Lee Priest: “Classic Physique will Surpass Bodybuilding” – Nick’s Strength and Power

Its crazy how defensive the open guys have become torward classic division which shows you it is somewhat of a threat and the classic guys are starting to look better and better. I enjoy bith divisions but open needs to reel it in on the drugs and guts

Could Joe Rogan have been a BodyBuilder?

I disagree…22 inch arms at 5 foot nothing constitutes a mass monster lol

I just hope the winners will receive more prize money.

my guess is they will keep mr O open untill phil loses. its gonna be a massive promotional event for him to get 10 wins. but i agree at soem point classic will be the nr 1 just not already also i hope they do like arnold and bring back posing in the judgement

NICK! Can you do a video on Hermann Gorner (strong man). Nobody talks about this guy but he had unbelievable strength. Check out the Wikipedia on him

You don’t get asked about Phil Heath cause he comes across as a nob head

Lee is one of those guys who has always seemed mentally stable. Unlike others in the sport who I will not mention. Like the guys who through temper tantrums on stage and who are over emotional. More so than even women! However I disagree with him and his face tatoo, but I still like the guy.

I think the classic physique will have a good turnover of competitors every few years keeping it interesting. Very few people are capable of putting on enough size for the open, so it is always the same people placing similarly. The classic will have a larger talent pool making it more interesting. Each year there will be a new guy come along with a chance to do well.

I'm all about classic physique, it's great.

The first and only time I’ve ever agreed with Lee Priest on anything.

This is what i said two weeks ago… Your Wecumm

Lee Priest was a mini-mass monster, to use such an oxymoron. The man had the muscle size and sheer mass of most pro bodybuilders that were 5'9" and over, even though he was only 5'4". The man had bigger arms or could match the arm size of 9/10th of the pro's, with shape, symmetry and proportions that could be most and match the top guys. I've said it a thousand times, Lee Priest was the most under-rated and unappreciated (by the IFBB) bodybuilder of his era due to his height and outspoken personality. The guy was a He-Man doll or comic book character come to life. If you could make a 5'10" or taller Lee Priest he would rival Big Ronnie, Big Ramy and Roelly. Lee Priest was a 5'4"mass monster.

As far as his opion concerning The Classic Olympia or any other physique division, let me say this….I'm 46 and followed bodybuilding religiously in the 1990s. I bought every magazine from Flex & Musclemag (my favorites) to Muscular Development and Ironman (no M&F too many advertisements) and agree 100% that the 90s was the era of "Mass with Class." Meaning that the best physiques such as Dorian, Flex, Levrone, Dillet, Shawn Ray, Nasser and of course Lee Priest, just to name the most popular of the top guys, were all big, symmetrical, proportioned and conditioned with more than ample muscle on their frames to make them look huge and at the same time attractive and acceptable to a wider audience, not just the hardcore muscleheads. Those days are gone and it's the fault of the assholes, who now run the IFBB now that Joe & Ben Weider are gone.

Joe Weider ALWAYS stressed muscle with symmetry and proportion, while being conditioned, just like Arnold, but todays judges want nothing but mass monsters, size and conditioning. A great physique, an attractive and aesthetic physique has it all… Size, symmetry, proportion and conditioning and eventually muscle maturity.
The 1990s was hardcore bodybuilding at it's best and I can easily see how the classic physique is coming back into style where competition is concerned because as far as the average male, and female is concerned the classic muscular physique is what most men and their ladies want to have and see. Most guys in the 1990s would have settled for a Van Damme type physique, but dreamed of having a physique like Lee Labrada, Francis Benfatto or Bob Paris, while sometimes wondering what it would be like to carry the muscle of a Dorian, Flex, Levrone or Lee Priest. The only problem was that it was all unattainable unless you juiced, used alot of steroids, HGH, slin and diuretics at times.

Now the general public (for certain the 40 & over crowd) is getting fed-up with the bodybuilding powers that be pushing the unattainable mass monsters as what a bodybuilder should look like and strive to be. The majority of people want attractive, aesthetic physiques with ample muscle, shape, symmetry and an attainable level of conditioning without having to use PEDs, ruin their health and possibly die. Men and woman want a body they can show off at the beach, while having their significant others get hot the instant they disrobe. In other words, the mass with class criteria is back and continuing to attract the oublic much more than the mass monsters and that is exactly what the supplement companies want. The companies want to be able to say, "you can certainly obtain this type of physique if you use our products", religiously of course. The money for the IFBB is with the sponsers and their own products. They have to protect their own interests and investments within the fitness and bodybuilding industry, so they will soon have to fully support the physique and fitness categories, while still giving pro bodybuilding sufficient support, but in the end, say within 5-10 years it will all change. The majoriry of bodybuilding and fitness people wanna be muscular, show of the abs (not a bubble gut), look and feel healthy and also sexy, vibrant and attractive. They don't wanna look like a muscular freak, with a bubble gut, who can scratch his back or wipe his ass properly and can hardly breath because of the excess weight they carry, not to mention destroy their health and possibly die because they have to take large amount of steroids and other PEDs to maintain the freakish, mass monster look.

***BTW, before anybody comments, I'm not stupid. I know, in fact I know from experience that if you wanna carry 25lbs or more true muscle, with even a 6-8% bodyfat and look like the classic physique guys you will have to take gear. BUT… There is a difference between taking 500mg of Test a week, with some Deca or Primo,50mg of injectable Winstrol or Anavar tabs EOD and throw in some Clen to get lean… As compared to…1,000-2,000 mg of Test a week, 2-5 Anadrol or Halotestin a day, with 150-250 mg of Tren EOD and maybe some D-Bol or Masteron, Equipoise or whatever at insanely high doses all year round.

I know what is what. There is a BIG difference between use and abuse, but that line has been blurred for some time. I miss the days when you could get real juice made by Scherring, Winthrop, Upjohn, etc.,etc. Lol!

Theres to much money to be made for the mr olympia to end im afraid no matter what

Until the IFBB starts giving out more prize winnings for classic physique, it won’t be taken as seriously as it should be by competitors in open bodybuilding.

Okay Nick i almost without exeption always agree with the things you say but today i will haveto disagree with you. Lee Preiest was NEVER ever a smaller guy. Yes he was not as tall, but he was so big that comic heros have been based on his physic. So again he was ALWAYS on of the biggest guys, just watch his posin from age around 22 years. Hes a absoult freak!

lee is soooo cool. what a FUCKING body would blow alot of the guys on stage now. he looked CRAZY

Bodybuilding today is not healthy and the judges are to blame for rewarding guys on GH, Insulin and bubble guts. It's time to mark down bodybuilders like that.

I think the popularity is that the physiques in that division are more attainable.

smell federal plastic slice African-American gear float physician.

You’re a very well spoken person Nick!💪

I like the idea of the classic physique bodybuilding I always loved the men's bodybuilding when I was watching it it was just mr. Olympia not the open but they should keep it keep the 212 division but they should never have gotten rid of the women's bodybuilding they should have kept it to make it more competitive between the women's physique have the figure have the fitness the bikini keep it all in but I give it a thumbs up I like really like Lee Priest he was definitely one of the best of his time I do believe he still is

Lee "the actual GIFT" Priest. Gifted genetics. Wild actually.