Want to train like a four-time Mr. Olympia? This is the Jay Cutler workout and diet plan from his prime.
Only six men in history have won the Mr. Olympia title four or more times. That list includes legends Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, Phil Heath, and Jay Cutler.
In the early 2000s, bodybuilding was all about mass, and Jay fit the mold perfectly. The athletes were larger than life. To even stand on stage, you needed nearly 300 pounds of muscle. Jay did more than show up—he went toe-to-toe with the biggest freaks in the game and held his own.
But his legacy goes far beyond trophies. For over two decades, Jay was one of the most recognizable names in bodybuilding. Even years after stepping off stage, he remains a massive presence online, with millions of followers and a loyal fan base. And for good reason—few athletes bring his level of experience, insight, and results.
In this article, we break down the exact Jay Cutler workout and diet plan from his Olympia-winning prime—including his training split, high-volume sessions, and the mass-gaining meals that built one of the most dominant physiques in the sport.
Let’s get into it.
The Jay Cutler Workout Training Split
At the peak of his bodybuilding career, the Jay Cutler workout consisted of a three-on, one-off, two-on, one-off training schedule. His back and leg workouts were so demanding that he always placed a rest day after each.
Like most bodybuilders of his era, he trained each muscle group once a week, allowing it sufficient time to recover before working it again. To take it a step further, sometimes, Jay would split his back or leg days into two sessions—mornings focused on width or quads, and afternoons on thickness or hamstrings. It was a strategic way to increase volume without compromising intensity.
Jay Cutler’s Olympia-Era Training Split:
- Monday: Chest and Calves
- Tuesday: Triceps and Biceps
- Wednesday: Back
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: Shoulders and Traps
- Saturday: Quads, Hamstrings, Calves
- Sunday: Rest
Even in retirement, Jay sticks to a similar split. The difference now is that he trains for longevity, not the Olympia stage—so the volume and intensity have come down, but the structure remains.
Jay Cutler Workout Routine
Below is the workout routine Jay used during his run to four Mr. Olympia titles and one of the most iconic physiques in bodybuilding history.
Monday: Chest and Calves
Jay kicks off the week with chest and calves. Early in his career, his chest was a weak point. With naturally wide shoulders and a thick frame, his chest looked flat in comparison. Like most young lifters, he focused too much on how much he could bench. Over time, he learned that muscle growth is less about weight and more about form, control, and maximizing tension.
To prioritize calves, he occasionally trained them first. But most days, chest came before calves.
He generally started with an incline press—usually Hammer Strength or dumbbells—to target the upper chest. From there, he transitioned to flat dumbbell presses, favoring them over the barbell due to the increased range of motion. Next up: incline dumbbell flys, though Jay’s form blurred the line between fly and press.
After dumbbells, he’d hit parallel bar dips. At 260+ pounds, bodyweight alone was plenty. Then he’d finish off his chest with a few sets of decline barbell press to target the lower pecs.
To cap off the session, Jay trained the calves performing standing and seated raises. He preferred to do them with chest, since leg day already had enough volume to crush anyone.
The Workout
- Hammer Strength Incline Press: 3 sets x 8–10 reps
- Flat Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 sets x 8–10 reps
- Incline Dumbbell Fly: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Parallel Bar Dips: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Decline Barbell Press: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Standing Calf Raise Machine: 3 sets x 12–15 reps
- Seated Calf Raise: 3 sets x 12–15 reps
Tuesday: Triceps and Biceps
Day two is arm day, which is always a favorite. Jay preferred training triceps and biceps together instead of pairing them with other muscle groups. There are a few advantages to this. For one, it ensures the arms are trained fresh instead of throwing them in at the end of another workout. But, maybe more importantly, full arm days also allow for one hell of a pump.
He always started with triceps to get blood flowing through the arms before moving to biceps. The workout begins with rope pressdowns, starting with a couple of light warm-up sets before progressing to three sets of hard work. Pressdowns are the perfect first triceps exercise because they’re gentle on the elbows and can be easily moved through in quick warm-up sets.
Next, he switches to straight bar pressdowns. Jay leans slightly forward and keeps his shoulders over the bar to move more weight and stay locked into the triceps.
After the two variations of pressdowns, he moves into one of the best triceps mass builders: the close-grip bench press. Even though Jay is incredibly strong, he uses a moderate load and focuses on keeping the tension squarely on the triceps, rather than on the chest or shoulders.
