Jay Cutler compares his era of bodybuilding to the competitors today.
GI VAULT – is an extension of our GI Exclusive interviews. The difference? These interviews come straight out of the Generation Iron vault from the cutting room floor of our feature film documentaries. With over hours of interview footage that doesn’t make it into our final films, we’re now releasing them out into the world.
Comparisons of today’s competitive bodybuilders to past eras have been discussed often in the bodybuilding industry. The entire debate came to its peak when Brandon Curry won the Mr. Olympia 2019. Shortly after, Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman made comments stating that Curry wouldn’t be able to land in the top 5 during their eras of competing. In our GI Exclusive Vault interview, Jay Cutler shares his thoughts on bodybuilding today compared to his era.
During our interview with Jay Culter for the filming of Generation Iron 3, there was over an hour of footage that couldn’t make it into the final film. Now with the release of Generation Iron: Natty 4 Life, we’re going back and releasing exclusive vault interviews from the cutting room floor of our past films. With the debate of modern bodybuilding vs past eras getting more heated than ever – we pulled this interview segment of Jay Cutler sharing his thoughts on today’s bodybuilders.
While this interview is from 2018, the statements made by Jay Cutler still feel relevant after so many other legends have shared their thoughts on today’s bodybuilders. Our conversation with Jay started discussing about pro cards. Are too many pro cards being given out? Jay Cutler believes so – and thinks that more pro cards hurts both the athletes and the amateur promoters.
With more pro cards being given out compared to past eras, we wanted to know how Jay Cutler felt about today’s top competitors. While he didn’t single anyone out – he did make a point to say that he thinks modern bodybuilding lacks passion. The reason? Jay believes it’s due to social media and the internet.
Jay Cutler reflects back on his younger years. He explains that the gym for him was a sanctuary to relieve stress. He eventually realized he had a genetic gift to build muscle. Regardless of his natural talents – his love for training was front and center.
“But I loved to train. And I didn’t bring phones into the gym. I didn’t shoot things.” Jay Cutler states in our interview. He continues:
“Now people train for Instagram. They train to make themselves look like something. It’s just – a lot of what you see on social media is just a facade. They’re lives aren’t that great. That’s why I believe that it’s just kind of – there’s been no real passion in a lot of these people’s vision… So for me, I was very passionate. I feel like it lacks a lot of passion now.”
From what Jay Cutler states here – it almost seems like the extra exposure that competitive bodybuilding received via the internet has actually led to less passion in the sport. People do it for the attention rather than a true love of the sport itself. The big question is – do you agree? Or does each era always find future generations to be less than – the old man syndrome for lack of a better word?
Jay Cutler is certainly no old man but his words still fall in line with even older bodybuilding legends like Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman. You can hear Jay’s full comments in our latest GI Exclusive Vault interview segment above!
