by Christian Duque
Once I first learn the information that Hayley had handed away I simply couldn’t imagine it. I couldn’t carry myself to the conclusion that we had misplaced one more younger bodybuilding star. Though there weren’t quite a lot of particulars supplied concerning her reason for demise, one at all times assumes. As a author on this sport I strive to not at all times go to the subject of efficiency enhancing medicine. In spite of everything, she had left the game years in the past and who’s to say that her passing didn’t have something to do with these highly effective substances? I imply it may have been a pre-existing situation, it may have been one thing associated to her weight loss program, or it may have been stress and nervousness. It may have been something.
The household stated that the demise was sudden, sudden, however that she didn’t endure. That actually doesn’t inform us something. And possibly it’s not our enterprise to know, both. Palumbo was beneath the impression they’d in all probability do an post-mortem, however who is aware of in the event that they did that. The fact of the matter is that Hayley is not with us and we have to present her and her household the respect they deserve by honoring her reminiscence and never asking too many questions. On the similar time I’m a journalist and as a journalist I’ve an inquisitive thoughts. I do know that it’s in all probability not proper to ask, however I additionally know that that’s how I’m wired. I additionally know that it’s not quite common in any respect for a girl of 37 years of age to pasd out of the blue from an unexplained cause.
What I’ll say although is that after I learn the information it shook me to my core as a result of I knew a fantastic deal about her and I actually cherished her profession. Particularly as a result of on the time she was most energetic with RX, I used to be additionally energetic with RX and so I used to be capable of see her development as a fan.
This was again within the days of Myspace and Fb. I don’t suppose social media was actually a factor again then as we all know it right now. TikTok didn’t exist and Instagram was model new. Additionally I really feel like individuals didn’t go to their telephones fairly as a lot as they do right now. The magazines had been nonetheless round despite the fact that they had been possibly rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic by that time. However one factor that was very energetic was the message boards. I imply they had been the speak of the city and also you had some very savvy bodybuilding followers on there 24/7 speaking about all types of subjects. The boards had been very sort to Hayley due to the truth that she was such a younger competitor with a fantastic head on her shoulders.
In spite of everything she was a pupil on the College of Massachusetts Amherst with a psychology main. She understood lecturers and he or she was additionally a really scholarly nutritionist within the making. Not like many rivals that simply took handfuls of dietary supplements, McNeff had an actual data of the intricacies of weight loss program, vitamin, and supplementation. She additionally had a knack for coaching and posing. Many individuals thought she was a pure. When she took the stage individuals simply stopped what they had been doing to take a look at her pose. And that’s not solely a results of her constructing a fantastic physique, fairly, her skills to showcase that physique, how she transitioned from pose to pose and the way she held poses strategically for the photographers and the viewers. That’s not simply bodybuilding – it was leisure.
However I believe what most individuals will bear in mind her most for had been these Elevating The Bar (RTB) movies. She was on a number of of them and I believe that between her romance with Dave Pulcinella, her trials and tribulations as a competitor, and likewise a have a look at the precise struggling that rivals must endure behind the scenes, that basically gave us all an concept of what it was prefer to stay a day within the lifetime of Hayley McNeff. In reality, it was on the Universe the place a type of RTB collection chronicled her arduous street to the stage. And it wasn’t a street traveled over the course of many weeks, nevertheless it was the street traveled over the course of minutes and hours earlier than she went on stage. It was a few of the most sincere situations of reporting I’ve ever seen. It confirmed a competitor struggling merely with getting away from bed. And it was a narrative that didn’t sanitize what was occurring. They had been very clear about the truth that Hayley could have overdosed on highly effective diuretics and was having signs that will in any other case have prompted anybody outdoors of this trade to have referred to as an ambulance. Whereas most individuals would wish to get checked right into a hospital, she was adamant about making her approach to the stage. That’s why I name it the street to the stage and one of the crucial sincere takes of that street through the ultimate moments that I’ve ever seen. Even with Instagram, Tiktok, even with the entire improvements that we have now by way of social media, I’ve by no means seen a take fairly as blunt as that one. I imply within the video she appears like she’s one step away from demise, however she is not going to surrender.
