"Working out almost cost me my life," says Petr Gajda in his life story!

Hi, I would like to start by saying hello to all fitness and bodybuilding fans. My name is Petr Gajda, I'm from Ostrava and I'm 40 years old. I would like to share with you my life story. I have been working out for almost 20 years. It has become my hobby and mainly a lifestyle, a way to relax after work when I am in a bad mood, etc. I have never had racing ambitions, although in the back of my mind the last year I was thinking I might try it in my old age. But my main goal was that I started to enjoy pushing my limits and pushing my boundaries, which unfortunately was a hit or miss, but became fatal and almost cost me my life.

On October 2, 2022, my girlfriend and I went to the fitness center to work out as usual. That day it was my legs' turn. After a couple of exercises came the heavy squats, which made me feel really sick and nauseous, I tried to break it up, to breathe, but nothing helped, so we stopped the workout and went home in the middle of the workout. At home I immediately threw up about 3 times, calmed down and went to eat. I went to bed for an hour and then woke up feeling like vomiting again, so I went to the toilet again to get it out of me, but by then only blood was coming out of my mouth, suddenly something burst (lung), the blow was like you broke your right leg and I collapsed on the floor where I couldn't breathe anymore and only made clawing noises.

My friend immediately called the ambulance, they put me into artificial sleep after a few minutes of severe pain, took me away and I went straight from the ambulance to the operating room. On the way and in the operating room my heart shut down 3 times so they had to resuscitate me 3 times, which luckily they did. After 7 long hours in the OR, they had to shut me down so my body could make it. I was given about 2.5L of blood, luckily they were able to somehow get me back to normal.

My friend was told by the team of doctors that they gave me no chance of survival, that my condition was very critical, that the following hours and days would be crucial, with the revelation that my oesophagus was the first to rupture and this had the effect of spreading the food I had eaten before the collapse everywhere in my body between the organs, therefore there was a high risk of infection. The second consequence was that my lung burst. As quickly as they tried to save me in the operating theatre, when they opened me up they unfortunately damaged my spleen, they tried to save it with stitches, unfortunately due to the large bleeding that could not be stopped they then had to remove my spleen.

After being sewn up with 250 stitches (60 external stitches, 190 internal stitches), I was taken to the ARO unit where I was kept in artificial sleep and put on full pulmonary ventilation and other machines to keep my vital signs complete. From artificial sleep, they tried to wake me up after 3 days, where another complication occurred, and that was that I subsequently unknowingly, in shock, ripped out all the tubes and wires that kept me alive, including the tube that was inserted into my esophagus to hold its shape after stapling, and thanks to it, the machine breathed for me. It was therefore necessary to sedate me and put me back to sleep. Thus, another complication was that when I pulled the hose out of my oesophagus, no one could tell if I had re-injured my oesophagus and was told that there was no way of knowing and it would be a matter of further days whether there would be internal bleeding. Despite the bad, there was one positive and that was that after the hose was removed, I adapted and taught myself to breathe without machines. Next, I was left to my fate.

The next day, fortunately, I woke up even though my condition was still critical. After a few days, my condition stabilized and further treatment could follow. After a few more days, further examinations followed and I was gradually weaned off the various machines, and after 12 days I was given my first drink and a liquid diet. For two days I learned to stand on my feet and walk. Surprisingly to all the doctors, I was recovering so quickly that I was able to be transferred to home care after 14 days. The team of doctors testified that they had never seen this happen to anyone in their lives, that it does happen, but only in severe car accidents where lungs burst on impact and people die instantly as a result.

I was told that the main cause was that I had got down to a dangerously low percentage of fat, which at the time of my diet was 2.7%, so the organs were not protected by anything, and with a lot of pressure, holding my breath in the bottom phase of the squat, it put so much pressure on the oesophagus that it couldn't take it anymore and burst. The doctors also said that it was a stroke of luck, my body and I were in such good shape despite what happened that, thanks to that, I survived. Unfortunately, I carry the consequences permanently, a removed spleen, a stitched lung, a stitched esophagus, a non-opening left heart valve, a potential major threat for esophageal cancer, and more. Plus a ban, from going back to exercise, lifting anything, whether at work or in everyday life.

Before all this happened to me, I used to get up for work at 3:00 am, 6 days a week, from 4:00 am to 1:00 pm, I worked as a welder. Then I went straight to the gym, where I did 5 workouts a week. On my days off, I tried to intersperse cycling, where we rode maybe 30-60 kilometers a day. In addition to that I kept a strict diet of 50-100g of sacharech, 300g of protein and 70g of fat per day. I kept this diet for almost 5 months where I got down to the aforementioned 2.7% body fat. The worst part was that I felt in great shape and condition. I wasn't even heeding the body's warning signs, where I was retaining 3x more water than normal and the body seemed to be trying to defend itself with this. I didn't admit it and I ignored the fatigue syndrome, I just went about my business and went for even better results every day. It was a big mistake!

This life event, although it took a lot from me, also gave me a lot. It gave me a lot of space to think about the future, what I did wrong, what I need and can change, improve, do differently etc.. After less than half a year since my near fatal injury in the gym, I decided to make my now natural return to exercise and my fit lifestyle, which I can't be without and can't imagine after about 20 years that I would just give it all up. I had to completely overhaul my life and lifestyle now. Adapt everything to my current capabilities. I would like to monitor you from now on and show you that everything can be done carefully with reason, discretion and in a healthy way. I hope and believe that everyone can find in my life story their own, both inspiration and what to avoid and that nothing should be overdone...now I know it too and I will follow it.

If anyone is interested in following my return to fitness or has any questions, I'll be happy to answer and help with whatever I can. Just contact me on Facebook or Instagram, under the name Petr_pipo_Gajda