybuilders is limited to white guys. Or so he suggested during the last round of this conversation (August, when Nasser passed away, or April, when Mat Duvall did...)

And, yeah, I know!

xoxo

Richard

Yes, I remember that conversation. I filed a rebuttal/response showing statistics for heart disease as the most common killer of any man.

I may try to go back and find my comment.

I have to try the search feature for comments, or at least go and look at my own string of comments to find it.

Mdlftr

[bulkybud]

Thanks for the reply, just read the article.

http://www.rxmuscle.com/articles/lat...at-age-44.html

Just read quite a few online articles about Kovacs at his largest and they were not pretty. He was massive and strong, but didn't seem very healthy.

Still sorry to hear... he seemed like a nice enough guy.

bulkdybud.

[chicken legs]

Oh man, that is sad to hear an my heart goes out to his family. Way to young. My dad almost died at 42 because of his heart, which was a year after I was born (my mom is the same age). After I hit my teen years I studied him because I realized I was like him but I more jacked up because my parents had me when they weren't in peak condition. One thing I learned over the years is that the heart failing/heart problems is really a symptom of other body systems like the alimentary system taking a dive first or having a malfunctioning thyroid. Little things like changes in skin texture and how your nails look are big indicators of how the body is doing. The thing is, a lot of damage can be done before you even hit 18 that cannot be reversed and your body just becomes a ticking time bomb.

I never got a chance to question a doctor about those things till recently, when I took my mom to a seminar that was being held by a cardiologist. The doctor talked about treatments, and what not after you realize you "have heart problems". After the seminar it was open question time. So I asked about ways to prevent it all together via detoxing, diet (traditional mediterranean diet, asian diets, avoiding carbs, organic veggies, non hormone filled meat), supplements (flax oil, green tea..etc), taking to many supplements/prescriptions that may overload the body, tai chi, etc...and she got soooooo pissed at me. I was like, I'm not trying to kill your business but I don't ever want to need you and I don't want my son and descendants to need you.

A lot of people forget that the US healthcare and food/drug admin is totally lame and based on profit..right now and in the past. They have jacked up people for generations to come. So you have to do a lot of research, study other cultures, your own family habits, and try and fill in the missing pieces to stay healthy, have the body you want, and give your kids a genetic edge for the future.

Anywho, enough of my rant. I'm just sad Kovak passed .

[/\/\usclekid]

Suma, it's fat that accumulates around organs in the abdomen. You can't see the fat usually. Doing certain exercises doesn't created midsections like Greg Kovacs' or else every bodybuilder would have a thick waist. The thick midsection is due mostly to the expanded stomach from the greater amount of food consumed and I think internal body fat.

[suma]

^sorry Musclkid I still disagree
The extended midsection is due to excessive GH use + heavy powerlifter type training
Not all bbers train that way. In fact many lift fairly moderate poundages going for instead high reps, many sets and slow controlled isolation movements to achieve hypertrophy without developing a thick bulky core.
And each individual responds to AAS /GH use differently. Some get gyno and others don't. Some get roid gut and others don't. Etc.
But the dieting they all do ensures that bf is low. Even off season a bber is not typically carrying around huge amounts of bf to cause heart failure.

These heart failure deaths are all attributable to AAS abuse.

[cutlerfan]

I've read several articles that mention it is fat accumulated around internal organs that kill a person much quicker than a fat belly. The density of the abdominal fat is important since high density strains the heart. Fat around muscles is not as bad because the stores of fat are used and burned more quickly than abdominal fat. Ultimately, without reported autopsy results, we can only speculate what caused these bodybuilders to die so young. While it is very probable that steroid and HGH use had an effect on their bodies we cannot assume we know know why they died. Life is a series of positives and negatives in health choices that we all make either consciously or by default. It all depends on what you want in life. One study reported that running regularly adds an average of 3 years to your life but that 3 years is roughly the amount of time you will spend running. Is it not acceptable for each person to decide how much risk they want to incur while meeting their goals? Would you rather have a long careful life or a shortened life if you were truly happy?