4-Time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler: I Call My Training Meditation Now

Ever wonder how some of the greatest bodybuilders of all time change their goals after retiring from the sport? Four-time Mr. Olympia champion Jay Cutler took to his YouTube channel on June 12, 2022, to share just that. Gone are the days of Cutler trying to hit a certain amount of weight in the gym, amassing a specific number of reps, or achieving the biggest pump. He no longer trains to have a competition-ready physique at 48 years of age. His goals are more aligned with physique maintenance through middle age:

What do I have to do to maintain a decent physique at my age?

Cutler used to be a mass monster during his glory days atop the Men’s Open division. Nowadays, he is not interested in having a physique that large. Check out the full video below:

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Cutler’s time in the gym now is his "meditation." He does not have the training schedule of what a competitive bodybuilder might — training after meal two or between meals or whathaveyou. He heads to the gym when he has the time, though he tries not to train too late in the evening.

[Training] is a sense of relief for me.

Cutler got in a training session midday before a 7 a.m. flight the following morning. He performed a pull day with a heavy emphasis on his back. Check out the exercises he performed below.

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Mr Olympia Jay Cutler (@jaycutler)

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Jay Cutler’s Back Workout

The session opened with a "feel set" of 12 reps on a lat pulldown machine. Feel sets are effectively warm-up sets that let Cutler get a sense of how his body’s feeling with a given load to inform how heavy he can lift. His target was three working sets of each movement.

Cutler felt the weight was a bit too heavy once he had three 45-pound weight plates on each side. He reracked the weight and hopped over to the chest-supported row. He opts to keep his feet on the floor rather than the machine’s foot plates to prevent using his legs during the set. He wants all the work to be on his lats.

The third movement is a long-time staple for Cutler: bent-over barbell rows. While not using a chest support limits the amount of weight he could probably load, he isn’t afraid to get a bit of pop from his legs to move the barbell. A pair of sets were shown on camera before he moved on to a superset of lat pulldowns on the cable machine and seated cable rows. 

Typically, Cutler performs cardio after his resistance training but chose not to this time around so he could decompress to get enough sleep before his early flight.

Featured image: @jaycutler on Instagram