--- title: "Another Bodybuilder Just Died a Horrible Death" description: "A Russian bodybuilder has become the latest in a long and unfortunate line of pro weightlifters to meet untimely demises." date: "2025-05-31" modified: "2025-05-31" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/another-bodybuilder-died-oil-injections" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "body image" - "bodybuilder" - "health" - "weightlifting" --- # Another Bodybuilder Just Died a Horrible Death ![A Russian bodybuilder has become the latest in a long and unfortunate line of pro weightlifters to meet untimely demises.]() *\Image: @tkachyk\_1990 via Instagram / Futurism\* After quitting the bizarre injections that puffed up his muscles, a Russian bodybuilder has become the latest in a long and unfortunate line of pro weightlifters to meet untimely demises. As [*The Sun* reports](), 35-year-old Nikita Tkachuk hadn't injected synthol — a so-called "[site enhancement oil]()" primarily made up of oils like paraffin or sesame alongside a local anesthetic and benzoyl alcohol that makes muscles appear bulkier without actually causing any strength or fitness benefits — before he died of a heart attack in a St. Petersburg hospital last week. The story of how he got there is tragic, even for the [morbid world of weightlifting](). After winning "Master of Sports" in Russia at 21, Tkachuk began injecting synthol to appear beefier. That practice is known as "[fluffing]()," and it produces muscles that appear, as *Iron Man* magazine put it back in 2013, "[comically inflated]()." Eventually, Tkachuk signed a deal with a pharmaceutical company that contractually obligated him to keep taking the shots — a deal that turned out to be deadly. After initially being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a disorder involving tiny granules of immune cells forming on his organs, the strain from all that "fluffing" ultimately led to kidney and lung failure, and then a heart attack, his widow, Maria Tkachuk, said, per *The Sun*. "There were many trials over the years," said the widow Tkachuk, who is also a bodybuilder. "\[His\] resources ran out." Though a lot remains unclear about the man's death, including why he finally succumbed years after quitting the injections, his regret over the use of synthol — which in a 2022 video he called his "[biggest mistake]()" — is plain as day. "If your arm is 18 inches or 20 inches, what will it change in your life?" Tkachuk said ahead of his death, per *The Sun*. "You're going to lose a lot of health. It's not worth it." "If I could back to 2015-2016, I would not do it," he continued. "I basically ruined my whole sporting career." Though he's joined in death by a [long line of young bodybuilders]() who died too soon after taking various substances to either lose weight or get swole, Tkachuk's story is especially tragic because he spoke out against the injections that ultimately killed him. Now, his wife is left to pick up the pieces. "There are no other words for now," his widow said. "Only shock." **More on bodybuilder deaths:** [*If You Still Think Bodybuilding Is Healthy, This Woman Just Died at Age 20*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()