I’ve always liked celebrity trainer Bob Harper, 51(!), and found him both personable and practical with his health and fitness advice. He seems to truly care about the clients he helps on his shows and he’s one of the more reasonable fitness personalities. Also, he’s incredibly fit so that’s why it was a huge surprise to hear that he’d suffered a heart attack two weeks ago. It’s not like he eats poorly and works it all off either, at least going by the diet advice he gives. So his heart attack seems to have been mostly due to genetic factors, which is scary. Anyway TMZ had the news about Harper’s heart attack. He was working out at the gym when he suffered cardiac arrest and had to be given CPR and transported to the hospital. He was unconscious for two days and had to stay in the hospital for eight:
Harper tells us he was working out in a NYC gym 2 weeks ago when he collapsed. A doctor who was also working out administered CPR and used paddles to keep Bob alive.
The 51-year-old was taken to the hospital and says he woke up 2 days later. He was hospitalized for 8 days and is still in NYC — he lives in L.A. — because his doctors have not cleared him to fly.
He’s doing a lot better and his exercise for the time being is limited to walking.
Bob — a fitness nut — says the heart attack is all genetics. His mom died from a heart attack.
That’s so scary, right? I hate when people say “why bother we’re all going to die anyway” because being fit saves a lot of lives and prevents so many health problems, but then you hear stories like this. It would probably have been much worse for him if he wasn’t in such excellent physical health.
The good news is that Bob is home now, he’s with his family and dog, and he recently posted a shirtless photo to show the monitors he has to wear to keep track of his heart. I feel bad for ogling a sick guy but look at him, damn. He says he feels like a robot from Westworld when he’s wearing his monitors and I’ll say that he looks like one too.
And here’s an earlier photo he posted with his dog, Karl. He wrote that his friends and family have been taking care of him.
E! has some quotes from a source close to Bob about his health scare. Their source says “There were some warning signs in the months before this happened. He wasn’t feeling his best, but he didn’t think there was anything to be concerned about. He has never suffered from high blood pressure and didn’t think he was at risk.” In the future Bob will be more guarded about his health. “Of course he has nothing to be ashamed of, but it has definitely led him to reevaluate things and try to better understand how this happened. Luckily, he is going to make a full recovery but obviously it is forcing Bob to make some important decisions about his future.”
Can you imagine being so health-conscious that it’s your job and still having a heart attack? It’s like you did everything right and still got screwed. We’re so glad you’re ok Bob and hope to see you training again soon. Take it easy and get well soon.
photos credit: WENN and FameFlynet
Genetics are the worst. You’d be amazed at how much a few nucleotide rearrangements can screw everything up.
…yet this show condescends to overweight people and claims “genetics” couldn’t possibly be to blame for their body type, while also guaranteeing that their weight is the reason they’re at risk of a heart attack.
When fat people have heart attacks, “genetics” is never an acceptable excuse. The irony here is so thick. I’m sorry he is suffering and glad he survived, but it’s difficult to see media shock over a sudden, genetic heart attack, because there’s the implication that others, who aren’t as fit, are probably to blame for heart attacks that may also be completely genetic.
The difference is that science has discovered the genes that leave one susceptible to an increased risk of heart disease – they haven’t found any “fat” gene. While genetics can account for the slight variations in metabolism and frame that can cause some people to be larger than others, the Biggest Loser is not about those people – everybody on the show is morbidly obese. And no, there is not a gene that can account for THAT level of fatness. Those people are that way because they eat too much and move too little (a small minority of overweight people suffer from legitimate disorders or metabolic damage that impairs weight loss, but they are a slim minority).
And nobody is saying that fat people cannot have genetic vulnerability to heart disease – but its science denial to argue that fat does not play a very substantial role in the process. And IF a person is genetically pre-disposed to heart disease, allowing oneself to become overweight is among the absolute worst things they can do in terms of prevention.
unfortunately this shows experimental approach actually led to many contestants ending up with a broken metabolism:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html?_r=0
This guy looks amazing but sometimes health nuts go too far to achieve results such as supplements which might be touted one week and pulled from the markets the next. not that it’s necessarily anything like that, just to say ‘over-healthing’ is real.
I used to lean towards ‘unhealthy healthing’ in much of my twenties. Now I check things with my doctor to account for my bias…
Dr. Esselstyn who was a cardiac surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and now spends most of his time researching reversing heart disease said is best “genetics loads the gun, but diet pulls the trigger” You cannot exercise your way out of eating too much fatting foods and cholesterol. But genetics also doesn’t mean you are doomed.
