Lee Priest continues to serve the bodybuilding community in retirement. On April 16, 2025, he revealed whether training and dieting should change for enhanced versus natural competitors. Additionally, he laid out when it makes sense to use drugs like Ozempic for weight loss.
Lee Priest was a genetic marvel throughout his bodybuilding career. While he never claimed a Mr. Olympia title, top names in the sport, including Jay Cutler and former Gold’s Gym owner Ed Connors believe he was the greatest bodybuilder in history.
Priest’s transparency makes him a top ambassador for bodybuilding. Unafraid of judgment, he’s openly shared his steroid cycles and personal struggles with fans for years. In today’s fitness climate, he worries that individuals have become overly concerned with gear instead of focusing on the fundamentals to build a pristine physique.
Lee Priest Talks Diet/Training for Natural & Enhanced Bodybuilders, Roid Rage, and When to Use Ozempic
In a recent YouTube video, Priest emphasized that his training and dieting measures didn’t change whether he was using steroids or not.
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“There’s no difference, whether you’re on gear or off the gear. I hate when people say I want a training program but I’m natural. I trained the same as when I was natural for seven years to when I went on the gear. My training never changed.”
“You get a bit bigger on the gear if you got the genetics and you train hard and eat right and sleep good, but there isn’t like a training natural program and on the cycle program. It’s exactly the same, same as eating.”
He adds that performance-enhancers can help individuals build muscle and recover quicker.
“Steroids are meant to help you recover quicker and stuff but even on the gear, if you have big, heavy workouts and goes ball to the wall, you’re just as sore and feel just the same if you’re natural. Maybe it helps you keep some muscle on and that, but you have to really go by feel whether you’re on the gear or off the gear,” states Priest.
He explained that if strength dips at the gym, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re weaker; he pinpoints it to issues with recovery.
“You’re not a wimp if you can’t do the same weight the next day or two. I think sometimes we get so focused on I got to be stronger every workout. I got to use the same weight every workout. If I don’t, I’m going backwards,” he shared. “It’s just your body is not recovered. Don’t overthink it. Just go do a different type of workout.”
He shared that he never had roid rage and refuted that it exists. He believes it’s just like alcohol, explaining that some people are happy drunks or angry drunks.
“If roid rage was a thing, it’s like anything, you get happy drunks or you get people who drink too much and they want to beat the hell out of everyone at the bar. To me, steroids, alcohol, it just brings out your natural fuckin shitness, or if you’re a good person, you could be a happy drunk. I took steroids and I just sat on the couch watching TV going of fuck I got to go to the gym again.”
“If there’s roid rage, the amount of people take, you’d walk into any gym on any given night, and it’d be like a UFC match every fucking night.”
As for weight loss drugs, Priest said they have value if a doctor prescribes them, but if you’re just trying to drop some weight, diet and exercise are a more fulfilling option.
“Look, to me, if you’re morbidly obese and it’s a health situation or something, yes take Ozempic if it’s prescribed by the doctor and you need it for that. If you’re just taking it because you want to lose some weight, you can do that with clean eating, cardio, and training.”
He stressed that anything that comes quickly is ‘never worth it.’
“Yes, it might take longer but you know what? That’s the fun of it. Anything that comes quick is never worth it. Anything that’s just handed to you is not the same as busting your ass working hard for it, going you know what, I achieved this. I did this myself,” he said.
While a comeback seems unlikely for the time being, Priest isn’t ruling it out completely, as he recently renewed his IFBB Pro card. In the meantime, he continues to offer fans and competitors his unfiltered takes on issues affecting the sport.
Watch the full video from the Sam’s Fitness – Gym Equipment & Ron Harris Muscle YouTube channels below:
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