One of many traditional strains from that chaotic Universe was “simply suck it up.” I imply give it some thought. There she was on the snapping point and he or she was being advised to simply suck it up and preserve going. It’s one factor to suck it up if you happen to’re working out of fuel on the fitness center for one final rep or possibly you possibly can’t eat anymore however you’ve acquired to shovel in a couple of extra spoonfuls of hen breast and rice, however when you possibly can barely get up and whenever you’re on the verge of collapsing, and also you’re advised to suck it up, that’s the place bodybuilding takes a flip for the worst as a result of the individual telling you to suck it up means it. In case you faint, you faint. In case you throw up, you throw up, there is no such thing as a empathy there. You are able to do the present or you possibly can go to the hospital. There isn’t a in between. There isn’t a hand-holding, there is no such thing as a coddling. That may occur in basketball or hockey or soccer, however there’s no room for that in bodybuilding.
And Hayley didn’t surrender, however that present may need been what drove her away from the game. What different sport are you able to level to the place a competitor comes that near demise but doesn’t surrender? Furthermore, what sport affords so little however expects a lot? I don’t suppose any soccer participant or basketball participant or baseball participant would endure that degree of struggling to win a sport and even to win a nationwide title. They could say so for no matter product they’re peddling available on the market however to really go the gap and again up that speak with motion? No manner. Bodybuilders are simply reduce from a unique thread. And that’s not at all times a very good factor. The truth that life is so trivial {that a} competitor that’s college-educated and has a tremendously excessive IQ is sacrificing themselves like that’s irrational. However let it’s irrational. It’s a signal of self-discipline and dedication and he or she undoubtedly had all of that. That’s why the bodybuilding trade took discover.
It was due to that tough work that she landed issues like RX or the Iron Maiden’s position. Now granted Iron Maidens was bodybuilding’s tackle MTV’s The Actual World and it in all probability didn’t do very a lot for her profession, however the truth that she was a part of it, alongside the star-studded solid that had been featured on the pilot, means that Hayley was undoubtedly doing one thing proper.
I don’t know if that Universe is what drove her away or possibly it was her pursuit of graduate research in psychology that possibly took an excessive amount of time for her to proceed her bodybuilding journey as a competitor. However there’s no query that she cherished the game and he or she cherished all the pieces about it. Kicking it again to RTB, there may be one line that has caught with me for years. I didn’t understand it till now as a result of I needed to rewatch a number of of the movies to jot down this text however I at all times thought another person stated it, I simply now realized that it was Hayley all alongside. “The search for getting enormous won’t ever finish.” How true is that? What number of rivals stay by that? How many individuals go into the fitness center with that very intention. Irrespective of how a lot you eat, irrespective of how a lot you raise, irrespective of what number of dietary supplements you’re taking, each athlete desires to get greater. It’s this fixed chase. Everyone desires the dimensions and the freakiness. You don’t even must be a competitor to need it both. You simply must be hooked on the muscle and hooked on the muscle and hooked on the muscle. It’s simply one thing that I can’t clarify. Even me, who has by no means performed a bodybuilding present who has by no means been shredded just like the individuals you see within the magazines, in my head I at all times wish to get greater. I need greater lifts and greater arms. There have been so many documentaries about this and so many articles written. and I believe Hayley hit the nail on the top. It’s all about measurement and extra measurement and extra measurement!!
As I stated earlier, who is aware of why Hayley handed away, on the finish of the day she’s not with us and that may be a very, very unhappy actuality. In hindsight, I want I’d have recognized extra about her and what she did together with her life after bodybuilding, however individuals have a proper to a life after the game. Not everyone sticks round for good. Some individuals will get married and have households, different individuals pursue their careers, some individuals simply disappear as a result of they wish to disappear, and that’s okay. The one factor I can say, although, is that Hayley made a mark on this sport and her reminiscence will stay on.
As at all times, thanks for studying my article, right here, at IronMag. I stay up for studying your suggestions within the feedback. If in case you have any fond reminiscences of Hayley, I believe it might be nice so that you can put these in a publish and embody a hyperlink to this text. She was a fantastic competitor and a fantastic bodybuilder. She will probably be missed and everybody, right here, at IronMag sends condolences to her household, buddies, and followers.