Dr. Mike Israetel watched a Jay Cutler workout and shared his thoughts.
Jay Cutler is one of the all-time greats on the bodybuilding stage. Recently, Dr. Mike Israetel of RP Strength broke down a leg workout from the four-time Olympia champ during the prime of his career.
“When I criticize professional bodybuilders and strength trainers, they’ve gained a level of respect. They know a lot of things and that’s evident in their physiques.”
Israetel is a Doctor of Sport Physiology who has his own athletic background. He has competed on stage as a bodybuilder while also being a competitive Brazilian jiu-jitsu grappler. He has critiqued workouts and techniques from the likes of The Rock and Mark Wahlberg. This time, he dove into an insane bodybuilding workout from Cutler.
Jay Cutler’s Smith Machine Squats
The workout began with Jay Cutler on the smith machine performing squats. He focuses on the form and going down as far as possible to work the muscle.
“Awesome, awesome technique. Great depth.”
It is highlighted on the bottom of the screen that Cutler performs three sets of 8-10 reps with just 30-45 seconds in between sets. Israetel comments on the rest time and suggests that the average person take more time to recover.
“That’s intense. If we were to take it at face value, 30-45 seconds of rest between squats, that’s tough. That’s crazy cardio capacity. For most people, I’d say rest longer until you get your breathe back. For most people, that happens after minutes of rest, not seconds.”
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At the end of the exercise, Israetel credits Cutler for his form and how he allows his legs to do the work instead if incorporating his back.
“This is great technique, by the way. Fully controlled. You notice Jay Cutler’s chest is up really high that makes his back super vertical and make his legs do most of the work instead of his back.”
Proper Hydration During Workout
In the midst of this workout, Jay Cutler talks about his hydration. He admits that he has trouble staying hydrated and that despite this, drinking water is a struggle. Mike Israetel says this is because of the salt lost in sweat and just water might not be enough.
“Drinking water is an awesome way to hydrate unless you’ve lost a lot sweating. Because remember, sweat isn’t just water. There is a significant amount of salt in sweat, all different sorts of electrolytes. If you just hydrate with water, you won’t get them back.”
Electrolytes are flushed out through sweat and when you are drinking straight water, this will be lost in urine. This process can dehydrate you even more. Israetel recommends using a drink to regain electrolytes either the day before this workout or during it.
“The way to solve this problem is taking in a certain amount of salt with your rehydrating formula.”
Different Types Of Focus
Cutler shared that he does not show his legs while training. He prefers to keep them covered and this plays into one of the two different types of focus during training.
External focus is when you look at yourself in the mirror to make sure form is correct. This comes from what you can see. Internal focus is your own awareness of the position of your body. It uses proprioception to maximize strength and contractions.
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Cutler prefers to focus on his form internally. He also did not plan this workout ahead. Instead, he walked into the gym and put together his routine on the spot.
“Most people shouldn’t be doing this. Most people can benefit from a very well strutted approach but Jay Cutler is not most people. He knows his body super well. If you are really in tune with your body and it’s the last few weeks of contest prep, you gotta kind of treat it day-by-day.”
Jay Cutler Leg Day Final Rating
Mike Israetel gave his final rating of Cutler’s workout and it was a good one. He shared that he critiques Hollywood stars more because they “typically do dumb sh*t” and have more attention from the outside world. Professional bodybuilders put together better workouts and the results show.
“I rate this workout a Jay Cutler is the f*cking man and is a reincarnation of JFK out of 10.”
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