Definitely like to see how I can build my upper chest more
See if there's something I can steal from you
A Mr Olmpia style workout.
You had a chest so big you could rest your chin on it
When I use to sleep on the planes my chin would rest on my chest
Let's just go through your chest routine
everyone wants to know what you do for chest
the type of chest routine that you would do if you were trying to build it
Not just a maintenance program
the routine you did early on in your career to build mass
let's start with a machine press to warm up the chest
and then we'll work right into it
I think people have a hard time learning to feel a muscle
so with chest are there any tricks you use?
most importantly when you do a chest movement you need to focus on keeping the chest high
you don't want to curl over
you want to keep the chest out so you can contract
everything is about contraction not just pushing the weight
so most importantly you want to feel that peak contraction but not locking out the elbows. Just a really good squeeze from the chest
If you put your mind into the muscle
and visualize the chest working from the bottom to the top
which I can see. Your upper chest is flexing
from the bottom up. Everything is working from the bottom up
you have to have a plan of attack every time you go to the gym
so what I try to do is visualize every workout
prior to walking into the gym
so we started training here and I'm not used to working out in this gym
but I can tell you what I'm going to do for 2nd and 3rd exercise
as soon as you say chest it's an automatic switch
and I know what I'm going to do
I notice when you train you do your reps with a nice steady rhythm.
there's no resting at the bottom or top
because the reps for me look shorter because I'm bigger
so really what I'm trying to do when I get into it
the chest starts off in a contracted position
the movement is only where I can feel my chest pumping
let's put a 25 on there
I'm sure you viewers don't want to see Mr Olympia train with light weight
imagine me with 70 pounds more muscle
since we're the same height
I'm only 175 pounds
Oh, you're 5 feet 7 inches tall too? LOL
You're 5' 7" according to Frank Zane
James said, How does it feel to be 5 foot 7 inches?
So, all you guys, facts: Jay Cutler is 5 foot 9 inches
come on. 2 more
One more. One more
One more
Good
Everyone always does incline for upper chest
how do you feel about upper chest versus lower chest since it's only one muscle?
there's no way to really isolate
I believe it's a farce
to think incline is only going to work upper chest
Right, it's only one muscle group
It's going to help but remember angles is how you build muscle
that's why we choose different movements
People always believe that if they lack upper chest
that incline movements are going to help that
either someone has an upper chest or they don't
I've seen guys do tons of incline and their upper chest never grows
It's the whole chest in itself. Remember you work it from the bottom up.
As you build, your upper chest is going to have no choice but to grow
everyone's body is going to be different
so all of this should contract every rep. See that?
Good squeeze
It's all about the contraction, each rep
Right now I'm squeezing
At that peak I'm squeezing the chest
Now remember guys you always want to spot from the elbows
Work with the body
And never slam your weights either!
Only I can do that in my home gym
No yelling either
Do you ever yell? Honestly?
Only when I wanted peoples attention. LOL
attention? LOL
so throughout your career you've built up to, say on a big muscle group like chest
20 total sets, so
so what were you doing, say 5 exercises at 4 sets each?
I was doing 3 exercises times 6 sets
plus the warmups and a couple extras
the best way is to actually watch someone do something
like these type of workouts where you can see what he does
90% out of anyone who approaches Jay Cutler anywhere in the world
will say to me, I watch your videos on youtube
Did you just refer to yourself in the 3rd person? LOL
Yeah. LOL
I guess when you're Jay Cutler you can.
They watch the youtube videos
because it's free
and it's the best content you can find out there for people to see
OK, come on, let's go. Up!
Good
What do you work up to on a flat bench?
I don't do much flat bench
There was a time that I did
Then I was a lot stronger
You know the strongest I ever was, and I wasn't that strong
I was always skinny with long arms
So bench was never a strong exercise for me but
I could do 315 pounds for 5 reps
That was at my strongest
But now it's usually 225 pounds for 12 reps
Same thing with this.
Bar never touches your chest
Do you ever tell people things they should envision?
I tell people to envision squeezing the hands close together to get that contraction
What I do is tuck my chin so I can feel my chest contract and touch my chin
Well...my chest isn't that big. LOL
to me, "bro science" is something that you heard in the gym that isn't founded on anything real
other than someone told you and you just take it as fact
To me, that's what bro science is
Yeah
So through the years what was that balance for you
between real science, academic science, and application and finding what works for you
I never went for textbook anything
So if someone wrote a book about biomechanics
and how the muscle functions
I didn't give a shit about that
I learned from reading books of Arnold and Bob Paris
and Frank Zane and Chris Dickerson
these guys that put out content
I can appreciate the foundation of science
but people get way to hung up on science right now
they read the science hoping they are going to find a scientific shortcut
and you see all these videos, a shortcut to this and shortcut to that
But..there are no shortcuts
What was the physique that inspired you?
