Bodybuilding legend Jay Cutler still hits the gym seven days a week. Taking to his YouTube channel on March 25, 2025, he walked through the arm-building routine he sticks to in retirement.
Jay Cutler‘s bodybuilding career was defined by a handful of high moments. Most notably, he dethroned Ronnie Coleman in 2006 to kickstart his reign. While he dropped the Sandow trophy to Dexter Jackson in 2008, this set the groundwork for one of the sport’s most impressive comebacks.
Cutler brought his all-time best look in 2009, regaining the Olympia title and cementing his legacy with his iconic quad stomp pose. Even though he no longer competes, Cutler hasn’t forgotten about the exercise selection or intensity it took to catapult his name into bodybuilding history.
Jay Cutler Shows You His Optimal Arm-Building Workout Routine
In a recent YouTube video, Cutler offered a closer look at how he maintains his arms at 51.
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Find his exercise selections below:
- Kneeling Rope Pressdown
- Wider Bar Triceps Pushdown
- Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension/Lean on bench
- Tricep Extension Machine
- Machine Bicep Curl
- Seated J Bell Curl
- Machine Preacher Curl
- Standing Fat Grip Barbell Curl
- Cardio
Kneeling Rope Pressdown
Cutler hit some feel sets and stuck to 45-60-second rest periods.
“I’m going to do a couple of feel sets. With the ropes, the whole point is to come down and get that. So I’ll never go too heavy where I can’t control the weight with a good push out at the bottom. My rest time between each set, that’s why I like to film steadily sometimes, is 45-60 seconds.”
Wider Bar Triceps Pushdown
Cutler staggered his stance and implemented a wider grip to maximize triceps pushdown gains.
“There’s a million different variations to this. I turn the bar up like this, and it’s going to be a little wider, and I’m going to lean in. I’m going to stagger step. It’s almost like a press.”
Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension/Lean on bench
He preferred dumbbell overhead triceps extensions because of the stretch he felt throughout each contraction.
“Great exercise to really get that stretch in the tricep.”
Tricep Extension Machine
Torching the triceps further, Cutler moved on to an extension machine.
“This is a simple name, triceps extensions. So this is kind of cool, where I’m going to drop the seat to the lowest level and then I’m just going to do basically almost like a pressdown kind of a thing,” he said. “I’ll do a couple of these just to burn it out.”
Machine Bicep Curl
While normally he’d opt for biceps curls with dumbbells, he likes the stimulus he receives from this machine.
“I’m going to do a couple of warmup sets here. With me, I always drop the seat down to the lowest. I don’t know why, I just like to feel like I’m in the machine. What I like about this position. I always talk about the locked position.”
Seated J Bell Curl
He favors the J bells because the weight is more centered compared to traditional dumbbells.
“What’s nice about these is with dumbbells, I feel like you get as you supinate or whatever, you get a little heavier. How do I explain it? The pressure moves around where this, because it’s like a bowling ball, you stick your hand in it, and it’s just a steady even weight.”
Machine Preacher Curl
Prioritizing good control, Cutler stressed that you don’t want to come all the way up on machine preacher curls because it reduces tension on the biceps.
“You see me come up. I’m just going to do one rep just so you guys can see. I’m not going to come all the way up. You don’t want to take the tension off the biceps,” Cutler explained.
Standing Fat Grip Barbell Curl
As a finisher, Cutler practiced standing barbell curls with Fat Gripz, which he said helps recruit additional muscle fibers.
“A little thicker bar here. So, I got a 70-pound barbell. I can’t go as heavy with the fat grips but what I’m going to do with these, the reason I do this is it does bring different fibers in there. It also helps with forearm strength.”
This wasn’t Cutler’s first time educating his viewers on how to build huge arms. The four-time Mr. Olympia recently broke down why rope hammer curls were not only vital to building impressive biceps and forearms, but also helped him create an even freakier physique in the prime years of his career.
While Cutler no longer competes in the IFBB Pro League circuit, he doesn’t hold back when it comes to training. He remains one of the sport’s most influential role models, always focusing on health and longevity in retirement.
Watch the full video from the JayCutlerTV YouTube channel below:
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