Former Mr. Olympia winners Jay Cutler and Phil Heath are considered among the greatest all-time bodybuilders. Cutler came onto the scene in the late 1990s and retired in 2013. Phil “The Gift” Heath made his presence known in 2005, thanks partly to Cutler, and left the Olympia stage for the final time in 2020.
Heath and Cutler faced off on the Olympia stage five times — Cutler outranked Heath three of those five times. Together, they hold 11 Sandow Trophies — Cutler’s four and Heath’s seven (consecutive).
The two legends gathered on an edition of Cutler’s “CutlerCast” in mid-March 2025, and covered much of current bodybuilding’s headlines, including the 2025 Arnold Classic and the current state of bodybuilding overall.
Heath expressed that even though bodybuilding is not in a bad place, there may not be as many elite-level competitors on the pro circuit compared to previous eras.
“We’re not in a down year. We just don’t have a certain talent pool,” Heath expressed. “In the 90s, the talent pool was the Levrones, Cormier, Flex (Wheeler). The talent pool now is just different bodybuilders.”
Heath and co-host Matt Daniels referenced the impact of social media on the bodybuilding scene, including how it affects athletes’ feelings about the need to maintain relevance and spread misinformation about how to prepare.
Cutler was the top bodybuilder in the sport at the dawn of social media. He explained the significance of those platforms then versus now.
“We were heavy on Twitter, but you didn’t have as many people looking at the images all day long,” Cutler said. “I remember when Instagram started this whole thing…even before video or storylines, you just had memories on there.”
Looking back at Heath’s career, including his rivalry with three-time Arnold Classic champion Kai Greene, who has teased a potential return at the 2025 Masters Olympia. Heath shut down online rumors of his own return to the stage:
There’s no Masters Olympia for me.
—Phil Heath
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Featured Image: @jaycutler on Instagram
