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     Twelve years—that’s how long it’s been since Jay Cutler finished lower than runner-up in a bodybuilding contest. During that span, he’s strung together an improbable tally of 15 firsts and 10 seconds. He’s been in the top two at the Mr. Olympia a record 10 times, winning on four occasions. He won three consecutive Arnold Classics before stopping. Since 2000, the only three men who have defeated him—Ronnie Coleman, Dexter Jackson, and Phil Heath—are fellow Mr. Olympias. This year, recovering from a biceps injury, he forwent competition for the first time in 15 years and focused on his business ventures. Next year, he turns the big 4-0. Have we seen Jay Cutler in trunks for the last time? If so, his 11 consecutive years of excellence up to now stand as one of the greatest accomplishments in bodybuilding history. In honor of his 25 straight top-two finishes, we’ve assembled 25 techniques Cutler used to ascend to heights where only Mr. Olympias reside and remain there for more than a decade.

1.   Have a plan. When he was 22 and lived in Massachusetts, Cutler traveled to Southern California to enter a local show. His plan to garner publicity worked. He won the 1995 NPC Tournament of Champions and, months before he nabbed a pro card on his first try at the 1996 NPC Nationals, he was grinning on a Muscle & Fitness cover. That’s the way he rolls. Over the ensuing 17 years, Cutler carefully plotted out everything: business, training, eating, and competing.

2.  Turn up the volume. “I’ve always been a volume trainer,” Cutler says. And, boy, has he ever. In 2003, I watched him do 10 back exercises for 43 sets over two workouts on the same day! There is a prevalent (and ofen irrational) fear of overtraining that leads many bodybuilders to lose sight of the growth-inducing benefits achieved by increasing their sets per workout.

3.  Embrace change. “I’m not doing anything the way I did it before. I’ve changed everything,” said Cutler when I interviewed him in 2004, expecting to get a fairly “routine” routine. In preparation for that year’s Arnold Classic (which he won), he had indeed changed everything. The sport’s greatest advocate of volume training had dramatically reduced his workload and developed a pre-contest schedule that kept him up most of the night and napping thrice during the day. Before the year was over, he reverted back to something closer to his usual regime, but his ’04 adventure illustrated his willingness to experiment. He’s never adopted a rule he’s not willing to break.

4.   Move fast. One component of Cutler’s training he rarely diverged from is speed. Throughout his career, he rarely paused more than a minute between sets, and usually his pre-contest rest periods clocked in at around 40 seconds. Again, this is a rule he can break, and in recent years he’s extended his rest.

5.   Go organic. In the middle of the last decade, Cutler began buying organic chicken breasts, eggs, and beef. He feels that consuming foods free of chemicals has made a subtle difference in his physique on stage and may significantly benefit his health in the long term.

6.   Use helping hands. There were stretches of his career when he toiled alone, but more often than not, Team Cutler has had multiple members. In fact, during his prep for the last three Mr. Olympias (2009–’11), he regularly hit the weights with two or three partners per workout. (This also expanded his rest periods between sets.)

7.   Double-up on back. This four-time Mr. O possesses one of the greatest rear lat spreads ever witnessed. By 2005, his lat width was matching if not succeeding Ronnie Coleman’s. Cutler, like Coleman, also worked back twice weekly. One session focused on width (using pulldowns and other cable exercises), the other targeted thickness (mostly rows and deadlifts).

8.   Boost recuperation. Deep-tissue massage is a crucial component of his recovery plan. At least once weekly, he undergoes lengthy massage sessions, sometimes leaving bruised and battered. He feels this probing, pushing, and scraping has boosted his recuperation and flexibility and thus aided growth.

