Lee Priest – The Blonde Myth

The People’s Champion

Flex magazine did an extensive reader survey a few years back to determine who the ten greatest bodybuilders of the Twentieth Century were. Arnold was number one, as you might expect, and the top Dorian Yates, Lee Haney, Shawn Ray, and Ronnie Coleman rounded out the top five. At number six was Lee Priest, who many have called ‘The People’s Champion,’ despite the fact that he has never won an Olympia and most likely, never will. Lee’s popularity doesn’t stem from contests he’s won or titles he has held. Instead, it’s a combination of a freaky, thick physique, a rebellious attitude and a refusal to fall in line and bow down to the powers that be, and a refreshing honesty and lack of ego. Lee just may be the greatest short bodybuilder ever, joining a distinguished list from the past that includes the late Momo Benaziza, 2-time Mr. Olympia Franco Columbu, Danny “the Giant Killer” Padilla, and Mohammed Makkewy. When it comes to arms, Lee is also arguably the best ever. At 5-4 and a contest weight that is anywhere from 200 to 225 pounds, Priest has guns that tape out at 22 inches in shape, and as large as 24 inches at his heaviest off-season weight a few years back – a staggering 285 pounds. Lee has always been one to speak his mind on a variety of subjects, and this has earned him fines, suspensions, and more than a few questionable placings in contests. His insistence on being who he is without apology or compromise has made Lee Priest one of the most respected men in the sport, even though it’s also earned him a reputation as a ‘troublemaker’ among many judges and officials. His ‘rebel’ persona has only grown in recent years as he has taken up drag racing and had a succession of tattoos inked on to his heavily muscled physique. In looking back at the early years, it’s clear that Lee Priest was destined to be larger than life.

Superboy from Australia

Lee Andrew McCutcheon was born on July 6, 1972 in Newcastle, about 100 miles away from the Australian capital city of Sydney. He was a big baby, weighing nine pounds when he entered the world, and soon outgrew Kellie, his elder sister by two years. “He was carrying her around by the time he was a toddler,” Lee’s mother remembers. “Lee would try and pick up just about anything he could, actually. He would pick up his bike and lift it over his head instead of riding it – with one hand, mind you.” The first action hero little Lee identified with was Tarzan, but soon he found a superhero that was more powerful than all the rest – Superman. “He had his little Superman costume and cape that I made for him, and he would jump off just about anything he could and pretend he was flying. It’s a wonder he never got seriously injured.” Lee remained faithful to the Man of Steel, eventually getting the Superman logo tattooed on his shoulder, and amassing a huge collection of Superman memorabilia that includes comics, action figures, original artwork, and more.

Lee’s own transformation into something more than human began at age thirteen, when his grandfather, a former Army wrestler, enrolled him in gymnastics. Already naturally muscular, Lee noticed some weights off in a corner of the school and soon became far more interested in those than the pommel horse or parallel bars. By now his mother had divorced and remarried, and Lee had taken his stepfather’s last name of Priest. It was a sore issue that kept him estranged from his father for nearly two decades. The family knew a local powerlifter who took Lee under his wing and taught him all about heavy, basic weight lifting. “To this day, it’s why I still make free weights the basis of all my training more so than machines and cables,” Lee says.

Before he had even turned fourteen, Lee entered and won his first contest, and won two more that first year of competing. Though he was by nature shy and introverted, Lee somehow felt at home up on stage flexing for the cheering crowd. His body responded to training at an incredibly accelerated rate, and by age seventeen he had won his first Mr. Australia title. Priest won it two more times before he turned twenty, a record that will most likely never be matched again there or in any other country. Lee was a bodybuilding prodigy the likes of which the world has never seen. In fact, he’s been around the sport so long that he is considered one of the last remaining members of the “Old Guard” of the 90’s that included Dorian Yates, Kevin Levrone, Flex Wheeler, Paul Dillett, Shawn Ray, and Nasser. But as of spring of 2006 he was still just 33 years old, younger than many of the men still trying to turn pro at the NPC USA and Nationals!

