H
Harvey Balboner
Guest
Sorry if you fellas have seen this before, I found it interesting and thought some of you might like to read it.
Dead Man Talking
Lee Priest responds to the Dead Pool
by John Koenig
Source: t-mag
Here at Testosterone, we don't talk to many pro bodybuilders. We're not really fans of the "sport" and about the only time we hear from the pros is when we've pissed them off. Still, it's kind of hard to ignore them, especially when every other magazine on the market is filled with close up photos of their bulging torsos and smiling mugs. Plus there's always the element of morbid curiosity. How far can these guys push their bodies without becoming permanent roomies with Andreas Munzer and Jeep Swenson?
Being a bunch of sick bastards, we set up a little pool, a Dead Pool to be exact, that places odds on which pro is most likely to be "training with the angels" in the near future. Despite the fake names used by the author, it's pretty easy to spot Lee Priest in the lineup. Priest has made the pool for three years running, once coming in first place, the best he's done so far in a major competition.
It's no surprise that Lee wasn't too happy with that particular title. But instead of busting out his ass-whupping stool, standing on it and blacking every eye at T-mag, Lee was ballsy enough to do an interview with contributor John Koenig. Say what you will about pros, but at least Lee is open about what really goes on behind the scenes. For that, he deserves to be heard.
The Scene: Spring 2000, Arnold Classic Expo. Lee Priest has spotted me in my Testosterone T-shirt and press badge and starts walking toward me. He stops and immediately hits a big double biceps pose. Lee laughs and asks, "Not bad for a dead guy, don't ya think?"
Now there's an introduction! After talking for awhile about all manner of issues in the bodybuilding world, including the first Dead Pool article, he agrees to sit down for an interview. We keep talking about the interview but life gets in the way, including Lee's marriage early in July. The second Dead Pool article is published and this time Lee is upset. He doesn't think the anonymous author of the articles is fair, that Testosterone is hurting bodybuilding and pro bodybuilders by publishing the Dead Pool, and that much of the gossip/news in these articles is just plain incorrect.
His willingness to be open makes him an ideal candidate for a T-mag interview. Here's Lee Priest on a variety of topics.
T: Obviously, you're not too happy about the Dead Pool articles published here at T-mag. Go ahead and tell us what you really think.
Priest: This is the sort of press that gives bodybuilding a bad name. People are wondering now if we're all gonna die. How does the author of those articles know he's any healthier than me? Just because I eat junk food in the off season? Because I get a little bit overweight? My cholesterol has never been any higher than 116. At my heaviest weight (285 pounds) it was 113. The doctor couldn't believe it. My blood pressure is perfect. I have blood work done every couple of months.
Lots of that Dead Pool stuff is irritating. People say someone is going to die because of the gear he takes, but TC Luoma or anyone else could have a heart attack no matter how healthy they're eating. Look at Wayne DeMelia. He's had one kidney removed, but he didn't take any drugs. He probably used to sit there and say to himself, "Look at the amount of gear these guys take. Look what they do to themselves," but look at him. The Dead Pool writer can't point his finger and say just because this guy looks a certain way he's going to die. There are people at the gym who drink and smoke and have heart attacks in their mid-40s.
T: Are there any pros you think qualify for the Dead Pool?
Priest: Not really. In any sport, if you take it to the extreme, it's dangerous. Is there a Dead Pool for race car drivers, for example? They drive around 200 miles per hour; they could crash and burn, you know. Football players take drugs. They could get tackled the wrong way, hit their head on the ground, break their neck and die. If you're at the elite level of what you do, sure there are risks involved where you could die. You could get hit crossing the street; people go rock climbing and could fall off. Anything you do can be dangerous.
Marathon runners occasionally drop over dead. And even if I die of natural causes people will say, see, it's because of all the shit he's taken! And I'll probably be clean at the time! You can't win, no matter, in this sport. If we get sick or whatever, it's related to drugs, as far as other people are concerned.
T: You stand about 5'4". People say drugs stunted your growth. What's your response to that?
Priest: That's rubbish. I'm one of the tallest in my family. My mother's 5'3", my sister's 5'3", my father's probably 5'6", if that. My grandfather is 5'4" and my great grandfather was 5'4". I don't come from a family of six-foot people! I wasn't born that way.
T: Fair enough. Let's transition to other matters. You're one week into preparation for the Olympia and you told me the other day you lost sixteen pounds last week! How much did you weigh a week ago?
