Written by Hany Rambod
09 October 2006

 

Supps, the Ladies and Lee

  

I read in Lee Priest's MD column that he's now working with you, after never really having a coach or a nutritionist all these years. Then I saw the pictures of him on GetBig leading up to the Ironman and Arnold Classic and Lee looks insane! At four weeks out, he looked bigger than I ever remember seeing him in shape. Then the shots at two weeks out showed his legs were already tighter than they've been most times he's competed. I'm curious as to how you and Lee started working together, what changes you made to his program, and what results you're expecting in the shows?

            I have been helping Lee off and on in a very informal way for some time, as we are good friends. At different points I have offered him advice, but never to the extent of the past six months, or so. We were talking throughout 2004 and Lee said he wanted to get together and put a plan together. I didn't know it would involve working with Lee in a more hands-on capacity, as I have done in the past with clients like Troy Alves, Chris Cook, Bill Wilmore and both Quincy Taylor and Idrise Ward-El for their USA Overall wins. We started corresponding over the telephone and e-mail a lot more frequently and before I knew it, I was coaching him without either one of us coming right out and specifying the arrangement. 

People often scoff at the thought of someone like Lee needing a coach or a nutritionist, without realizing that getting into contest condition is a mental challenge more than anything else. Lee's main issue is, and always has been, that he has trouble dieting. It's common knowledge he has an affinity for food beyond that of the average bodybuilder. In fact, he's such a good customer of KFC that I wouldn't be surprised if they offered him an endorsement contract. I can just see the commercial now. Lee says to the camera, "It's finger lickin' good, mate!" and takes a big bite out of a drumstick, then flexes a 22-inch arm. He's also a big fan of kids' breakfast cereals, particularly Lucky Charms, though I would never be so cruel as to say it's because he resembles the leprechaun on the box who is forever being chased by voracious children bent on absconding with his precious, magical cereal. Lee will often cheat right up to the day of the show, which has sometimes prevented him from competing with the condition he's truly capable of.

 I'm writing this eight days out from the Ironman and even up until recently, there have been many times when I won't hear from Lee for a couple of days, and when I do, he'll nonchalantly mention that he's been eating junk the whole time and gained as much as nine pounds. It's tough to work with someone when they do this, but you get used to it. Everyone has his or her unique personality quirks. You would be very surprised to know just how many top bodybuilders don't adhere 100 percent to the contest diet they are supposed to follow. But as a nutritionist, you roll with it. You can only fight with a guy so much, so you do the best you can. I tell an athlete what to do and he chooses to either do it or not do it. The only thing that infuriates me is when they don't follow my advice, then turn around when they fail to achieve the desired condition for a contest and blame me when it was they who screwed up. And it's not my nature to defend myself by going out and telling everyone about how the athlete in question actually sabotaged himself, even though there have been a few times when the thought crossed my mind.

As I said, I have known Lee for a long time and I understand his personality.  If he's going to cheat on his diet, there's nothing I can do to stop him. We simply adjust accordingly by doing things like increasing his cardio and decreasing his carbs to bring him back on track and on schedule. In an ideal world, everyone would follow nutritional directions perfectly, but we live in the real world where nobody is perfect- except maybe Ronnie.

            The biggest change we made with Lee is that we made sure he didn't get too sloppy in the off-season. Many of you may have seen him at either the Mr. Olympia or the GNC show, and he was in very respectable shape. There was a time when Lee would routinely get up to around 280 pounds in the off-season at just 5-foot-4 and he resembled a sumo wrestler more than a champion bodybuilder. When Lee and I talked last year about what could make him a better competitor, this was number one on the list of recommendations. Getting so heavy had always meant that Lee had to kill himself with cardio and truly suffer through his diet to shed all the unnecessary body fat. Actually, in comparison to many bodybuilders I've known, Lee at 280 wasn't really that fat.

  Nonetheless, carrying that much sheer weight on such a small frame was very unhealthy. Lee agreed, because health and longevity are strong priorities for him, as with all the athletes I choose to work with. Accordingly, he kept his off-season weight at about 235, roughly 50 pounds lighter than usual.  This was the main reason I didn't have a panic attack every time Lee told me about one of his binges. Because he had been staying so much leaner than in the past, there wasn't the usual last-minute rush to get him dialed in. When he goes off the diet wagon, we adjust by lowering his carbs for a couple of days and changing the types of carbs he eats. We also cut back on the amount of red meat Lee was eating and optimized his overall diet so his system has become much more efficient at processing proteins, carbs and fats.

            We also made some changes to Lee's training for the first time in many years. Anyone who's worked with me knows I believe in the basics. As far as I'm concerned, nothing beats basic compound exercises with heavy weights for 10 or more reps. Lee has always done a lot of sets and reps in his workouts. We increased the weights and decreased the reps on specific exercises in the off-season before he began his contest prep for the spring, focusing on building strength and muscle mass. We also addressed a lot of nagging injuries that Lee has accumulated over the years, primarily by avoiding exercises that would exacerbate pre-existing conditions with his joints and tendons. I also set him up on a "joint-management program" that included the standard glucosamine and chondroitin, plus a lot of other different herbs (sorry, can't give all my secrets away here). 

Lee's physique has definitely changed and I think the pictures speak for themselves in this regard. If he sticks to his diet in the home stretch, we should all see a new look for Lee this season. Of course, if he happens to drive by a KFC too close to the show and he succumbs to the aroma of the Colonel's secret 11 herbs and spices, all bets are off. In light of Lee's famous weakness for fast food, I am posting a guard outside his hotel room to prevent his fellow competitors like Melvin or Troy from attempting to deliver a family bucket of extra crispy fried chicken. But in all seriousness, I'm very excited to see how Lee will look at the shows.

