When extreme dehydration took the life, Paul Dillett was never the bodybuilder he used to be.
Paul Dillett (left), Marko Savolainen and Ronnie Coleman on stage at the Helsinki GP in 1997. Kari Kaipiainen
Canadian Paul Dillett was at the peak of his bodybuilding career in the early 90s. He placed fourth in the Mr. Olympia competition in 1994 and third in the Arnold Classic in 1996.
During his career, the 188-centimeter Dillett weighed up to 150 kilograms outside the competition season. The competition weight was around 130 kilograms. The Canadian was so big that he is considered one of the most muscular men in the history of bodybuilding. In September Fitness Volt website named Dillett the third biggest bodybuilder in history.
Today, you wouldn’t necessarily believe that Dillett, born in 1965, was once as muscular as he was.
Dillett ended his career in 2012 and now only does cool interior work. Dillett founded the World Beauty Fitness & Fashion Competition (WBFF) association in 2007. The WBFF association organizes events that are described as a mix of bodybuilding, fitness and beauty competitions.
Dillett was once ready to make drastic sacrifices to succeed on the podium. Dillett collapsed on the competition stage of the 1994 Arnold Classic and was near death.
In 2020, Dillett said in an interview with Generation Iron that the muscles in his body spasmed extensively and eventually his heart stopped.
It took four burly men to carry Dillett off the stage.
– I listened to someone I shouldn’t have listened to. However, I’m not going to throw anyone under the bus and call names. I was a grown man and someone said I should do one thing. As a bodybuilder, he wanted to win by any means necessary, Dillett said a couple of years ago.
– I looked crazy good that day. It would have been an easy win, but it wasn’t meant to be and I almost lost my life. I woke up in the hospital and the doctors told me that I had to be resuscitated.
Dillett had therefore pushed the diet to the extreme. The Canadian said he never used diuretics again after that.
Dillett said he was never the same as a bodybuilder after that incident, fear took over.