Key points ;
- Six years ago Valdir Segato was warned injections meant he severe nerve damage and risked amputation
- But he has continued using the dangerous oil injections to boost his hulking muscle mass
- According to local media, he died after after being taken to hospital complaining about shortness of breath
- The synthol concoction often uses sesame oil, along with painkillers and alcohol, as a steroid alternative
- But it doesn’t improve strength, and experts say it can cause lethal strokes, blocking of arteries and infections
A Brazilian bodybuilder and TikTok star who gained 1.6 million followers by injecting himself with life-threatening oil to create 23-inch biceps has died on his 55th birthday in Ribeirao Preto.
Valdir Segato had been using synthol injections for years despite risking strokes and infections to produce hulking biceps, pectorals and back muscles.
Segato, originally from Sao Paulo, previously said he was inspired by the physiques of Arnold Schwarzenegger and fictional characters like The Hulk, and spoke of how he was proud to be known on the streets as ‘the monster’.
Six years ago he was warned he faced amputation, or at the very least nerve damage and muscle disfigurement, if he continued to use the injections to bulk himself out. But Segato, previously a construction worker, said he liked the attention it brought – and wanted to get even bigger.
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Speaking in 2016, he said: ‘They call me Hulk, Schwarzenegger and He-Man all the time and I like that. I’ve doubled my biceps but I still want to be bigger.’
He proudly posted images and videos to social media, calling himself ‘Valdir Synthol’ on Instagram.
But according to local media, by the time of his death he had few friends of visitors, and lived an isolated life despite the huge social media following he had gained posting videos over the years.
One man named Moisés da Conceição da Silva said the bodybuilder had rented a property built to the rear of his family’s house in Ribeirao Preto, in southeast Brazil, for more than 15 years. Moisés said on the day Segato died, he had asked Moisés’ mother for help – complaining about a shortness of breath.
It was around 6 am, more or less. He came crawling through the back house and came to the front. Then he knocked on my mother’s window, knocked, knocked, then she woke up and he said ‘help me, help me because I’m dying,” Moisés said, according to Brazil’s Globo news publication.
He was taken to the North Emergency Care Unit (UPA) – a medical facility in the city – but could not be saved.
As a youth he was an emaciated skinny drug addict and lost so much weight he was known as ‘Skinny Dog’.
He previously stated: ‘I got involved with drugs and I started losing weight because you don’t eat, you lead a wrong life.’ Segato quit drugs and joined a gym but he wanted more extreme effects than he could achieve from exercise alone.
He was offered synthol by someone in the gym and, having an addictive personality, soon became hooked on the muscle-enhancing substance.
Many bodybuilders swerve the lengthy list of side effects posed by anabolic steroids by opting for synthol, but the oil also poses huge risks.
According to Europe PubMed Central: ‘The side effects of synthol are manifold and they can also cause a damage of nerves, oil embolic of the pulmonary, occlusion of the pulmonary artery, myocardial infarction, cerebral stroke and infectious complications.’
The injections are comprised of 85 percent oil – often sesame oil – 7.5 percent lidocain, a painkiller, and 7.5 percent alcohol, used to sterilise the concoction.
In addition the results are purely cosmetic and did not make Segato any stronger, and despite being warned that continued use of the oil could result in amputation, he carried on with the dangerous practice.
