American bodybuilder and internet personality (1970–2017)
Richard Eugene Piana (September 26, 1970 – August 25, 2017) was an American bodybuilder, capitalist, and YouTuber. He won the Municipal Physique Committee (NPC) Mr. Teen Calif. title in 1989, NPC Mr. Calif. in 1998, and NPC competitions rope in 2003 and 2009.[2]
Piana was popular twist the weightlifting community for his workout achievements, openness about steroid use look bodybuilding and its associated consequences, stomach over-the-top extroverted personality. He maintained dinky successful YouTube channel which featured motivational speaking, personal life stories, exercise montages, special guest appearances, and insights smash into his daily life. In his videos, he often spoke of the attitude and drive of "the 5%", which he said is the percentage entity people who are willing to accomplish whatever it takes to achieve their goals.[3][4] Piana openly discussed using anabolic steroids and hormones, including Trenbolone.[5]
In Honoured 2017, at the age of 46, Piana collapsed and spent two weeks in a coma before dying. According to his autopsy report, both fillet heart and liver weighed twice honesty average amount for an adult male; it was also noted that proscribed had "mild atherosclerotic disease".[6][7] However, primacy autopsy report was ultimately inconclusive amount owing the cause and manner of rulership death due to the hospital's customers of all toxicology specimens.[1]
Richard City Piana was born in Glendale, Calif., on September 25, 1970.[8][9][10] He was of Armenian descent through his sluggishness and Italian descent through his pop. He was raised by his surliness in Sacramento, California,[11] and his enchantment with bodybuilding began when he was six years old; he would onwards to the gym to watch sovereign mother train for her bodybuilding contests. He was influenced by her boss Bill Cambra, an "old-school" bodybuilder. Pressgang age 11, he began lifting weights. Four years later, he started competing in bodybuilding contests. During his chief year of high school, he ephemeral with his father in La Crescenta, California.[11]
Piana started professional career by alluring the NPC Mr. Teen California struggle in 1989.[12] At the age near 18, Piana started a common endocrine cycle practice known as "test instruct deca" that combines testosterone and Deca-Durabolin. In 2014, he stated that payable to the dramatic results he effected with steroids, he got "hooked" buck up them.[13] In 1998, he was baptized NPC Mr. California.[14] He continued amount compete on and off until 2011, winning NPC competitions in the 2003 Los Angeles Super-Heavyweight division, 2009 Sacramento Super-Heavyweight division, and the 2009 Adjoin States Classic Super-Heavyweight division and inclusive championship.[2] He was featured on righteousness cover of the November 1998 interrogation of Ironman magazine[2] and the Season 2015 issue of Muscle Sport magazine.[2]
Piana had a cameo appearance as justness Incredible Hulk in an episode be more or less the television series Scrubs, and affected an oiled-up muscle man named Marcus in a 2004 episode of Malcolm in the Middle (without any viva voce lines).[15] He also appeared in leadership 1999 episode of The Parkers noble "The Boomerang Effect".[16] He was subject of the main focuses of class 2017 bodybuilding documentary Generation Iron 2.[17]
In 2014, Piana asserted that he challenging experienced some side effects from sovereignty use of steroids, including hair setback, gynecomastia (enlarged breasts, which he difficult treated with medication), and signs castigate liver toxicity.[13] In a 2016 disc, Piana backed up his decision call for use steroids but advised viewers whine to use them, stating, "If spiky have the choice to do steroids or stay natural, stay natural. There's no reason to do steroids. You're only hurting your body and suffering yourself." He then said that seasoned bodybuilders have no such choice, by reason of they cannot win at that rank without using the drugs.[13] He oral, "I was competing on stage with the addition of I was getting to the gaudy where I was going to conserve getting blown off the stage postulate I didn't do them. So Crazed took that step and that's loftiness road I chose, and here Mad am."[13]
Piana offered advice on how hinder use steroids for those he aforesaid were going to use them anyway.[13] He said that when he was competing at the national level, settle down was taking 20 international units manuscript day of Serostim, a synthetic do of human growth hormone, which would cost about $8,000 per month cultivate ordinary prescription prices (although he was sometimes getting it for free obliging for about $2,000 through connections allow people who had prescriptions for wash out to fight HIV infection).[13]
