Why doesn't Jay Cutler bench press? Real reason explored

Modified Mar 13, 2024 12:33 GMT

Jay Cutler is a retired US professional bodybuilder. Amongst his many achievements, he has won the Mr. Olympia title four times and the Arnold Classic three times.

He is unarguably one of the best bodybuilders in history. Along with coveted titles, his ripped muscles have helped him feature in international fitness magazines and DVDs. Only a glimpse at his physique is enough to guess the kind of hard training regimens Cutler must have followed to build and maintain his muscles.

Bodybuilders, weightlifters, and powerlifters commonly practice many gym exercises. However, bodybuilding is much different compared to the two other sports. In bodybuilding, the goal is to develop muscles for aesthetic purposes as they are judged on their physical appearance and not on how much weight they can lift.

In Jay Cutler's own words to Muscle and Fitness,

"I don’t train for strength, so it doesn’t matter to me if I bench three plates or five. I might come in next week and do only three plates."

Often, a bodybuilder's gym routine looks very different from a lifter's. The former focuses on training a group of muscles rather than just one movement.

So even though iconic bodybuilder Jay Cutler thinks bench press is beneficial, he doesn't practice it very frequently, which otherwise is a very popular gym exercise. And this is when his chest stats are 58 inches.

Bench press is a weight training exercise where the trainee presses the weight upwards from their chest while lying down on a weight training bench. It is primarily practiced to develop the chest, shoulder, tricep, and back muscles.

As effective as the bench press can be in building muscle, injuries can also happen due to one wrong move. Pushing heavy weights from your chest requires a lot of back strength. So, if a bench press is not done correctly, the back muscles can get strained, which might lead to back problems.

Jay Cutler spoke about how he does bench presses and the possibility of injuries to Muscle and Fitness. He said:

"When I’m benching, I don’t touch the chest because that’s when most people tear their pecs. When you push back up out of the low position, the pecs are totally stretched out, and that’s when you’re most susceptible to injuries. I don’t lock out because that’s mostly triceps and shoulders taking over. I want to keep the focus on the pecs. That midrange is what really builds mass."

Bench presses can be done with a barbell or free weights such as dumbbells. Jay Cutler, in particular, prefers doing his bench presses with free weights.

"I don’t do as much work with Hammer Strength equipment anymore. I’m more of a free-weight guy. Free weights can’t be beat for mass."

He also talked about how adding plates unnecessarily to a bench press can be more harmful than effective.

"I never got caught in heavy benching. I could put five plates on and get a couple reps, but what’s the point? It’s not the best way to build muscle, but it is the best way to injure yourself. The ideal muscle-building range is eight to 10 reps."

So, what alternative exercises does Jay Cutler practice to develop his incredible pec muscles?

Alternative chest exercises that Jay Cutler practices

Jay Cutler (via Jay Cutler on Instagram)

A ton of chest exercises can be performed to build, develop and maintain pec muscles. Jay Cutler typically uses cables for his chest workouts. The cables can add more range without straining the back and connect to the chest muscles better.

Cutler sometimes likes to incorporate a few interesting exercises that he usually doesn't use. One of them is a supine cable fly.

It is a take on the dumbbell fly, except that he uses the cables coming from the ground on either side of him. Speaking to Revolutionary Program Design, Jay Cutler shared why he likes this particular movement. He said:

"This exercise burns more than all the other chest exercises that I do. It’s just a great exercise to really engage the muscle and get some extra blood flow in there."

He also does cable crossovers, dumbbell pullovers, V-bar dips, incline dumbbell fly, machine pec dec, and decline bench press, amongst other exercises.

While talking about decline bench press to Revolutionary Program Design, Cutler mentioned,

"People think the decline bench press builds the lower pecs but it actually builds the upper pecs when done my style."

But the most important part of Jay Cutler's workout routine is to follow instinct. He also advises the same to others who might try to imitate his routines. Cutler suggests understanding how muscles work and function and then working your own way.

Finding exercises that suit your body and physical requirements is indeed better than just following routines.