1993, and the legend begins

Even though he had won his national title three years in a row, Lee’s applications for an IFBB pro card had been refused, most likely due to his tender age. My old boss Lou Zwick, producer of the long-running ESPN show American Muscle Magazine, flew Lee to Los Angeles as a stopover to do some photo and video shoots on the way to competing as an amateur in the Niagara Falls Pro/Am, a combination professional and amateur show that the TV program was covering. Lee of course had to train at Gold’s Gym in Venice while he had the opportunity, and it was there that Jim Manion, President of the NPC (and recently, the IFBB as well), noticed the diminutive blonde kid jam-packed with thick, ripped muscle. Jim simply could not believe that Lee had not been granted pro status yet. A few phone calls were made, and by that weekend, Lee was indeed a professional, and took ninth place in his debut, at just twenty years old.

It wasn’t long before his good looks and huge arms drew the attention of the photographers, and in a year’s time Lee was all over the magazines. But Lee’s calling card wasn’t just his phenomenal biceps, triceps, and Popeye forearms, it was an overall physique with a look of rugged power. Lee’s competitive record since 1993 has been an impressive one, with five top-ten finishes at the Mr. Olympia (including sixth place at his debut and twice more since), and three pro victories as of spring of 2006. Lee’s rebellious personality and an avowed disdain for ‘kissing ass’ have probably kept him from doing even better. Twice he has been fined. The first time was for pulling out of a contest he had been contracted to compete in, even though Joe Weider had given him permission to skip it. The second time it was for comments he made in an interview about some judges having relationships with some competitors that were much too intimate. None of this has diminished his appeal to the fans. If anything, Lee has won more fans over by virtue of his honesty and determination to speak the truth and speak his mind, consequences be damned. This hasn’t hurt his marketability either, as Priest has been under contract with such supplement industry giants as Weider, Muscletech, Prolab, and currently Twinlab. When Wayne DeMilia announced the formation of his new organization, Pro Division Incorporated (PDI), Lee was the first IFBB Pro with the courage to join. “It’s another opportunity to win and earn prize money,” Lee explains, “and I don’t see why the IFBB should have any say in whether or not I compete in other contests than theirs.” Lee actually withdrew from the 2005 Mr. Olympia because he felt the athlete contracts were one-sided and favored the promoters. He took a stand for what he believed in, and he stood by that decision even though he took a lot of heat for it. His many fans and his sponsor respected his position, and that’s all that mattered to Lee.

Though Lee is known as one of the best ‘short bodybuilders’ ever, it’s a label he isn’t comfortable with. “If you’re a good bodybuilder, you’re a good bodybuilder, period,” he says. “Not a good short bodybuilder, or tall bodybuilder. That’s like saying this guy is a good black bodybuilder, and this other one is good for a white guy. There are no classes in the pro shows, just one big lineup. So why would you start trying to dissect it like that? It’s stupid.” Yet Lee also knows that his lack of height has hurt him onstage, something he takes offense to. “It doesn’t piss me off, but it doesn’t make sense. If I have a complete package and the other guy doesn’t but he happens to be taller, why shouldn’t I beat him? I have seen taller guys win even when they were seriously lacking in certain bodyparts, when there were more complete guys that were shorter.”

Basic training

I have no doubt written more training articles about Lee Priest than anyone else in the business, and at times it’s not easy. That’s because Lee’s training is quite basic. He does a lot of sets, up to twenty or thirty sets per bodypart, and usually stays around 6-12 reps per set. The free weight staples are what he has done for years and continues to thrive on: dumbbell presses, curls, squats, and barbell and dumbbell rows. He trains instinctively and often has no set schedule. “If it’s chest day and my chest is still sore from last time, I may take the day off, or I might just train something else,” he says. “I might train twenty days in a row before I take a day off, or I might do three-on, one off. It all depends on how I am feeling.” It may sound unstructured, and Lee has also been accused of overtraining on many occasions, but obviously what he does works for him. As with everything else, Lee Priest plays by his own rules. That spills over to his nutrition, too. While many bodybuilders subsist on bland chicken breasts and broccoli year-round, Lee is notorious for eating whatever he wants to in the off-season; KFC chicken, ice cream, kid’s breakfast cereals like Lucky Charms, and Chinese Food. He used to get his bodyweight up as high as 285 and diet down to 220, but these days he stays around 240 pounds in the off-season. “But I still don’t try and stay lean all the time like some of these guys do,” he assures us. “I like to enjoy life and eat things that actually taste good. We only live once, and I have proven time and time again that I can get in shape whenever I have to.”

