Most people rely on the gym to tone up their muscles, but a Brazilian bodybuilder has taken things to the extreme by injecting oil into his arms in an attempt to boost his biceps.
When he was a teenager, Valdir Segato became addicted to drugs and lost so much weight he became known as ‘Skinny Dog’.
He managed to overcome his addiction and joined the gym, but the Brazilian wasn’t satisfied with the natural body he could achieve from working out.
The bodybuilder has previously spoken about his past, the Mail Online report, explaining:
I got involved with drugs and I started losing weight because you don’t eat, you lead a wrong life.
Segato was reportedly offered synthol by someone in the gym, and soon became hooked on using the muscle-enhancing substance. The bodybuilder is now in his early 50s, but despite risking strokes and infections he still chooses to inject the oil to encourage ridiculously large pectorals and back muscles, as well as a pair of 23-inch biceps.
According to an artile in the Europe PubMed Central journal, synthol is usually made up of oil, benzyl alcohol and lidocain, and that its enlargement effects are immediate.
It also lists the numerous side effects of the oil, explaining:
Some serious drawbacks can be visible while using synthol. The muscles deform and become unnaturally shaped.
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.
According to the Mail Online, three years ago Segato was warned his lifestyle could lead to amputation as a result of nerve damage and muscle disfigurement, but not even that was enough to stop him injecting.
He said at the time:
The doctors tell me to stop it, the advice they give me is to stop using. But it’s my decision to use it because I want to, because I like to.
The Brazilian proudly shows off his muscles on Instagram, where he has labelled himself ‘Valdir Synthol’. He is reportedly inspired by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and even fictional characters like The Hulk, and is happy to be known locally as ‘the monster’.
Although the injections certainly increase the size of the bodybuilder’s muscles they don’t actually make him any stronger, and Segato has come under fire on social media as people accuse him of not actually being able to lift much weight.
One person commented:
That weight is nothing if your [sic] that big lift more weight …..
While another wrote:
I guess if it makes you happy. But how it make you feel at the gym when someone a fraction of your size can toss up twice the weight.
It’s saddening Segato is willing to risk his life simply to achieve the unnatural muscles, but he’s obviously happy with his choices.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.