Bodybuilding competitions can become heated. If the scuffle between Phil Heath and Kai Greene at the 2014 Olympia Press Conference isn't sufficient evidence, consider this: dozens of muscle-bound men who have been training and dieting for weeks are cramped into a room, all competing for the one thing their entire lives revolve around: winning. If it were possible to measure the total atmospheric testosterone of a room, bodybuilding shows would always rank highest.

This is how enemies are developed. According to a post from Lee Priest on musclessportmag.com, the famous bodybuilder has been butting heads with IFBB Pro turned commentator Bob Cicherillo, of Muscular Development. If you've watched any Mr. Olympia competition in the last several years, you'll recognize Cicherillo as the host of the event. Apparently these men aren't getting along.

It all started after Priest critiqued bodybuilders showing up to the 2015 Arnold Classic out of shape, to which Cicherillo responded, "Lee says these guys have a whole year to prepare and can't do it. Yep, so did he. Why wasn't he one hundred percent at every show? Less isn't exactly the voice of reason now, is he?"

That quote comes directly from Priest's post, obviously bringing up accuracy concerns.

Priest goes on, however, to respond to each of Cicherillo's supposed complaints, starting with his defense for his out-of-shape 2003 Mr. Olympia showing.

Let's work through this thing together.

He is obviously referring to the 2003 Mr. Olympia, a show that I freely admit my conditioning was not where it should have been. I placed 15th that year after making the top six at the previous O. But this (2003) was a show that I initially did not plan on doing and was eating shit like McDonald’s during that offseason.

But when I posted that I was not going to compete, the fans went mad and wanted to see me on stage in Las Vegas that September. So against better judgement, I decided to enter and had to begin my prep later than usual. But I just wasn’t into it mentally since I really did not want to do that show.

Okay, Lee. We're with you. Everyone has an off-year or an off-show. You were at least trying to please the fans.

But even there, I didn’t have the distended stomach like these guys had. And every other show that I ever did, I was always in shape. So for him to make that comment is just plain stupid and not true.

Oh. You want to focus on the distended stomachs of bodybuilders today. I'm not sure that's in the scope of conversation. But personal preferences, right?

Cicherillo must have felt compelled to answer some of the other people posting on there that stood up for me.

“Only once (out of shape at a contest) according to HIM…no surprise there,” he posted. “The real point is that he’s throwing stones while living in a glass house.” 

OK, Bob. What other show did I enter where I was not in shape? Please show me the pictures where I was really off with a bloated gut and all. I competed in the IFBB for over 15 years and hit the stage many times a year. He is pointing to one 12-month period in between shows, which was out of the ordinary for me. Usually, I would do three or four shows in a calendar year, like the Iron Man, Arnold, San Francisco and then the Olympia.

So until he can come up with a picture or a video of me in a show out of shape other than that one I own up to, he’s a liar.

Maybe Chicerillo just isn't a fan of Lee Priest. Maybe he isn't talking about a bloated gut?

Bob said that he respectfully disagreed with Ray [about drugs being the source of bloated bodybuilding stomachs] and added, “Drugs have been around since the beginning of modern bodybuilding; not much has changed there. The much and often celebrated 90s had pretty much the same stuff as today with the exception of one thing – insulin, which I’ve gone on record many times as being a contributing factor to the distended midsection.”

But isn’t that kind of what Ray said, Bob? And why didn’t you point this out during that video? You could have saved yourself a lot of criticism in the form of the other forum members bashing you and come out of it looking like an honest and respectful reporter.

Okay, so we are talking about only bloated guts now. If the conversation has shifted from Lee Priest's conditioning to the quote-unquote epidemic of distended stomachs, the focus got lost somewhere in translation. Seems like Bob is right. So is Lee. Why are we arguing again?

When you see me in the Sam’s Fitness videos talking about Cicherillo, I really just shrug it off as ‘Bob being Bob.’ He claims that there is no hatchet to bury with me, but it appears that he does hold some sort of grudge. But what else can you expect since he works for the IFBB and they handed me a lifetime ban?

Lee's final word on the argument: Cicherillo is an IFBB crony who only dislikes him because of a federation ban.

I'm still not sure what is the cause behind the Cicherillo/Priest battle.  They were both successful competitors and will undoubtedly be remembered in the bodybuilding community for years to come. Maybe we can leave it at that.

You can find Lee's original post here.

Header image via YouTube, Sam's Fitness - Gym Equipment