A new study led by researchers in Italy has found that bodybuilders who spend countless hours in the gym to create a heart-stopping physique could place their own hearts at risk.

Results of the study are published in the ‘European Heart Journal’. Sudden cardiac death is responsible for an unusually high proportion of deaths in male bodybuilders, the research found.

Further, professional bodybuilders are five times more likely to fall dead from cardiac arrest than amateurs, results show.

“The risk of death among male bodybuilders is considerably high,” lead researcher Dr. Marco Vecchiato, a sports medicine spe – cialist at the University of Padova in Italy, said in a news release.

“Professional athletes had a markedly higher incidence of sudden cardiac death, suggesting that the level of competition might contribute to this increased risk.”

The research was prompted by “a growing number of reports of premature deaths among people involved in bodybuilding and fitness,” including many reports of cardiac arrest, Vecchiato said.

In a recent case, retired bodybuilder José Mateus Correia Silva went into cardiac arrest while working out at a gym in Aguas Claras, Brazil in November 2024, according to the New York Post.