He got dealt a bad genetics card, that’s for sure, but holy moly he sure got dealt a “he’s hot” card. I had no idea who he was until the heart attack, but that is one good looking 51 year old man.
ETA: And it’s good to see he’s bouncing back.
I honestly had no idea he was 51…I didn’t even realize he was close to fifty to be honest.
I’ve liked him ever since he came out as gay on TV to help the young BL contestant who was also gay and worried his dad would disown him when he found out.
I know a few people like this, all seem to be men too. Super health conscience, eat well ALL THE TIME, work out, constantly on top of their health & gentetics still kick them in the ass. I am glad Bob is ok. He was always the likeable trainer off that weight loss show. Seemed to really care about people.
His diet was far from heart healthy. He was on Rachel Ray end of last year saying he eats a macro/paleo diet 3 eggs every day for breakfast, meat at every meal. Coconut oil. I really like him and glad he is on the mend, but he needs to look at his diet and realize you cannot exercise your way out of bad food choices.
Reminds me of the serious runner Jim Fix from years ago who collapsed while running.
This is freaking scary, he’s the picture of health and still dropped dead in a gym, thank goodness that doctor was there to do CPR! 51 is so young, I wonder what age his mother was when she passed. Thankfully he’s ok, I wonder what type of changes he could even make to prevent this in the future?
51!!?? Woaw.. he’s so handsome. I’m glad he’s okay
I’m glad he’s recovering. That must have been one hell of a heart attack to have rendered him unconscious for two days. Genetics play such a huge factor in terms of risk. If he hadn’t been as healthy as he is, he probably would not have survived.
He’s also really lucky there was a doctor there to help him.
I love bob Harper and was also shocked to hear this news. I think his being in such great shape may have kept him from waking up an invalid. But it’s still scary that genetics play such a role despite being the picture of perfect health.
This is why I just eat the cheeseburgers anyway.
Me too! And I don’t believe in “punishing” exercise. (But I’m glad he’s okay.)
I guess I don’t agree with our cultural message of “you did this to yourself! Why didn’t you eat less cheeseburgers and exercise harder?!!”
They have been trying to figure out if being overweight or what food causes heart attacks for years and they haven’t found anything. I think overweight people actually have something called the “obesity paradox” – they are more likely to survive a heart attack than thin people? Scientists thought they would die more often, but they didn’t – hence the paradox.
I also read there are some scientists who think heart attacks may be caused by an infection in the heart, just like some ulcers can be caused by a bacterial infection in the stomach. Will be cool to see what science comes up with.
Anyway I think the attitude of enjoying food you eat and managing stress is always healthy. 🙂
Love Bob. Wishing him a full recovery!
I wish him a quick recovery. It’s so scary that it can happen to somebody so fit. (and 51? Daaammmn)
An aside – when you sign up for a gym/fitness studio/whatever, ask if all the employees are CPR-certified. More and more of them are requiring it precisely because of situations like this – people can collapse from cardiac events. Bob is so lucky that somebody was close by to start CPR – it might have saved him. You should make sure that if it were to happen to you, somebody there could help you.
I’m not shocked.
Many of you are probably too young to remember Jim Fixx.
He was the guy who started the jogging/running/marathon craze back in the ’70s and he died from heart disease at 52.
My dad died at 52 from a fall on the job but he was lean and fit and hard working and he had chronic leukemia probably from exposure to asbestos but his older brother died from a heart attack at 50 and his father died at 60 from a heart attack.
I don’t know.
I work out and I eat pretty well and I have low blood pressure but sometimes you do think genetics are gunning for you.
I agree nancypants. :/ I think none of us want to accept our health is not entirely in our control, bcause we all have anxiety about health and dying.
I found Latin (french, spanish, Italian) people to be much more accepting that sometimes god rolls the dice and that’s all she wrote so enjoy every day as much as you can – eat 3 meals, have a little alcohol at dinner, everything in moderation – above all moderation (heard that one in france quite a bit)! though I am sure that attitude is changing with globalization.
Living those places helped me be like that too, and it is hard to come back to low fat, low carb,6- 7 days a week workouts in the US.
I have a theory…many times when men are just starting their fitness careers a lot of them succumb to the pressure to use questionable substances for at least a short time. Any of these steroid based supplements will increase your risk of heart attack so I wonder if maybe in his early days he used them even a short time? Maybe not, but you never know!
Also he certainly could be the poster boy for “if you want to look young, work out”. I was stunned to read he’s in his 50’s!!
Bob has always seemed like a thoroughly good egg.
He looks so sexy in those glasses.
That is awful! Oh my goodness this freaks me out more than I can put into words…
I am very happy that he’s recovering & finding out what to do from here, though.