RIP.
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RIP to one of my favorites.
Just came back to pay my condolences.
I loved his Question of Strength articles.
Peace ya’ll.
I wonder how much of his heart trouble was exacerbated by steroids,and other PED’s and how he used them. People can die at 40 from a heart attack, never having taken steroids in their life, so its hard to know.
Nevertheless guys keep an eye on your blood pressure, and heart rate, and blood tests, to pick up any trouble before it becomes serious. Makes me think cycling, or at least cruising on a low dose 100mg max is better than what most pro’s do.
Terrible news, pretty stunned.
Thank you, Charles, for the immense contribution to something we’re all so passionate about.
Valè.
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There is data in both human and animal models demonstrating high doses of anabolic steroids (like 600mg+ weekly, probably less for harsher compounds) causes detrimental cardiac remodelling with regards to left ventricular hypertrophy, in some of the studies diastolic and systolic (but particularly diastolic) function of the heart is severely reduced, enough to be noted as a clinically significant risk of increasing the chance of sudden cardiac death and myocardial infarction. People can argue with me here, however it appears that over long periods of time detrimental effects on the cardiovascular system become apparent, what we don’t know is whether this is genetic (as some people seem to get away scot free), which agents are worse (obviously tren is going to be worse on the cardiovascular system than test) etc. The lifestyles of these people in the studies aren’t usually looked at either (although one study weeded out the people using hard drugs and still found significant differences in heart function). Another flaw is the fact these studies are too small to make any definate outcomes, as a matter of fact there’s a few studies looking at long term AAS users showing there’s no difference in cardiac function between them, sedentary individuals or drug free bodybuilders.
RIP Charles, this sucks, whether he died from steroids or not… I mean it couldn’t’ve helped, what was the cause of death?
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This may make me sound naive… but was it known Charles was “on”?
He was built but never struck me as so big he was on gear, especially huge amounts. Seemed to just have genetically large biceps to me. Not an overall juiced physique.
I hope this doesn’t derail or disrespect his memory, but it’s obviously going to be on everyone’s mind so we may as well address it.
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I’m not sure about the time of death, but older photo’s scream anabolics to me. He didn’t have a Pro’s physique(not many steroid users get to that level no matter how many drugs they take), but much larger and fuller than any natural.
I think he had links with Ben Johnsons coach, was a professional strength, sports coach. Coached many prominent bodybuilders like Milos Sarcev, and John Meadows.
Nearly all his training routines (not German Volume training) are geared towards assisted bodybuilders, high intensity and high volume, giant sets etc.
He was at the cutting edge of training in the time where drug use wasn’t openly talked about. I don’t remember anything about steroids in his books, just lots of pic’s of pro’s on juice and himself with pretty well developed arms.
To me the fact that he was on the gear gave him more credibility than many other bodybuilding writers, and training experts of that era and before. He actually used himself as a guinea pig to test what works not just observing other people.
No disrespect to him at all.
Very sorry to hear that he died so young.
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I think the most important part of life is to make sure you’re happy, I’d make an estimate given the achievements Charles Poliquin made during his lifespan that he was happy with life, and to me that’s all that really matters, one can live a long life and still be miserable. Whether he used gear, who knows, probably, but more importantly, who cares. Whether the cause of his death was gear? Who knows, possibly, possibly not. He died young and while sad, it isn’t as if he didn’t live long enough to carve out a legacy or live a decent life, he could’ve been like Dallas Mccarver (who was practically still a kid when he died).
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Agreed, he did lead a productive and fulfilling life. No doubt he went out happy, which is better than many people get.
Guy was iconoclast and I’d estimate that anyone interested in the iron game for the last 10+ years has probably been drawn to his methods at some stage. I think, as Bret Contreras recently observed, he was part genius part guru. Sometimes difficult to discern which. Regardless, will be sad loss to iron game.
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No no, was genuinely interested if anyone could think of a more influential S&C coach than King Charles.
Fred Hatfield was a good shout. Another tragic loss.
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RIP , condoléances a la famille .
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All you said is true and meaningful. However, he leaves a daughter behind. One can sure live a full life and pass away relatively early, but his young daughter will live fatherless for the rest of her life.
Wait what? shit.
I apologise if I came off as disrespectful, that was not my intention. I was answering the question posed by another user which was if AAS has anything to do with his death.
I actually have a thread on that exact topic that I created a while back
Wow, that’s sad. RIP Charlies Poliquin, my condolences to the family and friends
Wait, what the hell just happened, this wasn’t where I posted this, what happened to my original post? I must’ve re-written it accidentally, dammit, here’s the original post
how old is the daughter? Still it’s a shame for the daughterand potentially his wife (or husband) (did he have asignificant other)? I don’t tend to look up peoples personallives (celebrities and such, I feel these people getbombarded with constant paparazzi and people prying intotheir personal lives, and I don’t want to contribute to thisfashion as these people should be able to have privacy andbasic human rights, that being said that is a totally differentdebate for a different conversation)
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Guys, talking steroids in this thread isn’t necessary or appropriate. It’s best not continue that down that line here. A new thread is where any heart-AAS discussions should take place, not in a memorial thread.
It is being reported that he died of a heart attack. Heart attacks run in his family, I believe one or more of his brothers had them and Poliquin had a series of heart attacks in his 30s, which is why he became an advocate of magnesium.
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Unfortunately, yeah. In May of last year.
She’s still in high school.
Crap. I never had better gains or hated life more than running his 80 day powerlifting cycle.
/end hijack
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I have to add to my earlier comments: I have probably spent a fortune on supplements from following Poliquin. I have mega-dosed fish oil, consumed 40g BCAA and 20g glutamine intra-WO, etc, I even gave the meat and nuts breakfast an extended run - which was a major event for me considering I have done IF for years. I followed his training split for a while and, of course, took on GVT and GBC more than once. I also sought out ART for an injury, based on his (and others on TNation) advice. I also read various books, articles and was listening to some of his podcasts up until very recently.
I don’t think his contribution to the iron game can be understated. I do think Charles Poliquin’s biggest fan was Charles Poliquin and, at times, especially more recently, I felt he was coming across as a bit insecure. The selling off of his company, etc, was a bit weird and he was popping up instead in very odd and obscure places.
He reminds me a bit of José Mourinho now: a very driven individual but incredibly egocentric - often to their own detriment. When Poliquin decided upon something that was it and everyone else was wrong. Worse, you were likely to come in for personal attack. I listened to him recently being interviewed on some obscure Eastern European podcast. He was asked his opinion on IF - “it’s bullshit” was the reply. No studies back it up, blah, blah. Of course, how could you ever concede the efficacy of IF when one of the Poliquin pillars is the meat and nut breakfast? As his prodigal son Nick Mitchell is fond of shouting: “breakfast is non-negotiable”!! And when his own methods were not backed up by science, the argument was now: “science is years behind what happens in the trenches”.
I hope this post isn’t misconstrued as a pop at someone now deceased. As I stated, he was a huge influence on me personally and, just like my José Mourinho comparison, I regard him in the genius category. When I think of Poliquin that is the type of stuff that gushes out. And that seems to sum up the affect he had on people.
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