Lee Priest is back to shed light on some of the latest shakeups to the IFBB Pro League. After the organization revealed that athletes will have their Pro status revoked after three years of inactivity, Priest took to Instagram on January 20, 2025, to explain why the IFBB Pro League is at fault for the new rule because they handed out Pro cards like ‘candy’ over the years.
Over the weekend, athletes were dealt a surprising hand when the IFBB Pro League announced its new rule. Any competitor who has been inactive for over three years without renewing their Pro membership will have their Pro cards revoked.
Many believe these actions were taken by the league to keep Pro-level bodybuilders active and competing. Bodybuilding veterans have often complained about the oversaturation of Pro cards in the league today and it continues to be a point of contention in the current landscape of the sport. These sudden rule changes have prompted Lee Priest to take a closer look at how this problem came to be.
Lee Priest Calls Out IFBB Pro League for New Rule, Says They Shouldn’t Have Handed Out Pro Cards to ‘Everyone Like Candy’
Lee Priest, who is a credentialed IFBB Pro, has witnessed the sport include not only more Pro cards but more bodybuilding divisions, which in turn has made them less valuable. In a recent Instagram post, Priest explained why the IFBB Pro League is to blame.
“The IFBB is to blame for your thing with the pro cards. They opened up the floodgates, giving them out to everyone like candy. Now the horse is bolted. They’re trying to put it back in the barn. It’s the IFBB’s fault not the athletes.”
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Priest emphasizes that the IFBB hasn’t been enforcing the standards for Pro athletes.
“Yes, people die hard. They train hard they go into a show. They might win the USA but they might win the nationals but the qualities is not there to get a pro card just because these shows offer a pro card.
The judges know what pro standard is and if the standard isn’t up there stop giving out the pro cards . It’s that simple. The IFBB is the cause of this problem” Priest shared.
The rule entails that athletes whose Pro statuses are revoked will have to re-qualify for their Pro card by winning a qualifier. That means there is a possibility that high-level IFBB Pros will have to battle against newcomers on stage to regain their status.
The IFBB Pro League has been busy with new rules and even new categories. Despite promises that they would not add any new classes, they had a sudden change of heart. As of late, they revealed that a new Fit Model division will be introduced in the NPC in 2025. It will also be expanded into the IFBB Pro League in 2026.
Lee Priest believes the rule change was only needed due to the direction in which the sport has taken over the years. He stands by the idea that Pro cards shouldn’t be so readily available to competitors that don’t meet the mark.
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