 

            I'm a freshman in college. I started bodybuilding in junior year of high school, and because I lived at home and worked, I had enough money to afford a wide variety of supplements. I used to have three protein shakes a day, for instance. Money is much, much tighter now and I can only spare $50 of my monthly budget to spend on supplements. I have made good progress and don't want my financial situation to hinder my gains. Please tell me what the absolute most important supplements are?  What would you buy if you were me and how would you use the products?  

            I chose this letter to answer here because it's very similar to many I receive from college students and those serving in the military. I can certainly relate, as I was not rolling in the dough when I was a college student, either. So let me break down how I would get the most bang for my buck.  

            First of all, I would subscribe to MD rather than buy it off the newsstand, and save up to 50 percent! As much as that sounds like a sales pitch, this way you'll have every issue and use your money a little more wisely. OK, let's get into supplements. Where you buy them is critical, since your budget is very limited. Typically, retail stores are more expensive than online sites like http://www.efitstore.com/, but feel free to shop around for the best deal. 

            Protein shakes are very helpful, but you don't need three a day. Get yourself a standard two- or three-pound container of whey protein isolate, which provides about 16 servings and should cost between $20 and $25. I would have one shake after your workouts, so you're only drinking shakes on training days. In your off-season, when you're trying to gain weight, you can mix the shake with juice rather than water, or add a carbohydrate powder. You didn't indicate whether or not you live in a dorm, but often meal plans come with your rent and you could bring your shake bottle to the cafeteria for some apple or grape juice. Whey isolate is a fast-acting protein and juice is a simple sugar that also digests rapidly, making it an ideal combination to replenish depleted amino acids and glycogen after your training.

            Next on your list should be creatine monohydrate. Prices on creatine have come way down over the last few years. You can pick up a 300-gram bottle for about 10 bucks. There is no need to have more than five or 10 grams a day, so the bottle will last you a month. Have one teaspoon (five grams) with breakfast every morning, and on training days have another serving immediately after your workout. You still have about $20 left, so the final item on your shopping list should be L-glutamine. For that price you can get a bottle of 500 grams, which will last you a month if rationed properly. On non-training days, have five grams with breakfast and another five grams before bed. On the days you work out, add in another two servings, one before and one after your workout.

            If I wanted to get the most out of $50, that's how I would do it. There may be times when you get some extra cash, like your birthday or Christmas, and might want to pick up a couple more supplements to aid your progress. In the off-season, I would opt for a nitric oxide product from a reputable company. If spring break or summer is coming and you want to lean out, go with a thermogenic. Another item I always recommend, believe it or not, is a joint complex containing glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin, whether it's for injury prevention, maintenance, or to heal an injury you already have. These products have come down in price significantly and I consider them a worthy investment if you can swing it. I didn't mention multivitamins, because I assume you are already taking one and were only concerned with "bodybuilding" supplements.  Besides, multivitamins are fairly inexpensive. So that's my best advice, and this supplement program shouldn't cause you to file bankruptcy any time soon. Good luck!

 

            Hany, I'd love to hear your comments on the IFBB's decree that the female pros in bodybuilding, fitness, and figure should reduce their muscularity by 20 percent. Is it a good or bad idea? Do you think it's a step in the right direction?

            I think that it is absolutely a great idea. In order for professional women's bodybuilding, fitness and figure to survive and thrive, it needs to tone down the escalating standards of muscle size and extreme conditioning, or else it will be like a runaway train on a collision course with its own demise. Let me clarify something about the trend toward more muscularity that needs to be said. I hate when people make ignorant comments and assume excessive drug use is solely to blame. Could drugs play a role? Of course. But maybe the women have simply been doing more cardio, dieting longer and stricter, or a multitude of possible factors that aren't necessarily related to anything pharmaceutical in nature. But whatever the cause, the new mandate to decrease size and conditioning by 20 percent is a welcome change. 

Several athletes have already done so successfully on their own, most notably crossovers from bodybuilding to fitness and figure. Kim Chizevsky is a prime example. As a four-time Ms. Olympia champion, she was known for her spot-on conditioning, and in fact, brought conditioning to an entirely new level for female bodybuilders. But eventually, it got to the point where Kim was no longer comfortable with her own appearance and decided to retire from bodybuilding. Being a competitor at heart, she soon felt the yearning to return to the stage and decided to come back as a fitness and figure athlete. Kim toned down her physique to the point where she looked nothing like the way she did when she won her fourth and final Olympia in 1999. In fact, she lost so much muscle that IFBB judges told her at her most recent contest, the GNC, that she was too small!

I definitely feel there are certain women who need to tone it down, while there are others who still need a little more muscle mass or better condition.  Obviously the 20 percent decree has to be taken on a case-by-case basis, as it pertains to the individual. But overall, across the board, 20 percent less "muscular" is the right decision for female athletes, especially if we want to keep the women's sport aesthetically pleasing. I think there is an opportunity for women's bodybuilding, fitness, and figure to become more popular. But even more importantly than looking at things from the standpoint of mass appeal, the new standards will allow more women to compete in bodybuilding, a sport that has seen dwindling numbers, particularly at the local and regional amateur levels. 

For a long time, there have been plenty of women who wanted to compete in bodybuilding, not just do quarter turns in high heels (figure), and lacked the skills to put a routine together for fitness. These women didn't want the extreme look and had no desire to compromise their femininity. Now, many of them will be motivated to compete. In general, I think the idea of decreasing muscularity by 20 percent for female athletes will be better for both the fans and the competitors and I anxiously await the 2005 season to see how it all pans out. For the handful of guys who prefer the extreme look of hardness and vascularity, there are still plenty of websites where they can pay $19.95 a month and see women who have no desire to follow the new rule. 

 

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