9.   Build with basics. Afer his stunning second to Coleman at the 2001 Mr. Olympia, it seemed inevitable Cutler would soon have a Sandow on his mantel. He sat out the 2002 Mr. O when an undersized Coleman looked especially vulnerable. Then came 2003, when a nearly 300-pound Ronnie Coleman shocked the bodybuilding world. Cutler was second again, but the gap between him and first had widened. In the aftermath, Cutler, who had been relying increasingly on machines and
cables to refine what he assumed was enough size, went back to the basics. He knew he had to pack on pounds to hang with Ronnie, so he trained Ronnie-style: deadlifts, barbell rows, T-bar rows, barbell bench presses. Free-weight basics formed the core of his routines in 2004 and have remained there ever since.

10.   Do unilateral sets. As with all bodybuilders, Cutler’s lef and right halves are not symmetrical. His lef limbs are clearly superior to their right counterparts. He narrows this gap by including unilateral exercises in every leg and arm workout and placing a special emphasis on bringing up his weaknesses while still expanding his stronger side.

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11.   Sweat the Small stuff. Unlike most pro bodybuilders, Cutler schedules some forearm and ab sets into his routine, even during the off-season. Likewise, though he has two of the sport’s best calves, he trains his lower legs as hard as every other body part.

12.   Eat, eat, and eat some more. When Cutler was a teen bodybuilder living in rural Massachusetts, he used to buy his beef by the cow, literally. He hit the 280 mark before his 20th birthday by training heavy and eating heavier. He’ll tell you that eating six or more high-protein meals daily isn’t something he enjoys, but frequent feedings have always been a necessary part of his growth plan.

13.   Remain persistent. Five years—that’s how long he was the Mr. Olympia heir apparent. Cutler was runner-up a frustrating four times, every O he entered, from 2001 to 2005. A lot of pro bodybuilders rose and fell during that span. All the while, the three-time Arnold Classic champ stayed focus on his ultimate goal. He learned from mistakes and used each O loss as fuel for his next attempt. That’s why it was all that much sweeter when he did eventually best Coleman in 2006 to hold alof his first of four Sandows.

14.   Don’t count reps. “How many did I get, Greg?” he would ask me repeatedly in the many workouts I observed through the years. He knew he was somewhere around the 10–12 range, but he wasn’t certain of the exact tally. Throughout each set, he focuses on his working muscles, because he believes that calculating reps is merely a distraction.

15.   Work your warmups. Let’s get the terminology straight. Cutler refers to the lighter sets preceding his working sets as “feel sets,” not “warmups.” This is because he’s not merely going through the motion on those sets. Instead, he’s getting a feel for the weight, making certain his technique is on point, and monitoring his muscles to determine how hard he should push his working sets.

16.   Heed the signs. Twenty years afer his first contest, at age 38, Cutler suffered his first major injury with last year’s biceps tear. One key to bodybuilding success is injury avoidance, and Cutler did this by rarely going less than 10 reps per set in recent years, utilizing feel sets to gauge his muscles’ abilities each workout, and working around small strains and pains.

17.   Supplement strategically. Whey powders boosted his daily protein intake. Creatine and BCAAs powered him through workouts. Vitamins and minerals ensured that the salad-adverse Cutler had all the necessary micronutrients for recovery. Throughout his career he’s been on the cutting edge of sports nutrition.

18.   Stick mostly to the 8–12 rep range. Until 2004, most of his sets were in the 8–10 range, and during his teenage years he often went even lower. But over the past eight years, he rarely strayed from the 10–12 range for big body parts. Arms and calves were mostly in the 12–15 range.

19.   Learn from your peers. After he lost to Coleman at the 2003 Mr. Olympia, he began to adopt some of what made his rival’s workouts so successful— especially free-weight basics. Similarly, when Phil Heath was closing in on him and after he lost the Olympia title to Dexter Jackson in 2008, he employed Heath’s trainer/ nutritionist, Hany Rambod, and Rambod’s FST-7 system. Sometimes to be the best you have to beat the best at their own game.

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20.   Analyze everything. cutler won his class at the 1993 npc teenage nationals but lost the overall to Branch Warren. back then, he kept a log book so detailed he noted not just every rep and every calorie, but even the timing of bathroom breaks! he’d stopped logging by the time he turned pro, but has continued to carefully analyze his workouts and meals.