Priest: I think about 236.
T: So this is a different situation from your true off-season program when you get up into the heavier bodyweights?
Priest: What weight I get to depends upon how much time I have between contests. When I weighed 285, it was because I only did one show that year so I had the whole ten months to eat whatever I wanted. I don't necessarily try to see how heavy I can get.
T: But you obviously like to eat?
Priest: I just enjoy food! Life's too short to be on a diet your whole life. Eighty percent of the people you see on diets are always miserable.
T: Your approach has been called "old school."
Priest: Well, when it comes to dieting, when it comes to training, stick to the basics and you can't go wrong. Why try to mess up what's already been proven over and over?
T: I think you're one of the few top pros that really does get big in the off season nowadays.
Priest: I know, people say I'm going to get so heavy I'm going to die of a heart attack in the off season. Think about the old days, when all of them used to get heavy and put the extra weight on. But now, not many do it any more 'cause they always want to be near contest shape. They say, you eat all that food! You're so out of shape you're gonna die! Please. I've seen fat people who can run rings around people half their weight. Just because they're heavy doesn't mean they're out of shape. There are people who eat clean who are more unhealthy than some who are fat.
T: Do you think your routine, training and dieting this way, allows you to make gains without some of the different odd drugs others are using?
Priest: I've always read reports that said I've used insulin, for example. I've never used insulin. People think I have to, to put all that weight on. That's nonsense, I just eat a lot of food. I drink whole cream milk and eat a lot of dairy products. I retain a lot of fluid from that. In the off season I hardly take anything, other than something to keep my joints healthy. The majority of the time, six to seven months out of the year, I'm not on anything. Eat a lot, train hard. Every one of my best lifts have come when I've been off the stuff.
T: But you have to admit you have superior genetics. You seem to respond well to whatever you do to yourself.
Priest: I never had that "a little bit worked, so I'll take more" mentality. Each time I did a cycle, I stuck with small amounts that worked and it kept working. I know people here who are like, 3000 milligrams of this, four tablets of this, two more milligrams of this one… They end up taking six different drugs, so that ends up the very best cycle they've ever done. Then they think, well, I took this much last time, this time I've gotta take more. They keep doing more and more.
Dead Man Talking
Lee Priest responds to the Dead Pool
by John Koenig
Source: t-mag
Here at Testosterone, we don't talk to many pro bodybuilders. We're not really fans of the "sport" and about the only time we hear from the pros is when we've pissed them off. Still, it's kind of hard to ignore them, especially when every other magazine on the market is filled with close up photos of their bulging torsos and smiling mugs. Plus there's always the element of morbid curiosity. How far can these guys push their bodies without becoming permanent roomies with Andreas Munzer and Jeep Swenson?
Being a bunch of sick bastards, we set up a little pool, a Dead Pool to be exact, that places odds on which pro is most likely to be "training with the angels" in the near future. Despite the fake names used by the author, it's pretty easy to spot Lee Priest in the lineup. Priest has made the pool for three years running, once coming in first place, the best he's done so far in a major competition.
It's no surprise that Lee wasn't too happy with that particular title. But instead of busting out his ass-whupping stool, standing on it and blacking every eye at T-mag, Lee was ballsy enough to do an interview with contributor John Koenig. Say what you will about pros, but at least Lee is open about what really goes on behind the scenes. For that, he deserves to be heard.
The Scene: Spring 2000, Arnold Classic Expo. Lee Priest has spotted me in my Testosterone T-shirt and press badge and starts walking toward me. He stops and immediately hits a big double biceps pose. Lee laughs and asks, "Not bad for a dead guy, don't ya think?"
Now there's an introduction! After talking for awhile about all manner of issues in the bodybuilding world, including the first Dead Pool article, he agrees to sit down for an interview. We keep talking about the interview but life gets in the way, including Lee's marriage early in July. The second Dead Pool article is published and this time Lee is upset. He doesn't think the anonymous author of the articles is fair, that Testosterone is hurting bodybuilding and pro bodybuilders by publishing the Dead Pool, and that much of the gossip/news in these articles is just plain incorrect.
His willingness to be open makes him an ideal candidate for a T-mag interview. Here's Lee Priest on a variety of topics.
T: Obviously, you're not too happy about the Dead Pool articles published here at T-mag. Go ahead and tell us what you really think.
