Jay Cutler discusses the misconceptions about pro bodybuilding… and how they prevent the sport from going mainstream.
When we asked Jay Cutler why professional bodybuilding hasn’t gone mainstream, his initial answer was, “because they never lived it.” To outsiders, mass monster physiques look so insane that it’s impossible to understand how the sport really works. It creates a divide that is hard to overcome. This, Culter argues, is what makes the sport so hard to become mainstream.
During our interview while filming Generation Iron 3, Jay Cutler detailed all of the misconceptions that non-bodybuilding fans have about the sport. The biggest being how much the athletes train in a single day. In our latest GI Exclusive Vault interview, Jay Cutler admits that pro bodybuilding came natural to him. He doesn’t feel like he had to put a lot of effort to become Mr. Olympia. Most would find that shocking. For Cutler it was just a way of life.
While discussing the concept of bodybuilding going mainstream, Jay Cutler made a point to state that the sport is widely misunderstood by most people. He recounts the many times people have seen his physique and asked him whether or not he trains eight ours a day. The reality is that Jay Cutler only trained 45 minutes a day. This often shocked people who didn’t know how bodybuilding really works.
Jay Cutler continued, stating that while he certainly worked hard to be Mr. Olympia, it wasn’t the hardest he had worked in his life. He looks back at his years training for football and finds those days far more challenging than his life training to be an Olympia champion.
“I can sit here and tell you, for me, I put in effort but I don’t feel like I put in a lot of effort to do what I did as Mr. Olympia and compete at that level,” Jay Cutler stated in our GI 3 interview. He continues:
“It was just routine. Like getting up and eating 20 egg white for breakfast and eating six meals or seven meals a day. And training twice or four times a day. To me it was fun.”
In some ways, this makes Jay Cutler lucky. The art of training, eating, and focusing on how to improve his body came natural to him. He never felt overwhelmed and he never felt that he couldn’t press on. This was how he enjoyed living his life. He enjoyed it much more than other sports that required “rolling around in the mud” as he recounts from his football years.
Perhaps this is the benefit of having superior genetics. Or maybe he simply had a personality that was more in tune with what bodybuilding required. Cutler goes on to explain that most people fall off of bodybuilding and fitness because of the repetition of workouts and diets. That’s where most people lose interest or find challenge. It’s not because training is actually extremely hard. It’s because for many it becomes boring.
Jay Cutler didn’t find it boring. He loved it. He has a passion for training and the repetition that comes with it. He admits that some of the diet specifics were challenging – but it wasn’t enough to place doubt in his mind about his career as a pro bodybuilder.
You can watch Jay Cutler’s full comments about the misconceptions of bodybuilding in our latest GI Exclusive interview above. You can also watch Generation Iron 3 on all major digital platforms. Click here or the banner below to stream or download today!
