Four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler didn’t become known as one of the best posers on the Olympia stage without front-loading his chest. Before the age of 33, Cutler hadn’t accumulated any of his eventual four Olympia wins. A critical factor for collecting those Mr. Olympia titles was learning training cues to add mass to his chest.
On March 21, 2023, Cutler revealed training tips to correctly perform the dumbbell bench press for chest growth on his YouTube channel. Check it out below:
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Cutler started his chest workout on the machine bench press. He recommends resting 45 to 60 seconds between sets. Warm-up sets won’t require as much load as working sets. Therefore, the rest between sets shouldn’t be as long.
The second movement was machine incline chest flyes. This is an accessory exercise that develops the upper chest. Cutler feels a medium grip is best. He defaults to that grip on nearly every machine movement. Grasping the handle in the middle disperses the load effectively on each side.
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Jay Cutler’s Dumbbell Bench Press Tips
The dumbbell bench press was Cutler’s third and favorite exercise. He offered the following tips to maximize chest hypertrophy:
Don’t Push the Dumbbells Together
Touching or clanging the dumbbells together at the top of the movement (read: the full contracted position) is a big no-no for the four-time Mr. Olympia.
“When [bringing] the dumbbells together, you’re getting your triceps involved,” said Cutler. “Keep it in a straight up-and-down motion. As I’m doing that, I’m squeezing my chest.”
Keep Chest and Shoulders Retracted
Keep the chest and shoulders retracted during the movement to ensure the tension says on the pecs through the full range of motion. Rounding the shoulders can disperse the tension, removing stimulus from the pecs.
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[Read More: Best Upper Chest Exercises for Building Muscle]
Cutler also taught his audience how to drop the dumbbells after the last rep. Drop them flat without letting the endings of the dumbbells touch the ground first — the dumbbells should drop parallel to the floor. That prevents the dumbbells from bouncing.
At 49 years old, Jay Cutler’s primary goal is to maintain the physique he’s built, though he’d like to cap his shoulders further and tone his back ahead of his “Fit for 50” challenge.
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Featured image @jaycutler on Instagram.
