+ 5 Bodybuilder Justyn Vicky Dead After Snapping Neck During Lift
Bodybuilder Justyn Vicky, age 33, broke his neck during an accident while performing a back squat at a gym in Bali. Vicky was taken to a local hospital for emergency surgery and died shortly after from neck and spinal injuries. The cause of death is reportedly a broken neck.
Not sure if anyone here knows or follows his content, a friend of mine does and sent this to me so thought it would be interesting to share here.
Interestingly there is a video released of the accident by the Bali news website;
https://www.balidiscovery.com/man-dies-in-freak-mishap-at-bali-gym/ (Scroll down for video)
Also strangely a lot of the news websites are reporting it was a '180KG Squat', but the colour of the plates in the video show it was actually 210KG unless I'm missing something.
Regardless, tragic and unfortunate. RIP.
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Good Analysis of what went wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g4w3uOn1RM
Just saw the video! The spotter did not help him at all when he could not squat it up
tragic death! RIP
It seems as if he was squatting while facing a restaurant. In front of him, separated by see-through glass. 2 kids and a man behind the glass watched that happen and who knows how many other people that we couldn't see in camera's view. RIP and very unfortunate accident for sure
I’m very much not the squeamish or emotional type, but that was awful and very upsetting to watch. Total lack of safety in set up with one spotter, should also be in a rack. Only a youngster too, so sad.
Lessons to be learned here from us boring old fart types here. Safety first…..
Dayuuuuuummmmmm!
Wow, that’s some sad shit. I have squatted like that in years. I stick to the machine with the padded shoulders, LOL
Dam that's horrible rip!! Just saw the video damm!!
Like I said below folks tend to underestimate how deadly a simple squat can be with a good amount of weight. I've seen alot powerlifters mess themselves up.
100% true
Haven't saw it and don't want to see it. I can only imagine.
Yep I regret that I did tbh!
The guy woke up and decided to work out then bam....it's all over. Sad
Good call not to watch it mate. Horrible…..
Yeah I'll pass. But damn shame.
Me too, kinda gruesome. I only hope he didn’t feel much.
OHH MY F**KING GOD THAT'S HORRIBLE.
I didn't even know the neck cold snap forwards like that - so basically he sat down and back while the weight came forward, almost like the rear spotter stopped him from going backwards and just dumping the bar forwards. I'll ask this - Why the hell was he not doing this in a squat/power rack with safety sliders on the sides given he looked nowhere near getting that weight?
Yep it is 210kg - 3 x 25's and a 20.
Yes sir always use power rack /squat, especially when you are out of your 5 reps zone!!
I find it really eery watching videos like this - Can you believe that guy's whole life is over just like that? 1 second and one wrong move and that's it.
Yeah it's horrible tbh.. I imagine myself gone to the gym had that accident.. And people there had to bring the news to wife family etc, they would like what how he was just at the Gym!!
Worst part is within 10 minutes the video will be all over Youtube of you doing it!
Fuck forgot about that!
Life is flimsy like that. Young healthy man, no tobacco drugs or alcohol. Blink of an eye and he bought the entire farm. At least he went doing something he loved. RIP
1000% agree. I won't watch video.
Trying to show off for a youtube or something maybe. Noone using any common sense here.
I cringe every time I see guys trying to be clever doing heavy squats outside a powerack - I understand weightlifters need to do it for cleans etc and being able to efficiently dump the weight, and powerlifters need to gain the confidence of squatting outside one for comps but for everyone else just bloody use one.
Yep. Also....after watching the video again....dude essentially killed himself...by pushing the bar forward when he got stuck at the bottom. Probably panicked with the weight on his traps, he had it VERY high bar style too...but the tipping point was he himself...pushing the bar forward and crushing his own neck/spine...."when in doubt, dump back and bail out" RIP
So unfortunate and could've been very much prevented. Hopefully others can learn from this and this can be avoided for future lifters.
For someone who appeared to know what he was doing, that was a novice attempt to roll the bar forward. I felt as if he had passed out at the bottom but it appeared he did attempt to roll it forward. It’s Awful. As @press1 has mentioned, where were the safety rails ?
If you notice it's effectively once he sits down on the floor that he signs his own death certificate as he is no longer able to get away from the bar and it just finds the quickest way to the floor.