Bob Paris
He was the ultimate aesthetic physique
He was the best physique of all time
He truly was. Frank Zane had an awesome physique. Don't get me wrong.
Zane's physique inspired me because he was our height
at his max weight he was only 190 pounds
But Bob Paris had those perfect lines
Yeah, guys watching this. Make sure you go check out Bob Paris.
You guys can google pictures because a lot of people don't know the name
but when I was 16 I picked up a book at GNC
Because there were no real specialty supplement stores at the time
You walked into GNC because that's where all the products were sold
and there I bought a book called Beyond Built
And it was the first bodybuilding book I ever read
But I didn't start training until 2 years after that
Bob Paris' book showed all the instructions on how to do the movements
So what we're going to do now
What weight do you have there?
I hate to call this a cable crossover
It's on 55
Because it's not a cable crossover
It's just a cable flye
So instead of crossing over you're just squeezing to the middle?
Too many people step into the movement and do this
And it's like we talked about
Your chest is going to curl forward and over
and you'll hit more shoulders and arms
What I'm going to do is step out
And I'm going to come out
and really just contract the chest
So squeeze in and then out
You're really going to feel this in the bottom of the pecs
Same as the other exercises, you're not going too far with the deep stretch
nope, just constant tension
You can see all the muscle fibers coming out
It's a great movement once you get a lot of blood into the muscle
You can first do some compound movements and then come in and stretch the muscle out
and then determine if you need to go further with the workout
you notice how I get that squeeze?
just like that
Every rep
It's like the weight is just there to assist but you can get the squeeze even without the weight
I can understand why people like to call this a finisher exercise
because as you notice, what James is doing here
He's really squeezing and holding that top position
He's got a count of about 2
Which I'll only hold it for about 1 second
He's got a little more hold to it
But he's really really getting that contraction and bringing those muscle fibers out
You really do bring your chin down to your chest
You can see that?
Yeah
You're just making sure it's contracting
I'll tuck my chin to feel the muscle contracting
I can really feel my upper chest hit my chin
It's not because holding your chin down is for the mechanics but so you can physically feel the muscle contract
Just as if you were putting your hand there to make sure the muscle contracts
Yep
You noticed that?
Yeah yeah
See if you never said that
You just pointed out something that I never thought in my mind
I just do it
As you said it, I was like wow
That's why I do it
So, 4 movements
4 sets apiece
So 16 sets
So on a normal, full workout what other muscle would you pair chest with?
Since everyone's training split is different
I've done it all
But now I do chest one day
shoulders one day
legs one day, back one day
arms one day
so there's 5 total days a week that I workout
but very rarely do I do 5 days in a row
and that's mostly because of the traveling
but if travelling weren't an obstacle would you train Monday through Friday
and rest on the weekends, or do you still break it up?
no, usually not more than 3 days in a row
because by that 3rd day I'm pretty tired
So I would normally train 3 days on
one day off
then 2 days on
and then one day off
so through your whole career have you only done one bodypart per week?
Yes no. I've done one muscle group every 5 to 7 days
I've never done twice a week, like if my arms were weak
I don't believe in that
I don't believe if a muscle like arms are weaker that training them twice a week will help
I don't believe in that
What's your philosophy then on bringing up weak muscle groups?
the amount of energy you put into training strong muscle groups versus weak muscle groups
so lets' say you were trying to get bigger arms
How would you devote more time and energy into that muscle?
You know, I had weak calves
for example
and I noticed that when I first started going to the gym that I worked out calves and chest together
So I would go in and train calves first
I would put all my energy into doing calves
and my calves started to grow
instead of starting with chest because no matter what
at the end of your workout you're not going to train as hard as you do in the beginning
remember it's still just about the consistency of getting in the gym and training
mind to muscle connection
Do an exercise that not necessarily Ronnie Coleman or Jay Cutler do
you have to find what works for you
focus say on isolation exercises like preacher curls or preacher machines
you know, cables with more constant tension
there's always going to be more tension with cables than swinging dumbbells or bars
so you have to look at the overall picture and not just limit yourself
and say, "well this is or that exercise is a mass builder". That's a misconception
People think if you don't use dumbbells and barbells you won't get big arms
But you'd be stunned to see what guys have built with cables, light weight and bands
The strongest I've ever been I was incorporating bands into my exercises
There's nothing wrong with that. I've used bands especially when I'm in hotels
People can laugh at that but it all comes down to tension. That's what makes a muscle grow
Well cool man. This was cool for me.
No matter how long I've been training I'm always curious to see other peoples perspectives
Everyone has their own way of doing it and you just pick and choose what you like
Well the thing is, next week I could come in and do this same chest workout and it would be different
It's going to go by the day
I felt good today
See what next week brings us
I take everything 15 minutes at a time
Your whole life?
YES!
Just 15 minutes at a time
Hey, well it keeps you more present in life right?
Well, now I'm going to go have some protein and carbs
and get my next meal in
alright, appreciate it dude