Rich Piana


Richard Eugene Piana was an American bodybuilder and businessman. He won the National Physique Committee Mr. Teen California title in 1989, NPC Mr. California in 1998 and National Physique Committee competitions in 2003 and 2009. He had his own nutrition product line called Rich Piana: 5% Nutrition. He publicly admitted that he had been using anabolic steroids, synthetic human growth hormone and insulin as part of his bodybuilding regimen during his career, starting when he was 18 years old. He had said he was aware that the steroids would do damage to his body, but had also said steroid use was a necessary part of competing at the highest levels of bodybuilding and that it was a risk he was willing to take.
He died at the age of 46, after two weeks in a coma. At death, his heart and liver weighed over twice the average amount for an adult male, and he had "serious heart disease". He had been aware that his organs were enlarged and that is a known side effect of the steroids, hgh, insulin and other hormones he had been taking. There was also significant hardening of the arteries and plaque in his arteries. He also had abnormally yellowish skin color, fatty liver, ascites, congested thyroid, congested and discolored kidneys, ischemic brain tissue, necrotic brain tissue and brain edema. Another abnormality was in his lungs, which were filled with yellow fluid and swollen, had apparent fat emboli and micro-abscesses, and also displayed both acute and chronic inflammatory cells. However, the autopsy report was ultimately inconclusive on the cause and manner of his death, due to the hospital disposing of any specimens prior to his death.
Piana was popular among the weightlifting community as a result of both his bodybuilding achievements and his gregarious and over-the-top extroverted personality. He was known for running a vlog on YouTube which featured motivational speaking, personal life stories, exercise montages, special guest appearances, and insights into Piana's daily life. In his videos he often spoke of the 5%, which he described as a mentality and movement of people willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish whatever goals they have. He believed only 5% of people had the capability of doing this.

Early life

Piana was born in Glendale, California, on September 26, 1970. His ancestry was Armenian and Italian. Raised in Sacramento, California, his enthrallment with bodybuilding began when he was six. He would go to the gym to watch his mother train for her bodybuilding contests. Alongside her, Piana was also heavily influenced by Bill Cambra, an "old-school" bodybuilder. At age 11, Piana began weightlifting. Four years later, he started competing in bodybuilding contests. For his senior year in high school, he lived with his father in La Crescenta, California. By the age of 18, Piana already had several titles under his belt, including IFBB Mr. Teen California in 1989, and had started on a common steroid cycle practice known as "test and deca" that combines testosterone and Deca-Durabolin.

Career

Piana won the IFBB Mr. Teen California competition in 1989 at age 18, and in 1998 he was named IFBB Mr. California. He continued to compete on and off for about 25 years, winning NPC competitions in the 2003 Los Angeles Super-Heavyweight division, 2009 Sacramento Super-Heavyweight division, and the 2009 Border States Classic Super-Heavyweight division and overall championship. He was featured on the cover of the November 1998 issue of Ironman magazine and the Summer 2015 issue of Muscle Sport magazine.
He had a cameo appearance as The Incredible Hulk in an episode of the television series Scrubs, and played an oiled-up muscle man named Marcus in an episode of "Malcolm in the Middle". He was one of the main focuses of the 2017 bodybuilding documentary Generation Iron 2.
In a 2014 YouTube video, he said that he had used anabolic steroids over the course of 25 years – since he was 18 years old – and specifically stated that everyone should be aware that using steroids will do damage to their body, but also said that he was willing to take the chance. He said he had experienced some side effects, such as hair loss, gynecomastia, and signs of liver toxicity, but said he had not had acne or major problems thus far. However, he said: "I am totally 100% aware that damage is being done to my body by the choices I am making", that "I know for a fact that doing what I am doing is going to cause damage", but also said: "I have made a choice and I am willing to deal with that – I am willing to take those chances".
In another video in 2016, he backed up his decision but advised viewers not to use the drugs, stating, "If you have the choice to do steroids or stay natural, stay natural. There's no reason to do steroids. You're only hurting your body and hurting yourself." He then said that professional bodybuilders have no such choice, since they cannot win at that level without using the drugs. He said, "I was competing on stage and I was getting to the point where I was going to keep getting blown off the stage if I didn't do them. So I took that step and that's the road I chose, and here I am."
He offered advice on how to use the drugs "properly" for those he said were going to use them anyway. He said that when he was competing at the national level, he was taking 20 international units per day of Serostim, a synthetic form of human growth hormone, which would cost about $8,000 per month at ordinary prescription prices. He said that during his bodybuilding career he "lived and died for bodybuilding".
Piana quit bodybuilding competitions in his last few years and spent his time as a social media personality and promoting his business, called Rich Piana: 5% Nutrition. The meaning of "5%" in the name of the brand is that "5% represents the percentage of people that are out there actually doing whatever it takes to fulfill their dreams, to accomplish their goals, and to live the type of life they want to live."
In his post-competition life, he promoted his brand and frequently spoke about the use of steroids and hormones and the associated consequences. He made appearances at fitness expos, and in videos posted on YouTube, he gave advice about diet and fitness routines. He had 1.2 million followers on Instagram and 1 million subscribers on YouTube.

Personal life

Piana was married twice. His first marriage ended in divorce after he had an affair. He then had a longstanding on-again, off-again relationship with fitness model Chanel Jansen. He then married Icelandic bodybuilder Sara Heimisdóttir in 2015. They separated in 2016 and he later accused her of using him to qualify for U.S. residence and stealing money from him. His second marriage was annulled as having occurred under false pretenses, and he resumed his relationship with Jansen, who was his partner at the time of his death.
Piana reportedly also had a struggle with opiate addiction at some point, according to Jansen.

Death

At 1:30 p.m. on August 7, 2017, Piana collapsed while receiving a haircut from Jansen at his home. He was standing at the time and hit his head when he collapsed. Jansen called the 911 emergency operator, and followed their instructions to try to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived about 10 minutes into her call. The paramedics confirmed that his heart was not beating properly. His heartbeat was eventually restored, but only after so much time had passed that brain damage had set in from lack of oxygen. After the discovery of crushed white powder along with a straw and a credit card on the table in his home, paramedics administered Narcan, a medication used to counteract a possible opiate overdose. There was later speculation about possible recreational drug use, foul play, or other unknown factors involved in his death. However, Jansen denied that cocaine, heroin, or other drugs were involved – saying he had sometimes snorted a high-caffeine pre-workout supplement and that he did not use recreational drugs. Twenty bottles of testosterone were reportedly found in his home.
Jansen later said his brain had been deprived of oxygen for over 30 minutes. She also said that in the last few days before his collapse, Piana had exhibited some unusual symptoms including shortness of breath and nausea, and said she was later told these may have been warning signs of an impending cardiac arrest.
After spending two weeks in an induced coma to try and reduce swelling to the brain, Piana died on August 25, 2017, at the age of 46. An autopsy revealed "significant heart disease" and that his heart and liver weighed over twice the average amount for an adult male. Jansen said Piana was well aware that his organs were enlarged, and that this was a known side effect of the steroids and hormones he had been taking, but said he was not aware that this put him at risk for a sudden cardiac arrest.
The autopsy was ultimately inconclusive on the cause and manner of death. No toxicology analysis was performed for the autopsy, and no access to any toxicology analysis from the period of his hospital treatment was made available to the medical examiner for study. The hospital had discarded the specimens needed for a toxicology analysis to be later performed, despite specific requests to preserve them for analysis. This led to conspiracy theories about a possible cover-up of the true circumstances and cause of his death. The autopsy report said there was no evidence of recent injury, appearing to rule out physical trauma as a significant factor in his death.
He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California.