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Lee Priest has become a significant voice in the sport of bodybuilding since his retirement from the professional scene. He has achieved this by constantly providing unique views on various aspects of the sport.
Priest is one of the few veterans who has remained in great shape post-retirement. This, combined with the return of the Masters Olympia this year, quite obviously begs the question of whether we will see the Australian legend back on stage.
In an interview with RxMuscle, Lee Priest explained that the only thing holding him back from competing is the atrophy in his chest:
"Well, like I said, if this atrophy here, mainly the chest, the arms, like I said, are coming back pretty good but if the chest bit here came back, I’d definitely do it. Yeah. At the moment, they were talking about they could do a thing to the chest, you know the pop-up pump where it looks like there’s a chunk out of the chest. They can’t inject fat."
Speaking to Dave Palumbo, the Aussie bodybuilder explained that he has received offers from doctors to help with atrophy using implants, but they cannot inject fat. Implants, especially for older individuals, come with significant risks.
"They talk about fat injections, because if you diet down, the fat just disappears. Then, they talked about, they could make an implant that looks just like this side, but it goes under the muscle, so they got to detach the muscle and put it under. I said that would be my luck, being over 50 getting an implant; I die over the table. They would be like 'That vain [person], he had to get a chest implant and it killed him.'"
Lee Priest was told by doctors that implants could fix the issue. However, he believes that younger people can and should avoid implants by sticking to hypertrophic exercise and better nutrition:
"Yeah, they said it [implant] would [hold in place]. A lot of just normal guys who are thin looking guys that have had chest implants and biceps implants. I’m thinking, really, these guys, if they would have went on some sort of good diet and did the training, they could look the same."
Lee Priest on his chest atrophy and how it would be visible on stage
Lee Priest has torn his bicep and his pectoral muscles. However, the bicep has recovered just fine but the pec has not. This puzzles the Australian:
"I don’t know, must be the nerve thing. Because the nerve thing, this part of the chest here, here’s my hole here, but [right upper pec] in this section here, it’s gone. It’s like a dog took a bite out of it."
Unsure of his participation due to the atrophy, he added that certain poses will lead to better or worse looks on stage. He believes that the chest atrophy looks worse when he leans down:
"You could probably hide it on most poses. If you did a most muscular, you would see it. Standing there relaxed, you can see it more because you’re not doing anything. You can always hide it in the side chest. Being leaner, it’s going to stand out a lot more when you diet down."
The Masters Olympia is set to return after an 11-year hiatus. Although the list of competitors has not been announced, Lee Priest is likely to take a backseat. It is safe to say the excitement is still at an all-time high.
