Passing of Fitness/Health Gurus

Is it disheartening to anyone else seeing guys like Poliquin and Crisler passing well before the life expectancy of average people? As far as we all can tell, these guys practiced what they preached and lived lives based around overall health and longevity (although in different disciplines) yet what appears to be hereditary/genetic dispositions could not be overcome no matter how much effort was put into living a healthy life. Who’s to say they did not extend their lives by doing so, but still did not outlive the average expectancy. So no matter how much effort we put into all this, we are still destined to be at the mercy of genetics that cannot be defeated?

I don’t find it disheartening. People tend to die after living for an amount of time.

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It’s definitely upsetting when influential and helpful coaches pass away, young or old. But to be honest, I’m not really sure there are too many cases where guys have died well before their time. Jack LaLanne died of pneumonia at 96. Vince Gironda died a month before he turned 80.

Are you counting Rich Piana at age 46? Because, no disrespect, but he’s not in the same league as Poliquin and there was the contributing factor of recreational drug use/abuse.

Dr. Crisler took his own life.

To some extent, yes. Smart training and a good diet improve your odds for longevity, but diseases like cancer are a motherfucker and genetics count for a lot.

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Honestly, no I don’t.

If they died due to their lifestyles, I would find it disheartening that I’d taken on their advice as credible, only to find out it was incorrect. However its suggested in both cases its due to peripheral circumstances.

Likewise, if they had died due to secretly not living by their own advice, I guess that might be a bit disappointing?

But at the end of the day no, a lot of people die early for a lot of reasons. Life on earth is very transient, and we are just playing the odds.

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My uncle who didn’t smoke or drink alcohol, ate well and played football 3 times a week died age 26. Whilst my grandma who smoked since age 13 came close to 90.

Sure you can try and prevent the things that are somewhat preventable but life is a bitch sometimes.

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I ain’t doing this to live longer lol. So not really disheartening. Maybe better quality of life. Maybe. But I’m just having fun mostly.

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I honestly believe that weightlifting in the manner done by most here is not conducive to living a long life. Way too much repeated stress placed on the body and probably larger than need amount of lean mass.

But neither do I think most of us lift solely for the purpose of health and living a long life.

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Big shame about Poliquin, was definitely a big plus to this site. You think he was on TRT or did gear when younger?

Yes. I and many others either suspect or have reliable information on his steroid use.

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Time is undefeated

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A guarantee of longevity is one of the greater delusion people enjoy.

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I agree with this. And that’s why I have changed the manner in which I lift, how frequently I lift, and my effort as well. Well, that, and I can’t attend or choose not to attend the gym as much as I used to. I simply work out now simply in the attempt to have an attractive body and for health benefits. Well, that, and I don’t want to be a physical mess when my son and future kid reach the age for much physical activity.

I am very particular about form now and my exercise selection is different too. I will go through brief spurts of barbell exercises and/or lower reps, but the majority of my exercises are bodyweight, machine, or dumbbell. I do cardio, brisk walking, near daily.

And according to Rich himself, he used enormous amounts of steroids and overworked himself. If I recall correctly he stated his liberal view on drugs, and it was even apparent in some videos that he was high or drunk. Not long before his death he was gunning to be a certain weight and was eating enormous amounts of food.

I was actually going to start a thread on this until I saw this one. There is a podcast on Super Human Radio about his passing by two people who knew him. They said there were no signs of suicidal ideation. Neither knew of anything troubling him so badly.