Fast cars and tattoos

In 2001 when Lee was living in Lancaster, California, he took up stock car racing as a new hobby, having been a NASCAR fan for years, and wondering what it was like to fly around the track at 200 miles an hour. After attending racing school, he began entering amateur races of various types and found he had a real knack for it. In 2005, he began drag racing in the SCEDA organization and earned enough points to become their Rookie of the Year. Currently he is in the lead in points for the 2006 season and could be Driver of the Year. You can always keep updated by checking the website www.sceda.com. Some have speculated that Lee is close to retiring from bodybuilding so he can focus on racing, but he denies this rumor. “As long as I am having fun with bodybuilding and doing well with it, I’ll stick around. For now, I am able to do both racing and bodybuilding, and that’s great, because they are two entirely different sports with their own unique challenges and rewards.”

Lee has also become known for getting more and more tattoos over the past few years. First came the Superman logo, followed by the NASCAR logo on the other shoulder (since covered up), and now he has over a dozen in all, including tribal designs on his shoulder blades, both sides of his neck, flames up his forearms, and the mother of all tattoos – a tribal design on his face, reminiscent of the one Mike Tyson had done a few years ago. Lee regrets none of them, and doesn’t feel he has gone too far at all. “It’s my body, I like the way the tattoos look, so I don’t see a problem. When I have my color on for a contest, you can barely see them anyway.”

Family reunion

Spring of 2006 was an eventful season for Lee. Not only did he finally win the Pro Ironman after eight previous attempts, but he also with reunited in Australia with his father and 12-year-old daughter Alexandra Leigh. He hadn’t seen his father since he was a teenager, and he hadn’t seen his daughter since she was a baby. With him was his girlfriend Adela Garcia, a Fitness Olympia and Fitness International champion. Lee has been married twice before, briefly to Tracy Dagwan in the early 90’s, then for five years to pro bodybuilder, now pro Figure competitor, Cathy LeFrancois, from Canada. Lee’s love life, like his ever-changing hair color, is often fodder for gossip on the Internet, but he enjoys his privacy, so it’s anyone’s guess as to whether he will marry again. One thing that is sure is that whether or not he ever wins the Olympia or Arnold Classic, his place in the history books and in the hearts of bodybuilding fans is secure. Lee Priest, the Blonde Myth, will be a name remembered for generations. He has served to motivate and inspire countless thousands to pick up the iron, and he is one of the few true living icons in the sport.