21.   avoid major shocks. Don’t ask Cutler for scary workout stories. He doesn’t have any reminiscences about 30 continuous sets of squats or giant set circuits that kept him hovering around a trash can, revisiting his protein. He never supersetted bi’s and tri’s until he couldn’t scratch his own head. He sticks to his training program, and that program has never included all-shock workouts from hell.

22.   Hit the angles. He learned what foot placements will stress various areas of his legs, what grips will best target sections of his upper body, and which exercises are most effective for his particular physique. Then he employs that knowledge to hit each body part from a variety of angles, with a particular emphasis on what he most wants to accentuate.

23.   Stay lean. Where are the photos of a fat Jay Cutler? Where are the shots of a “front butt,” or a doughy face as round as Charlie Brown’s? Don’t bother Googling. You won’t find any. Throughout his pro career, he’s always stayed within striking distance of stage shape. Fat is bad for business. Year-round cardio has kept the wrong sort of pounds from sticking, and that, in turn, has allowed him to better monitor his progress and more effectively diet down to excavate the fine lines.

24.   Improvise your training. He has a rough outline for how each workout will progress, but doesn’t follow a detailed script. Instead, he analyzes how his muscles are responding and chooses his tools accordingly. Often, he will pause mid-workout so he and his training partner(s) can review how many exercises he’s done and what he should do next. Every workout is a work in progress.

25.   Keep it fun. He doesn’t do any elaborate psych-ups before sets. He doesn’t scowl or stomp around the gym. Instead, he’s frequently smiling and joking with partners between sets. Jay Cutler takes bodybuilding very seriously—as a competitive pursuit, a lifestyle, and a business—but he also has fun. He never forgets how lucky he is to make an excellent living from something he loves so much.

CUTLER’S 6 PIVOTAL SHOWS

• 1996 NPC Nationals As a little heralded 23-year-old, Cutler entered this, his first pro-qualifier. In winning the heavy class, he accomplished the rare feat of going pro on his first attempt.

• 2000 Night Of Champions In his PRO debut in 1998, Cutler came in a humbling 12th in the N.O.C. (Coleman won). Two years later, at 26, he returned to the N.O.C. and defeated 43 others, including Dexter Jackson, as he racked up his first of 15 pro titles.

• 2001 Mr. Olympia This “loss” launched him to legend status. He led Coleman after prejudging only to finish a controversial second. Suddenly, at 28, he was heir apparent to bodybuilding’s throne.

• 2004 Arnold Classic This was his third consecutive Arnold title. While he was denied the Sandow, Jay won the Arnold until he had nothing left to prove in Columbus.

• 2006 Mr. Olympia Finally, he ascended to bodybuilding’s summit by defeating his ultimate rival. The Coleman era was over. The Cutler era had begun.

• 2009 Mr. Olympia After he lost the O to Jackson in ‘08, many felt his best days were behind him. But when he regained the crown in ’09, he showcased his best-ever combination of size and striations.

“This is the first time we’ve ever sponsored an athlete or celebrity, so what better way to mark this significant milestone than to partner with four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler?” says James Grage, vice president of BPI Sports. “This is the perfect opportunity for us to market our products in a way we never have before. Already Jay’s kicked off his Mobile Mansion Tour, visiting top retailers, signing autographs, and offering product information. This is just the first of many big things to come from BPI and subsidiary brands EXT SPORTS and IMAGE SPORTS.”

“Working with three sports nutrition brands gives me the chance to handpick the absolute best products that suit my training regimen,” says four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler. “I’m not pressured to choose the best available solutions in just one product line. If you see me holding a BPI, IMAGE, or EXT product, it’s because I use those products every day. A good example is my pre-workout stack, which includes go from EXT Sports, build-hd from BPI, and vein from IMAGE Sports.”

 

IFBB Olympia Weekend 2013

IFBB Olympia Weekend 2013