Jay Cutler Refuses to Start Chest Day Without Training a Completely Unrelated Body Part
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Like most bodybuilders, Jay Cutler is a creature of habit. Even though the four-time Mr. Olympia no longer trains to compete, he’s still committed to training the same way that made him a dominant force during the early 2000s.
One of Cutler’s non-negotiables centers around how he starts every chest workout. On Nov. 26, 2024, the 51-year-old began his routine focusing on a muscle group that has nothing to do with building massive pecs.
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Jay Cutler Puts Calves Before Pecs
Instead of diving straight into a set of cable crossovers or seated chest flyes, Cutler starts each chest workout the same way: by training his calves.
At first glance, it seems like a strange way to start a pec-building session. After all, most people pencil calves into their leg workouts — a logical approach that certainly isn’t wrong.
However, Cutler has a different outlook.
- “I only train them on chest day,” he explained. “What I try to do is prioritize muscles, especially what I call minor muscles, so it would be forearms, the calves, whatever, that you might not put as much effort into.”
Cutler noted that he tried training calves daily, every other day, and even three times a week. However, between decades of trial and error and observing other lifters, he identified a major drawback to the typical calf-building strategies.
“What people tend to do is they say, “Ah I gotta train calves,” but the intensity is just not there anymore,” he explained. “You’re spent from the workout.”
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To reap the most hypertrophy rewards, Cutler concentrates on just three calf exercises:
- Standing Calf Raise
- Seated Calf Raise
- Donkey Kick (variation of a glute kickback)
That combination of movements provides a sufficient stimulus for Cutler, who sticks with two warm-up sets and three working sets for each exercise. He also offered this piece of advice for people who want to maximize their calf-building efforts.
“The secret to calf growth is a really nice stretch and a great peak contraction,” Cutler explained. “It’s a stubborn muscle, so sometimes you have to adjust to a lot of reps, lower reps, heavy weight. I think the more consistency you get your mind to muscle connection, you can get some growth out of the calves.”
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Olympia-Level Chest Workout
After taking care of his top priority, Cutler cranked up the intensity with an epic chest workout that included the following exercises:
- Incline Press Machine
- Dumbbell Bench Press
- Atlantis Pec Flye
- Flat Cable Flye
- Pec Deck Machine
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Here are key takeaways from his training session that you can apply on your next chest day:
- Cutler never uses full extension on incline presses, as he prefers to shorten the range of motion to keep constant tension on his pectoral muscles. Time under tension, of course, is one of the biggest drivers of muscle growth.
- To tighten or build up the lower chest, Cutler says to focus on your diet, as most people “carry a little more body fat” in that area. He also recommends decline flye movements.
- According to Cutler, the flat cable fly is the No. 1 chest-building movement because the pulleys provide constant tension. On the other hand, you can lose tension with free weights.
Although it’s a bit unconventional to put pecs and calves in the same workout, doing things differently can sometimes spark better results.
Of course, for Jay Cutler, it’s just rinse and repeat.
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Featured Image: @JayCutlerTV / YouTube
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