Contest History

1986 Sydney Bodybuilding Classic Teen winner (1^st show, age 13)

1989 Mr. Australia Overall Champion (age 17)

1989 IFBB Mr. Universe 2^nd place

1990 Mr. Australia Overall Champion

1990 IFBB World Amateur Championship 4^th, lightweight

1991 Mr. Australia Overall Champion

1993 Niagara Falls Pro 9^th place (pro debut)

1994 Ironman Pro 4^th place

1994 Arnold Classic 7^th place

1994 San Jose Pro 7^th place

1994 Night of Champions 12^th place

1995 Ironman Pro 3^rd place

1995 Arnold Classic 9^th place

1995 Florida Pro 4^th place

1995 South Beach Pro 4^th place

1996 Ironman Pro 4^th place

1996 San Jose Pro 6^th place

1997 Ironman Pro 2^nd place

1997 Arnold Classic 7^th place

1997 San Jose Pro 4^th place

1997 Grand Prix Czech Republic 5^th place

1997 Grand Prix England 6^th place

1997 Grand Prix Finland 9^th place

1997 Grand Prix Germany 3^rd place

1997 Grand Prix Hungary 3^rd place

1997 Grand Prix Russia 9^th place

1997 Grand Prix Spain 3^rd place

1997 Mr. Olympia 6^th place

1998 Mr. Olympia 7^th place

1999 Ironman Pro 6^th place

1999 Mr. Olympia 8^th place

2000 Night of Champions 5^th place

2000 Mr. Olympia 6^th place

2001 Ironman Pro 7^th place

2002 Ironman Pro 2^nd place

2002 Arnold Classic 4^th place

2002 San Francisco Pro Winner

2002 Mr. Olympia 6^th place

2002 GNC Show of Strength 4^th place

2003 Mr. Olympia 15^th place

2004 Ironman Pro 2^nd place

2004 San Francisco Pro 2^nd place

2005 Ironman Pro 2^nd place

2005 Arnold Classic 4^th place

2005 Australian Grand Prix Winner

2006 Ironman Pro Winner

2006 Arnold Classic 6^th place

2006 Australian Grand Prix 2^nd place

Lee’s Precontest Diet*

7 AM Protein shake and 1 cup oatmeal

9 AM 2 Ground turkey patties, 4 egg whites, 1 whole egg

11 AM-1PM Train

1:30 PM 12 oz steak and 1 ½ cups brown rice OR

12 oz chicken breast and 1 ½ cups brown rice

4 PM Repeat last meal – chicken or steak and rice

7 PM 2 Chicken breasts or 12 oz fish

10 PM Protein shake and 1 cup oatmeal

*This was at almost 9 weeks out, Lee’s carbs will be lowered in the coming weeks. By the final 4 weeks, his only carbs will be eaten with breakfast and the post-training meal

Supplements used (all Twinlab):

Creatine Nitrate Fuel

Glutamine Fuel

Joint Fuel

Tribulus Fuel Extreme

MRP Nitrate3 Fuel

Ocugard Plus (protect eyesight)

Daily One (multivitamin)

C-1000 caps

Premium E and selenium

MaxiLIFE CoQ10 Formula caps

Ultra Fuel

Chest workout

Dumbbell incline press 140-180 4 sets, 6-8 reps

Cable crossover 100-150 3 sets, 10-15 reps

Flat dumbbell press 140-180 4 sets, 6-8 reps

Dumbbell flye, flat or incline 60-90 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Pec deck 150-250 3 sets, 10-15 reps

Back workout

Dumbbell rows 150-180 3 sets, 8-10 reps

Partial/rack deadlift 495-765 3 sets, 8-10 reps

Lat pulldown 200-300 3 sets, 10-12 reps

Hammer row 4-7 plates each side 3 sets, 8-10 reps

Weighted hyperextensions holding 4-5 plates 3 sets, 10 reps

Seated cable row 250-300 3 sets, 10-12 reps

Shoulder workout

Seated dumbbell press 100-150 4 sets, 6-8 reps

Rear delt machine 100-250 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Smith machine press to front 225-405 4 sets, 6-8 reps

Dumbbell lateral raise 35-70 4 sets, 8-10 reps

Shrugs – either dumbbell 100-180 4 sets, 10-12 reps

OR Barbell 225-405 4 sets, 10-12 reps

OR Hammer Strength machine 495-585 4 sets, 10-12 reps

Arm workout

Barbell curl 120-200 4 sets, 6-8 reps

Alternate dumbbell curl 60-100 4 sets, 6-8 reps

Preacher curl 120-150 4 sets, 6-8 reps

Cable curl 100-200 4 sets, 10-12 reps

Cable pushdown 100-250 4 sets, 8-20 reps

Weighted dip 2-3 plates 4 sets, 8-10 reps

Overhead dumbbell extension 85-150 4 sets, 6-8 reps

(both hands at once)

Close-grip bench press with 2-4 plates each side 4 sets, 6-8 reps

EZ-curl bar

Leg Workout

Quads

Leg press 7-10 plates each side 4 sets, 20-40 reps

Squat or front squat 315-495 4 sets, 8-12 reps

Single-leg squats on Smith machine 185-315 4 sets, 10-15 reps each leg

Leg extension 100-250 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Hack squats 225-495 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Dumbbell walking lunges 50-70 4 sets, 20 reps each leg

OR Sissy squats Holding 2-3 plates 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Hams

Single leg curl 70-150 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Seated leg curl 150-300 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Lying leg curl 100-150 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Dumbbell stiff-leg deadlifts 80-150 4 sets, 10-12 reps

Calf workout

Standing calf raise 100-200 7 sets, 50-100 reps

OR

Donkey calf raise 200-400 7 sets, 10-20 reps

Training Split*

Day one Chest

Day two Back

Day three Shoulders

Day four Arms

Day five Legs**

*Calves are trained every day, or every other day

**Hamstrings are worked sometimes in the afternoon or early evening after quads have been trained earlier in the day, or ‘leg day’ may be only quad movements, with hamstrings being trained in a PM session on shoulder day.