Einar Méndez, an internationally recognized bodybuilder and celebrity trainer, died Friday in Mexico City after suffering a sudden heart attack during a workout, according to his wife, Yan.
“We are all still in shock. He left suddenly, at the gym, doing what he loved most: working out,” Yan said in the video.
She also shared a tribute in the caption of the video tribute to her late husband. “Rest in peace, love of my life. Fly high, and I promise we will meet again,” she wrote.
In her video, Yan described her husband’s character. “He was strong, resilient, kind,” she said in Spanish. “Everyone who knew him knows exactly who Einar Méndez was,” she added.
Méndez had described himself as a national and international bodybuilding champion. He had built a following of nearly 47,000 on social media as a fitness influencer.
Celebrity Client Pays Tribute
Among Méndez’s clients was Martha Debayle, a Nicaraguan television host based in Mexico. Debayle said Méndez had collapsed, though no official cause of death has been released.
She further reflected on the grief facing Méndez’s family. “To think about Yan and his daughters’ pain, breaks my heart,” she said. “Because no matter how much you try to find an explanation for them, there are things that just don’t have it,” she added.
Debayle further credited Méndez with motivating a wide circle of clients through a program called “Sumer Body.”
“Einar was my coach, but he was also the coach of so many of you in ‘Sumer Body,’ and I know that it meant to so many. I know how much they wanted it, how much he pushed them, how much he made them deny, laugh, strike and discover that they could always be a little more,” she said.