After that, it’s on to the dip machine. The machine allows him to keep his torso upright, again emphasizing the triceps rather than the chest. To finish his triceps workout, he performs EZ bar skull crushers followed by single-arm reverse grip pressdowns using a D-handle, ensuring each side works equally hard.
Now, it’s on to biceps.
He starts with seated dumbbell alternating curls, using a slight amount of body English, but still maintaining constant tension on the muscle. Next is the machine incline curl, followed by barbell preacher curls. Each one targets the biceps from a slightly different angle.
To round things out, Jay does dumbbell hammer curls for the brachialis and overhead cable curls to bring out his biceps peak. Sometimes, if he wanted to hit forearms, he’d tack on a few sets of wrist curls and reverse wrist curls at the end.
The Workout
- Rope Pressdown: 3 sets x 12–15 reps
- Straight Bar Pressdown: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Close Grip Bench Press: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Dip Machine: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- EZ Bar Skull Crushers: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Single-Arm Reverse Pressdown (D-Handle): 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Seated Dumbbell Alternating Curl: 3 sets x 8–10 reps
- Machine Incline Curl: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Barbell Preacher Curl: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Dumbbell Hammer Curl: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Overhead Cable Curl: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
Wednesday: Back
Early in his career, Jay Cutler was stuck in Ronnie Coleman’s shadow. Ronnie, arguably the greatest bodybuilder of all time, was an unbeatable force. Jay placed second to him at the Mr. Olympia four times. But that losing streak became a turning point. It forced Jay to dissect every detail of his physique. The biggest gap between him and Coleman? His back.
To bring it up, Jay trained back with relentless volume and variety. He’d start with two variations of lat pulldowns. First, underhand lat pulldowns using a supinated grip, pulling to the upper chest. Then he’d switch to a wide-grip overhand pulldown or use a neutral-grip attachment, targeting different angles of the lats.
Next up: deadlifts. Jay was strong enough to lift a house, but unlike Ronnie, he didn’t show it. Jay typically kept the weight at or below 405 pounds to focus on muscle activation rather than ego lifting.
Old-school t-bar rows came next, key for developing back thickness. He finished with three row types: dumbbell, barbell, and seated cable rows, each targeting different planes.
The Workout
- Underhand Lat Pulldown: 3 sets x 8–10 reps
- Wide or Neutral Grip Pulldown: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Deadlift: 3 sets x 6–8 reps
- T-Bar Row: 3 sets x 8–10 reps
- Dumbbell Row: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Barbell Row: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Seated Cable Row: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
Friday: Shoulders and Traps
For the shoulders, Jay employed a pre-exhaust strategy, starting with side raises before proceeding to any pressing exercises. By targeting the medial delts first, he ensured they were trained fresh and got priority. He performed side raises seated to eliminate momentum and keep the focus where it belonged.
From there, he moved into two pressing variations—usually a seated dumbbell shoulder press followed by a machine press. The combo gave him the benefits of both free weights and controlled, constant tension.
Next came rear delts. Jay hit three solid sets on the reverse pec deck to make sure the back of his shoulders matched the front and sides.
To finish, he trained traps with dumbbell shrugs and upright rows. Nothing fancy—just volume, consistency, and effort.
The Workout
- Seated Dumbbell Side Raise: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 3 sets x 8–10 reps
- Machine Shoulder Press: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Reverse Pec Deck: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Dumbbell Shrug: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Barbell Upright Row: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
Saturday: Legs
The last workout of the week is leg day—and if you’ve ever seen Jay Cutler’s legs, you know this wasn’t just another training session. His wheels were massive, and this routine explains why. If you can survive this workout, you’re earning those leg gains.
To kick things off, he began with a few sets of leg extensions to warm up his knees and get some blood flowing. With his knees primed, it was straight into the main event: back squats. Jay credits a huge chunk of his leg development to heavy squatting, and he never skipped it.
Moving on, he hit the leg press and followed up with dumbbell lunges. If the gym had the space, he’d go for walking lunges. If not, reverse lunges in place got the job done.
After lunges, the next exercise was hack squats—deep reps, no cutting corners—followed by working sets of leg extensions to fully exhaust the quads.
Once quads were torched, it was time for hamstrings. Jay ran through barbell Romanian deadlifts, followed by three variations of leg curls: seated, lying, and standing.
