Jo Lindner, a YouTube training star known as Joesthetics, died Friday of an aneurysm. He was 30 and his death was confirmed by friends.
The German fitness influencer had 8.5 million Instagram followers, and his videos had almost 500 million views on his YouTube channel.
Lindner’s last post on social media talked about his fitness levels after taking a year off of intensive bodybuilding.
Earlier in June, in an interview for an episode of fellow YouTuber Bradley Martyn’s “Raw Talk,” he revealed he had a condition known as rippling muscle disease. That causes muscles to be overly sensitive to movement or pressure. “Technically, it’s a cramp,” he told Martyn.
Paying tribute on Instagram, his girlfriend, identified only as Nicha, said she was with him when he fell ill.
“He was in my arms… than this is just happening too fast,” she wrote. She claimed he suffered neck pain in the days before his death.
She asked fans to “please remember him as Joesthetics”.