From Skinny Kid to Muscle-Bound Marvel: The Tragic Tale of a Bodybuilder Who Died at 36, Chasing His ‘Rambo’ Dream

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Illia “Golem” Yefimchyk was known for sharing his intense physical body workouts and an even more impressive diet on social media: the Belarusian ate more than 16,000 calories every day.

Find out what the athlete’s diet was like

According to the Essentially Sports website, the athlete ate seven meals a day, including three lunches. Breakfast consisted of 300g of rolled oats.

In his first lunch, Yefimchyk ate 108 pieces of sushi, which is equivalent to 1.6 kg of rice and 800 g of salmon. The second lunch consisted of 1.3 kg of meat, a crepe and ice cream for dessert. In the third dinner, the dish consisted of 500 g of rice, olives and pasta.

Two lunches and a last meal. The first dinner had 200g of cheese and 300g of pasta. In the second, the athlete ate another 1.3 kg of meat and 700 g of cottage cheese. To end the day, the bodybuilder ate 14 oat pancakes with maple syrup.

Bodybuilder wanted to be a ‘monster’

Yefimchyk was considered one of the top names in the sport today. At 1.85 m tall and around 160 kilos, the amount of weight lifted by the athlete was impressive: Yefimchyk was able to lift 272 kilos in the bench press and 317 kilos in the deadlift, according to Men’s Health magazine.

The athlete was inspired by Hollywood stars to become a “monster”. Yefimchyk’s biggest inspiration was the character Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone. “Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in Rambo. And when people passed by me, they saw a monster. I wanted to be as strong as my Hollywood idols,” she once declared in an interview. According to Essentially Sports magazine, Yefimchyk was bullied during his childhood due to his small physical size.

Also read: Another Brazilian bodybuilder dies; Antônio Brás was 26 years old and lost his life on the day of the competition

“In my small town, a gym opened and I started going to it to become the Hulk,” revealed Illia Golem Yefimchyk.

Yefimchyk was voted the “most monstrous bodybuilder in the world” by the website Fitness Volt. The bodybuilder’s neck was 60 cm in circumference, each arm was 64 cm in circumference, and his chest measured around 155 cm.

Death of Efimchyk

Bodybuilder died last Friday (06). The death was confirmed to the press by his wife, Anna, according to information from Nexta newspaper. According to local news outlets, Yefimchyk suffered a cardiac arrest.

Yefimchyk was rescued after feeling ill and was airlifted to a local hospital, where his condition was stabilized by doctors. However, two days after going to hospital, the bodybuilder suffered another arrest and was confirmed brain dead by the medical team.

A young Brazilian bodybuilder also died after suffering a cardiac arrest. The athlete Matheus Pavlak, aged 19, from Blumenau (SC), was found dead on September 1st.

A hypercaloric diet requires caution

Muscle hypertrophy requires the consumption of more calories than the amount expended. People trying to gain muscle should eat more calories than their body burns throughout the day. However, “ordinary” people hardly need to eat as many calories as Yefimchyk. In addition to the stimulation produced by strength exercises, it is necessary to have an adequate supply of calories and nutrients, which will be fuel for muscle building.

A high percentage of muscle mass increases energy expenditure. The amount of energy required by muscular bodies to perform basic functions tends to be high in itself. The cost is even greater when added to the calories burned in intense exercises, such as heavy weight training. In order to gain even more muscle, all this energy expended needs to be replaced through diet, whether with food or supplements.

A gradual evolution in the energy intake at meals is one of the strategies adopted in high calorie diets. If the individual is used to eating two thousand calories every day and suddenly starts eating four thousand calories, it is possible that the weight gain does not come from muscle, but from fat.

Natural foods are good sources of calories and nutrients. As well as offering vitamins and minerals, meals based on healthy foods also provide an intake of the three main macronutrients. These are: proteins (red meat, chicken, fish, eggs, chickpeas, beans, lentils, quinoa); carbohydrates (rice, sweet potatoes and other tubers, oats and fruit); and good fats (olive oil and nuts).

Diet and bodybuilding must be professionally monitored. The high energy consumption required by hypertrophy does not mean that any food can be eaten without restriction. In order to ensure balanced meals and avoid overloading organs such as the heart and kidneys, it is essential to have the help of a nutritionist. When it comes to strength training, the ideal is to have training prepared by a physical education professional, who will adapt the exercises and loads for each body.

A high calorie intake is part of the routine of many movie stars. The Australian actor Hugh Jackman, for example, shared that he eats about eight thousand calories every day while preparing to play the character Wolverine. Along with his diet, the 55-year-old actor’s bodybuilding exercises are also aimed at gaining muscle mass.

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