To finish, he wrapped up with a superset on the abduction and adduction machines—most guys skip it, Jay didn’t.
The Workout
- Leg Extension (warm-up): 2 sets x 12–15 reps
- Back Squat: 3 sets x 8–10 reps
- Leg Press: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Dumbbell Lunges: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Hack Squat: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Leg Extension: 3 sets x 12–15 reps
- Barbell Romanian Deadlift: 3 sets x 8–10 reps
- Seated Leg Curl: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Lying Leg Curl: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Standing Single Leg Curl: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Abduction Machine: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
- Adduction Machine: 3 sets x 10–12 reps
Jay Cutler Diet & Supplementation
At 300 pounds in the offseason, Jay Cutler didn’t just train like a machine—he had to eat like one, too. However, unlike many bodybuilders, Jay never had a large appetite. He doesn’t love food and rarely has cravings. For him, eating was all about fueling performance, not chasing flavor.
Curious what it takes to eat like an Olympia champion? Here’s a full day from Jay’s legendary diet plan. It’s not fancy, but every bite delivers results.
Breakfast:
- 2 cups egg whites
- 3 slices turkey bacon
- 1 scoop protein powder
- 4 slices Ezekiel bread
- 2 packets brown sugar oatmeal
- 1 cup coffee
Pre-Workout Meal:
- 8 oz ground chicken breast
- 2 cups white or brown rice
- 1 cup peppers and onions
- Sea salt
Post-Workout Shake:
- 2 scoops protein powder
- 60-80g of carbohydrate powder
Midday Meal:
- 8 oz ground chicken breast
- 2 cups white or brown rice
- Peppers and onions
- Sea salt
Dinner #1:
- 8 oz steak
- 12 oz sweet potato
- Broccoli
Dinner #2:
- 8 oz grilled chicken breast
- 2 cups white or brown rice
- Peppers and onions
- Sea salt
Pre-Bed Meal
- 8 oz steak
- 2 cups white or brown rice
Daily Total: Over 5100 calories, 490g of protein, 650g of carbohydrates, and 70g of fat
How You Can Train Like Jay Cutler
Most lifters aren’t ready to jump straight into the Jay Cutler workout. You don’t win four Mr. Olympia titles by following the crowd. Still, you can use his strategies to improve your training.
Train with Volume—But Earn It
Jay’s legendary volume took years to achieve. Don’t copy it blindly. Focus on quality sets, then gradually add more only once you’re handling the workload well. Volume’s important, but that’s not the only factor—how you approach your sets matters, too.
Move Fast Between Sets
Jay’s pace in the gym was relentless. He rested only 30 to 60 seconds between sets—even on heavy lifts. This kept his sessions efficient and the intensity high, leaving him soaked by the end. That intensity carried through every workout, driving his results forward.
If you tend to take long rest periods, follow Jay’s lead. Shorten your rest, keep your heart rate elevated, stay focused, and move between sets.
Prioritize Heavy Compound Movements
Jay built his physique on basics: the back squat, barbell rows, deadlifts, and overhead shoulder presses. Heavy compound lifts formed his foundation. Utilize machines and cables, but prioritize exercises that target multiple muscle groups simultaneously. Of course, getting strong isn’t just about piling weight on the bar—it’s also about training smart.
Leave the Ego at the Door
Jay Cutler was one of the largest bodybuilders in history, but he didn’t train with weights that were excessively heavy. Early on, he chased numbers like a powerlifter, but later realized that slightly lighter weights and higher reps yielded better results and healthier joints.
Don’t fall into the ego trap. Use weights that let you feel the muscle working, not just the bar moving. That’s how you grow—and stay healthy doing it.
Kyle Hunt
KyleHuntFitness@gmail.com
Hire Kyle as your coach: http://www.kylehuntfitness.com/services/
Ready to Build Muscle Like a Pro?
Jay Cutler’s routine isn’t for the average lifter, but the principles behind it can take your training to the next level. If you’re serious about building size, strength, and a complete physique, you need a plan that goes beyond generic templates.
That’s where Absolute Muscle comes in.
It’s my flagship hypertrophy program—built for lifters who want real results. You’ll get structured training, proven progression models, and everything you need to pack on serious muscle.
You’ve seen how Jay trained. Now it’s your turn to train like an animal.
