I guess Lee has to keep himself in the limelight to have a chance at making sponsorship money, etc. He said he used to make about $250,000 a few years ago and then everything collapsed to about 1/5th of that after he enterred the PDI shows.
The main requirement was volume. He advocates doing about 20 sets per muscle group twice a week. He varies things according to how he feels on the day. That means he doesn't do a body part if it doesn't feel good on the day. I guess he knows when a workout isn't going to be effective. He uses basic exercises and mostly free weights where he does 6-8 reps. He almost never does maximum lifts which perplexes some because they ask how much he can do for a single. He said he could care less but will max out for 5 or 6 reps on really heavy resistances. When he uses machines he will usually do from 10 to 12 reps.
Lee claims he gets sore all the time. That is interesting because it fits in with my DOMS theory to keep target muscles sore all the time for maximum growth. So far his method is consistent with my theory. He varies things all the time and that contributes to the growth and soreness. He doesn't believe in overtraining and neither do I.
About the face art. Lee said he always liked tats and wanted one on his face for a long time. Unfortunately, Mike Tyson had one and that put off having one for several years because he didn't want people to think he was copying Tyson. He recently had the tattoo redone because he was having it removed to please a former girlfriend.
I highly doubt Lee made $250K per year, ever. Ronnie and Jay MAY make that much, but it would be close I think.
As for the 20 sets per bodypart-and not believing in overtraining-PLEASE.
I dont know anyone today, or even in the last 10 years, that trains a muscle more than once a week, and 20 sets is on the high side for anyone.