The Man Whose Arms Exploded

Is bodybuilding a sport? I dunno but it involves lots of effort, working out and sweat. So I guess it is some sort of sport. But that being the case I guess sex is a sport as well. Oh well for the sake of this story I am placing bodybuilding as a sport.

A few weeks back I saw a documentary on bodybuilding and the use of steriods to achieve the biggest and baddest bodies on the planet. It focused on the biggest and the baddest of them all, a man called Gregg Vanentino. The documentary was called, 'The Man Whose Arms Exploded', normally I wouldnt have watched this but come on if you heard that name you would wanna see what it is all about.

It is stated in the documentary that Gregg had the biggest biceps ever, some saying they were 28 inches. For 20 years he did the hard work drug free and plateued so he needed more. Then the 'roids came into play. He not only used them but got involved in the sale of them. He got invovled with some pretty dodgy characters and had his life on the line a few times when deals went bad. He even got arrested as the amounts he was dealing were extreme.

His drug use was not the most hygenic also. He stated in the doco that he often reused syringes, blew them clean if they fell on the floor and never really thought about what a dirty syrine could do to him until it was too late.

He got an infection in his right bicep which turned into a hematoma. The then self confessed 'idiot' decided to drain the blood from his hematoma with the same needles that gave him the infection. Pumping the blood he then squirted it into cups. Occasionally the syrine would extract just air from his arm so he would pump this air back into his arm until he extracted some blood. (not what I would consider a safe move)

As he was doing this he was taping himself via a mirror reflection with his free hand on his video camera. So we got to see the blood being extracted from his arm, the state of the syringe which had a 45 degree bend in the needle, Gregg on the phone at the same time to a mate, the syringe sticking in his arm while he swung it about, the blood all over the bathroom, the gunk he extracted from his arm (not just blood).

After 2 cups of blood he was rushed into emergency surgery at the hospital. In which time he had his right bicep cut in the middle leaving a canyon-like- scar running from the inner to outer of his right bicep.

Gregg luckily survived the event and was willing to tell the tale in this documentary. It was an interesting story to watch on a topic that really isnt that dear to my heart. So if a story that I am not that interested in can keep my interest then it cant be that bad. Check it out if you have a chance.

Cheers
Coach Onski Article Written 11/02/2008