This article is devoted to the biography of titanium bodybuilding from the 90s. - Greg Kovacs. In it you will learn his story, unusual facts from life, as well as the cause of death. Why did this bodybuilder, although he possessed excellent data, only win once? How did the weight of Greg Kovacs and his power indicators reach such incredible levels? You will find answers to these and many other questions in our article.
Rewind time back ...
Greg Kovacs was born to a farming family in Canada. Already in childhood, he was a fairly large child.
Greg's first hobby was football. Then he became interested in hockey and began to play in the youth team of Canada. We can say that this period in the boy’s life was a turning point: thanks to hockey lessons, he first appeared among the simulators and fell in love with them without a memory. Finding a craving for sports equipment, the young man immediately switched to bodybuilding. This was expected, because with the growth of 180 centimeters, he weighed about 105 kilograms.
His debut in the professional field of bodybuilding was rather unsuccessful: at the age of 20, his body was not suitable for professional performances, as it did not correspond to bodybuilding aesthetics - the judges did not find the necessary relief in him, and the poses that he demonstrated were too far from professionalism.
However, the purposeful sturdy guy decided not to give up and continued to intensely engage in strength training. Only eight years later, in 1996, Greg Kovacs took first place in the Canadian National Championship.
Grand success that did not happen again
At the time of receiving his award, he, according to professionals, had excellent data. The audience was struck by the magnificent height and weight of Greg Kovacs - 182 kg with a height of 191 cm. However, from that moment he never distinguished himself in performances. Nevertheless, failure only spurred the bodybuilder to engage in himself: he was constantly in non-stop mode, adhered to the developed scheme of nutrition and training.
As people around said, Greg Kovacs was a very friendly and friendly person. The audience was always impressed by his complacency and charm of a mountain man, so he had a lot of fans and followers. However, not everyone felt sympathy for him; some colleagues on the shop floor spoke rather impartially of him.
What was Kovac hiding?
Intensive training and non-traditional nutrition, as bodybuilders respond, brought his body to a non-functional state. Infrequently, you can see information about the wife of Greg Kovacs, however, it was she who helped to cope with his routine affairs. He could not even travel without her. His wife, Kim, was a real stone wall for this large man. Often, she could hold seminars instead, as Greg was easily tired, difficult to endure the heat and constantly sweating very much.
Envious colleagues only marveled at how Kim courted Greg: she chopped him into small pieces and fed him from a fork during amateur competitions. In addition, she had to almost follow on his heels with a fan, because sweat was just rolling down a man-mountain.
As it turned out, other bodybuilders were also witnesses of the fact that he literally could not go to the toilet on his own - his wife followed him everywhere ...
Where did fate take the giant further?
Power style has turned Kovacs into a real giant. However, he was absolutely uncompetitive from the standpoint of aesthetics, sometimes he was called a bear.
When Greg realized that his genetics, which were characteristic rather of size and power than aesthetics and symmetry, let him down, he left competitive bodybuilding in 2005. After leaving the stage, he completely immersed himself in business and coaching. Now his activity was traveling around the world with MuscleTech sports nutrition advertising. He managed to visit many countries of the world, including Russia.
What is the cause of the death of Greg Kovacs?
After his career ended, a lot of trials fell on the athlete. A major shock for him was the divorce from his beloved wife. This psychological shock unsettled Greg. Then, in November 2010, the bodybuilder was accused of extortion: the owner of a sports nutrition store said that Kovacs demanded a large amount of money from him. This trick led Greg to spend several months behind bars. After his release, the former bodybuilder decided to return to the field of bodybuilding, but as a journalist. In April 2011, he began writing articles for rxmuscle.com. Greg turned out to be a talented writer: he wrote numerous articles about bodybuilders and bodybuilding in general.
Greg’s first health problems started back in 2008: he performed a 200 kg bench press at a fitness center in Toronto and suddenly collapsed unconscious to the floor. After this incident, he was taken to the hospital, where he spent some time on the life support system.
Greg Kovacs died at 9:50 am on November 22, 2013 - he died of a heart attack. It happened in Ontario, at his house in Mississauga. Greg has no children.
Although he was not entirely lucky with the dimensions, people say that he was a friendly person with a great sense of humor.
Bodybuilder Anthropometric Data
Greg Kovacs is 191 centimeters tall.
Bodybuilder's competitive weight is 153 kilograms.
Weight between seasons reached 182 kilograms.
Volumes:
- biceps - 67 cm;
- hip - 89 cm;
- chest - 187 cm.
Of course, such data could not be unnoticed, many were jealous of its addition - not all bodybuilders lift superheavy dumbbells. Greg’s video training shows that he easily coped with an inclined bench press with a 305 kg dumbbell!
Sometimes he worked with more powerful shells during training.
Some more interesting facts from the life of Kovacs
According to the biography of a bodybuilder, he usually held 12th or 13th place throughout his sports career. When he realized that he could not see the laurels, he began to engage exclusively for himself, and later began to train young guys.
According to Kovacs himself, he went to his grandfather: among people there were legends about his inhuman power. The unique genetic baggage required very little to bring to light the largest and most powerful professional in history. When the inexperienced Greg was still a 17-year-old boy, he, still far from bodybuilding "male", already weighed 110 kilograms! And all his weight was pure muscles! Its dimensions earned him the nickname "Canadian Godzilla."
When it turned out that the usual range of weights did not satisfy the giant, they began to make heavy shells specially for him.
His leg press reached 900 kilograms (20 repetitions per set), the bench press lying - 306 kilograms - 3 times in a row!
Kovacs could easily juggle with 115-kilogram dumbbells (6 repetitions in a set).
His face shone in advertising campaigns of the fitness industry. He rarely spoke at competitions, but was not deprived of the attention of the public and the media.
His heart attack occurred due to excessive force loads, according to the expertise.
Greg's life principles
He had three basic principles:
- Firstly, he believed that during training it is necessary to avoid a comfortable state. If the body gets used to the load, it is urgent to throw or change bored exercises, look for new options that will bring to a state of nausea. The result of severe torture is indispensable muscle growth. Weak muscles are strengthened by uncomfortable exercises.
- Secondly, Greg believed that regular exercise was the key to success. Only steady and regular workouts will increase muscle mass. Breaks, Greg believes, only knock down hormonal and physiological processes. Without interruptions, the body builds up muscles in the right volume much faster.
- Thirdly, self-discipline. Greg said that without her, the desired result would not be achieved. You need to constantly work your head and direct all your thoughts to training in the gym.
How did Kovacs eat?
If you look at the photo of Greg Kovacs, you can note a pronounced muscle mass. He increased it due to the use of a large amount of protein. He had 7 meals a day, the giant ate 2 kilograms of meat and a dozen eggs. In addition, there were always protein drinks on his menu. Of course, there were vegetables in his diet - he considered carbohydrates to be important for energy in order to fully surrender to classes in the gym.
As Greg said, his favorite dish is a vegetable salad with potatoes or rice and a large meat steak. His favorite dessert was natural yogurt.
Since Greg devotedly devoted himself to strength training, he intensively gained weight and took steroids. There is evidence that he took other drugs that helped him maintain the body in good condition. As you know, the use of certain additives negatively affects the health of bodybuilders, but without them it is impossible to bring the body to an ideal.
Experts recommend that bodybuilders refuse such stimulants, since they negatively affect the work of the heart and liver - due to the increase in muscle mass, these organs become rampant. Greg was an extreme person in everything, starting with thoughts and ending with training in the gym.