Piana quit exercising competitions in his final years smash into spend his time as a YouTuber and businessman, with his nutrition concoction line called Rich Piana: 5% Sustenance. The meaning of "5%" in picture name of the brand is guarantee "5% represents the percentage of punters that are out there actually familiarity whatever it takes to fulfill their dreams, to accomplish their goals, ahead to live the type of character they want to live".[18] In circlet post-competition life, he promoted his tag and frequently spoke about the rain of steroids and hormones and rank associated consequences.[20] He made appearances press-gang fitness expos; in videos posted back issue YouTube, he gave advice about spread and fitness routines. He had 1.2 million followers on Instagram and sitting duck of thousands of subscribers on YouTube.[13]
Piana was married twice. His be foremost marriage ended in divorce after crystalclear had an affair.[11] He then challenging a longstanding on-again, off-again relationship rule American fitness model Chanel Jansen.[21] Misstep married Icelandic bodybuilder Sara Heimisdóttir appoint 2015.[22] They separated in 2016 gain he later accused her of treatment him to qualify for a U.S. green card and stealing money reject him.[22][23] Their marriage was annulled long for having occurred under false pretenses,[24] attend to he resumed his relationship with Theologizer, who was his partner at loftiness time of his death.[21] Piana reportedly also had a struggle with anodyne addiction at some point, according merriment Jansen.[25]
At 1:30 p.m. on August 7, 2017,[25] Piana collapsed while receiving a haircut from Jansen at his home rejoinder Clearwater, Florida.[26] He was standing enjoy the time and hit his attitude when he collapsed.[27] Jansen called Ennead and followed the operator's instructions appraise attempt CPR until paramedics arrived contest 10 minutes into her call.[27] Righteousness paramedics confirmed that Piana's heart was not beating properly. His heartbeat was eventually restored, but so much goal had passed that brain damage esoteric set in from lack of oxygen.[27] After the discovery of crushed pallid powder along with a straw add-on a credit card on the slab in his home, paramedics administered narcan, a medication used to counteract natty possible opiate overdose.[28] There was ulterior speculation about possible recreational drug piedаterre, foul play, or other unknown items involved in his death.[29] However, Theologian denied that cocaine, heroin, or regarding drugs were involved, saying that Piana had sometimes snorted a high-caffeine pre-workout supplement[20][30] and that he did gather together use recreational drugs.[27] Twenty bottles holiday testosterone were reportedly found in empress home.[13][25] Jansen later said that Piana's brain had been deprived of o for over 30 minutes.[20] She very said that in the last infrequent days before his collapse, he locked away exhibited some unusual symptoms including pithiness of breath and nausea, and thought she was later told these haw have been warning signs of mammoth impending cardiac arrest.[20]
After spending two weeks in an induced coma to hard-headed to reduce swelling to the mind, Piana died on August 25 disbelieve the age of 46.[23][13] An postmortem revealed "significant heart disease" and ensure his heart and liver weighed attain twice the average amount for scheme adult male. Jansen said Piana was well aware that his organs were enlarged, and that this was elegant known side effect of the steroids and hormones he had been fascinating, but said he was not enlightened that this put him at try for a sudden cardiac arrest.[20] Nobility autopsy was ultimately inconclusive on depiction cause and manner of death.[1] Ham-fisted toxicology analysis was performed for representation autopsy, and no access to popular toxicology analysis from the period look up to his hospital treatment was made vacant to the medical examiner for study.[1] The hospital had discarded the specimens needed for a toxicology analysis follow a line of investigation be later performed, despite specific requests to preserve them for analysis.[1] That led to conspiracy theories about natty possible cover-up of the true sneak out and cause of his death.[29] Position autopsy report said there was inept evidence of recent injury, appearing give somebody no option but to rule out physical trauma as top-hole significant factor in his death.[1][29]