4x Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler Shares 6 Exercises for Massive Arm Growth

Jay Cutler’s 6 arm exercises for hypertrophy (muscle growth). 

Former Mr. Olympia champion and fitness icon, Jay Cutler is in fantastic shape for his age. Of course, he was a bodybuilding icon as a 4x Mr. Olympia spanning from 2006-2010 and a 6x runner-up. At 5’9” tall, he’s still considered one of the best bodybuilders and managed an epic rivalry with 8x Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman. Still, he’s managed to stay in fantastic shape well after retirement.

In a previous Instagram post, Jay Cutler shared a few of his top arm exercisesthat keep his arms burly.

In the Instagram video, Cutler stated:

“How to build the most insane arms. My top three movements for biceps would be hammer curls, which are a little turned in, alternate dumbbell curls and lastly, the barbell curls. But for triceps, which is the larger muscle of the arm, I would say dips are really really beneficial.

Your row press downs, which I get a great contraction out of. And lastly, the French over-head press is really solid for building the most insane arms.” 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mr O Jay Cutler (@jaycutler)

Jay Cutler’s 6 Arm Exercises 

Of course, your biceps and triceps muscles make up your arm’s muscles. (Your triceps take up the bulk of your arms.) Cutler says hammer curls, alternate dumbbell curls, and barbell curls are his top 3 movements for biceps. And he recommends dips, row press downs, and Frech presses for triceps. 

Hammer Curls 

Hammer curls are great for targeting the long head of your biceps and your forearms. Since it’s done in a neutral grip (palms facing each other), it also allows you to use heavier weights than other dumbbell movements. In addition, it places less strain on your wrists. 

Alternate Dumbbell Curls 

As the name suggests, the alternate dumbbell curls perform dumbbell curls one at a time. Alternating curling one dumbbell at a time will help you fix any muscular imbalances in each arm. Moreover, it can lead to more arm growth since you’ll have a better mind-muscle connection. 

Barbell Curls 

The barbell curls are, without a doubt, one of the best biceps exercises you can perform. And it’s a staple in many elite athletes’ workout plans. This movement will enable you to use the most weight possible for your biceps since it’s done with a barbell. It would help if you were cautious of your wrists, though. So if you feel some pain in your wrist, you can do this exercise with an EZ bar instead of a straight bar. The curve of the EZ bar reduces wrist tension. 

Dips 

Dips are an excellent triceps movement for testing your bodyweight strength. However, they require you to push your body weight up with your triceps. And it’s also a compound exercise that targets your shoulders and chest muscles. To make this exercise more challenging, you can attach a weightlifting belt to increase the load. 

Rope Press Downs (Cable Rope Triceps Extension)

Cutler says he gets an excellent triceps contraction on the rope press downs, aka cable rope triceps extensions. This exercise is done on a cable machine. So it keeps the tension on your triceps throughout each degree of the movement. The cable rope will let you hit the head of your triceps more than a straight bar. 

French Presses

The French presses are an overhead triceps extension performed with an EZ barbell. It will let you use heavy weights and engage your triceps’ long head. In addition, it will activate your pecs, deltoids, and abs as stabilizers. 

Reps, Sets, and Rest 

We recommend that you perform fewer reps for your biceps and more reps for your triceps to maximize muscle growth for each muscle group. So, stick with weights in the 6-8 rep range for your biceps. And you can increase the reps count to 8-10 reps for the tricep exercises. 

We recommend you start with two sets for each exercise if you’re a beginner, but you can attempt 4-5 sets if you’re an advanced lifter. Here’s an example workout:

Since your arms are a smaller muscle group compared to other muscle groups, such as your back and chest, you don’t need to take as long rests between sets. We recommend keeping the rest to 60-90 seconds for your triceps and upping the rest slightly to 90 seconds to 2 minutes for your biceps since you’re doing fewer reps but heavier weight.

Wrap Up 

4x Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler named a few of his top biceps and triceps movements that’s helped carve his massive arms. Cutler states his favorite exercises for the biceps are hammer curls, alternate hammer curls, and barbell curls. In addition, he says French presses, rope press downs, and dips are stellar triceps exercises. 

If you want to build massive arms, we recommend including Jay Cutler’s arm exercises in your workout routine and trying out the workout above. And if you’d like to see more of Jay Cutler’s monster workouts, check out the shoulder and triceps workout he shared during his “Fit For 50” routine. 

Follow Generation Iron on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for more workout tips from elite bodybuilders!