Priest: This is the sort of press that gives bodybuilding a bad name. People are wondering now if we're all gonna die. How does the author of those articles know he's any healthier than me? Just because I eat junk food in the off season? Because I get a little bit overweight? My cholesterol has never been any higher than 116. At my heaviest weight (285 pounds) it was 113. The doctor couldn't believe it. My blood pressure is perfect. I have blood work done every couple of months.
Lots of that Dead Pool stuff is irritating. People say someone is going to die because of the gear he takes, but TC Luoma or anyone else could have a heart attack no matter how healthy they're eating. Look at Wayne DeMelia. He's had one kidney removed, but he didn't take any drugs. He probably used to sit there and say to himself, "Look at the amount of gear these guys take. Look what they do to themselves," but look at him. The Dead Pool writer can't point his finger and say just because this guy looks a certain way he's going to die. There are people at the gym who drink and smoke and have heart attacks in their mid-40s.
T: Are there any pros you think qualify for the Dead Pool?
Priest: Not really. In any sport, if you take it to the extreme, it's dangerous. Is there a Dead Pool for race car drivers, for example? They drive around 200 miles per hour; they could crash and burn, you know. Football players take drugs. They could get tackled the wrong way, hit their head on the ground, break their neck and die. If you're at the elite level of what you do, sure there are risks involved where you could die. You could get hit crossing the street; people go rock climbing and could fall off. Anything you do can be dangerous.
Marathon runners occasionally drop over dead. And even if I die of natural causes people will say, see, it's because of all the shit he's taken! And I'll probably be clean at the time! You can't win, no matter, in this sport. If we get sick or whatever, it's related to drugs, as far as other people are concerned.
T: You stand about 5'4". People say drugs stunted your growth. What's your response to that?
Priest: That's rubbish. I'm one of the tallest in my family. My mother's 5'3", my sister's 5'3", my father's probably 5'6", if that. My grandfather is 5'4" and my great grandfather was 5'4". I don't come from a family of six-foot people! I wasn't born that way.
T: Fair enough. Let's transition to other matters. You're one week into preparation for the Olympia and you told me the other day you lost sixteen pounds last week! How much did you weigh a week ago?
Priest: I think about 236.
T: So this is a different situation from your true off-season program when you get up into the heavier bodyweights?
Priest: What weight I get to depends upon how much time I have between contests. When I weighed 285, it was because I only did one show that year so I had the whole ten months to eat whatever I wanted. I don't necessarily try to see how heavy I can get.
T: But you obviously like to eat?
Priest: I just enjoy food! Life's too short to be on a diet your whole life. Eighty percent of the people you see on diets are always miserable.
T: Your approach has been called "old school."
Priest: Well, when it comes to dieting, when it comes to training, stick to the basics and you can't go wrong. Why try to mess up what's already been proven over and over?
T: I think you're one of the few top pros that really does get big in the off season nowadays.
Priest: I know, people say I'm going to get so heavy I'm going to die of a heart attack in the off season. Think about the old days, when all of them used to get heavy and put the extra weight on. But now, not many do it any more 'cause they always want to be near contest shape. They say, you eat all that food! You're so out of shape you're gonna die! Please. I've seen fat people who can run rings around people half their weight. Just because they're heavy doesn't mean they're out of shape. There are people who eat clean who are more unhealthy than some who are fat.
T: Do you think your routine, training and dieting this way, allows you to make gains without some of the different odd drugs others are using?
Priest: I've always read reports that said I've used insulin, for example. I've never used insulin. People think I have to, to put all that weight on. That's nonsense, I just eat a lot of food. I drink whole cream milk and eat a lot of dairy products. I retain a lot of fluid from that. In the off season I hardly take anything, other than something to keep my joints healthy. The majority of the time, six to seven months out of the year, I'm not on anything. Eat a lot, train hard. Every one of my best lifts have come when I've been off the stuff.
T: But you have to admit you have superior genetics. You seem to respond well to whatever you do to yourself.
Priest: I never had that "a little bit worked, so I'll take more" mentality. Each time I did a cycle, I stuck with small amounts that worked and it kept working. I know people here who are like, 3000 milligrams of this, four tablets of this, two more milligrams of this one… They end up taking six different drugs, so that ends up the very best cycle they've ever done. Then they think, well, I took this much last time, this time I've gotta take more. They keep doing more and more.