In the video below, Lee Priest claims that he was completely natural until 19 years of age when he won Mr. Australia.
In case you are wondering, this is how Lee Priest looked at 19 years of age.
image via bodybuilding.com
The combination of extreme Photoshop conditioning and mass make it hard to accept that a human can actually achieve a muscular development of this magnitude at the age of 19 naturally. Truth be told, I have a very hard time accepting that a human can achieve similar muscular development naturally at any age.
Why are bodybuilders always downplaying the effectiveness of steroids?
It’s really simple. They want to be politically correct and often lie even to themselves.
What about hard work and training?
Hard work and training can only do so much. They cannot produce muscle mass beyond the natural potential whereas steroids can because they alter the default synthesis of protein. As a result, the body builds muscle mass beyond the natty limits. There isn’t anything else in the world yet that can match steroids in terms of muscle growth production.
Conclusion
Just like Ronnie Coleman, Tom Platz, and virtually every other professional bodybuilder, Lee Priest talks like drugs are just the finishing touch. Doesn’t seem like that’s true at all.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Priest /Retrieved on August 02, 2014
Have you seen Primo Carnera?
He was a world heavyweight boxing champion in 1933, he was lean and weighed 265 lbs.
That was without bodybuilding, though he did wrestle and do strongman shows when he was younger.
My point is, some individuals are freaks and the normal rules do not apply.
While it’s true, I’m an average gym with average people, many individuals who look not that impressive are using SARMs or Prohormones or Steroids, there are some unusual genes that allow individuals to build more muscle than seems reasonable.
If you have a copy of the gene that inhibits myostatin, you can build 25% more muscle than normal people and typically have much lower body fat. I saw a recent study that found (unsurprisingly) that this gene was much more common in a group of pro bodybuilders than in the general population.
What this means is, even with all the same drugs, the diet, the work ethic, they would still be much more muscular because they have an unusual gene.
I don’t see what Lee Priest has to gain from lying here, and back then starting steroids at 19 was pretty young.
Maybe he has a gene or 2 that made him able to build more muscle before he started the steroids?