Pumping idiocy ... the short life and strange death of Zyzz

YOU MIRIN BRAH?

It might just have been one of the most beautiful bodies ever laid out on a Bangkok mortuary slab. At least on the surface. Underneath the perma-tanned skin, stretched taut over bulging muscles, was a 22-year-old heart that exploded, or simply gave out, and a system most likely ravaged by a toxic cocktail of steroids, testosterone and growth hormones.

'Bodybuilder found dead in Bangkok sauna' blared the headlines. The bodybuilder was Aziz 'Zyzz' Sergeyevich Shavershian, an exotic looking fellow of Armenian, Kurdish and Persian heritage, born in Moscow, resident of Sydney's suburb of Eastwood and bronzed habitue of Bondi beach. He was in Thailand for a month-long holiday, where he had planned to spend his time getting shredded in the gym, strutting shirtless in the streets and getting off his nut in techno clubs where he could go hog wild with his bizarre fist-pumping, grind-and-bump dance moves. He expired last Friday evening, slumped in an as-yet-unnamed sauna. Dead on arrival at Camillian Hospital in the beating heart of trendy Soi Thong Lor.

Zyzz was the typical skinny wimp of a thousand Charles Atlas ads, who, tired of getting sand kicked in his face, decided to get big. Notes Zyzz: 'Throughout high school, I was ridiculously thin, I'm talking the skinniest guy in my grade in school; people always commented on how skinny I was and I hated it. I remember feeling like a little bitch when I was out with girls, walking next to them and feeling the same size as them.'

CHESTBRAH PUMPS
 'BLUE STEEL'

The death of Zyzz has left his brother and fellow bodybuilder, Said Shavershian, bereft. 'I miss you sooo much my baby brother. I can't live without you comeback please. Don't do this to me,' said sad Said. Said, better known as - and I'm not making this up - Chestbrah, was another pumped up Adonis. The pair, and their coterie of acolytes and imitators, were a new breed of bodybuilder who eschewed competition to pursue pure admiration via social media (Zyzz's Facebook page has 72,314 likes), viral videos and sheer persistent ubiquity at beaches, rave parties and anywhere else that offered an excuse to go shirtless. 'Aesthetics', they dubbed it. It was all about getting shredded. Ripped. And to inspire 'jelly' (jealous) followers into frothing bouts of 'mirin' (admiring). It wasn't about getting roid monster huge. At least, not at first.



But the last Facebook posts of Zyzz and the recent arrest of Chestbrah for steroid possession tell another story. Chestbrah was fined A$4,000 in Parramatta Local Court for possession of anabolic steroids, along with three members of a biker gang, and looks set to lose his job as a personal trainer at Fitness First. Zyzz, meantime, was on a mission. His last Facebook posts chart his looming demise. In between links to trance and techno tracks introduced with his trademark 'fuaaaaaark', he writes on July 13: 'Off to Thailand for a month this weekend, any traveller tips so I don't get raped by ladyboys are appreciated.' ('No homo' was another of their war cries, despite their high camp, oiled-up pouting and posturing).

CHESTBRAH: NO HOMO

On July 17: 'Walked around Bangkok all day with no shirt and muay thai shirts (sic) = thai girls mirin brah. BRB massage.' On July 31, after being sent a link to a story about him in a Sydney newspaper, which details his brother's drug bust and suggests Zyzz is also into steroids, he notes: 'Second page of australias biggest newspaper. hahahaha. mainstream zyzz is mainstream. They clearly mirin.' A post on August 2 hints at a darker path: 'one year ago, and 10kgs lighter. 100kg now (90kg here) this size is the sweet spot for girls but fuck that, arnold status here I come.' Arnold Schwarzenegger was his all time hero. There is pathos and a hint of obituary in his final post on August 4, where in a shill for his own brand of protein shake, Protein of the Gods, he notes: 'Tasted like the heavens fuaaaaaaaark.'

ZYZZ & NARCISSUS:
NO HOMO TOO

The other chief activity in the lives of Zyzz, Chestbrah and fellow aesthete Narcissus was 'trolling', similar to the annoying internet pursuit but apparently carried over into real life. Check out their puerile, self-obsessed exploits here (Zyzz): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YsGJz3j4os here (Chestbrah): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74C-Vb4WLrU and here (Narcissus): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px3CnxxGDJ8&feature=related Indeed, amongst the 'mirers' of Zyzz, his death is still suspected of being the ultimate troll. The Bangkok Medical Examiner thought otherwise, confirming a massive heart attack, although thus far no autopsy report has been released to reveal what might have been circulating through Zyzz's stretched network of veins.

SHREDDED BRAH

His parents believe a recently revealed 'congenital heart condition' was to blame. A close friend thought otherwise. New Zealand mate Tim Sharky said he had urged Zyzz to slow down. 'This is a warning for any of you boys coming to Thailand. Thailand is a country with it all … girls, steroids, growth hormone, it's all here and it's cheap. I spoke to him the other day and he looked like a kid in a candy shop.'

With their peacock preening and strutting and flexing and pumping, Zyzz, Chestbrah and Narcissus represent an Australia I scarcely recognize. Their bizarre lexicon and idiot savant social media savvy is as fascinating as it is repulsive. But their admiration of mythology and ancient gods should have warned them of the perils of hubris. Mirin? No, just sucked into the mire.