It’s a shame all the way around because there were so many ways this could’ve been prevented and it just so happened that particular setting was almost destined for doom.
But even powerlifters have 3 spotters when going for a near 100% 1rm.
Its strange because in his pictures he has pretty good leg development, he looks like he could handle 220kg x 3 no problem but it seems none of them had any foresight of what to do if things went wrong.
His legs looked massive in the pics. I think the whole set-up was just wrong. You saw him hitch the weight up to get it higher up this traps. He lost stability from doing that, after that it seems like everything went downhill.
Not saying he's a meathead, but the meathead in him (like we all have and need to be able to lift heavy weights from point a to be without thinking about being crushed) took over and was like keep it going instead of saying stop re-rack and setting the lift up again.
For sure he could have gotten 1 rep. He did reps with 180kg...which also means the spotter should have been able to make the weight light enough for him to push back up. This tells me this was a stability issue.
Terrible. His back didn’t look right from the go and he probably passed out. I’m not sure if there’s anything the spotter could’ve done differently.
What the hell did that spotter think he was going to be able to do. If he asked me to spot I would have said no thanks unless there were two of use, one on each side of the bar.
Exactly.. two spotters would’ve been ideal and this should be posted everywhere for people to take notice that two spotters are necessary for that kind of weight. This also makes me want to abandon back squats all together and stick to front squat.
Don't over analyse it too much mate - its because he became stuck where he was because of the spotter blocking him from falling backwards, it would have normally fallen off his shoulders backwards but he became fixed in a position where it could go nowhere but forward and down on him.
Something to show you Squats are entirely safe bud
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3bTKDTFQ7Ss
Shit!!!!! Damn videos
I would never go over 400lbs without the side railings so it can slip right off the back. I’m not a power lifter or anything, I prefer doing slow controlled squats with pauses but I will test the waters once in a while to see my max. I’d also like to start incorporating heavy front squats in the near future.
Spotter should have just pulled the bar backwards. Spotter looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He didn't know what to do.
Yea he was absolutely clueless. I remember about 10-15 years ago...on a Flex bodybuilding mag. Jean Pierre Fux attempting a 6 plates (maybe more) on each side squat...with real weights, not fake as usually done on a photoshoot. Failed and wrecked both quads and knees. The camera man captured each moment of the horrendous accident. On the flip side, years later...Jean admitted the accident saved his life and enabled him to come out of competitive bodybuilding with his health intact. (Minus the 2 bad knees)
I remember that!
He could have just held it off him like a deadlift, if he can't hold a weight like that then he doesn't have the capacity as a spotter. Same as when you see these flimsy kids spotting huge guys benching 500lbs - if they are not strong enough to physically take over the whole load should they have to, then they have no right to be spotting them. They assume all they will have to cover is the tiny amount of difference that the presser cannot manage in order to get the bar back up.
Agreed, completely wrong spot for that weight. Spotters best bet would've to recognize it's gone wrong and move into standing upright and place his hands to the center knurl either side of the lifters neck and attempting to lift it backwards off him, almost like a rack pull.
But I feel like this would've honestly been safer with no spotter instead of just one... At least then he could've slipped the hands and ditched it backwards, in my mind he probably stuck it and tried to front ditch as he knew he had someone behind him so didn't want to ditch backwards.
Folks underestimate how deadly a simple squat with a good amount of weight can be. Seen it over and over in competitions
It is such a shame to see someone die like that when it could have easily been prevented with just a little forethought.
Absolutely. Simple minute communication like "worse case, I'm dumping it behind so watch out"
Or like you stated, spotter on each side, or better yet....squatting inside an actual true power rack with the racks on to catch the weight. Very unfortunate and very easily preventable indeed. A buddy of mine who owns a gym has a mono-lift that I love for squats...cageless with maximum capacity cables (thick wide "seat belt " style material)that can support weight in case of dumping. Amazing and efficient machine for max efforts with users safety first in mind.
I have some of those - 'Suspension straps' they are known as. Made out of the same material trucks use to haul heavy pallets and things up with.
Yep, I have some I use at home, made by a company Spud, very strong "seat belt " material tested for 2,000lbs dropped from 5 ft supposedly
LOL Same here - the Green ones!!
One I have is yellow, but pretty sure works just the same lol