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[@RenaissancePeriodization] Exercise Scientist Critiques Jay Cutler's Olympia Chest Workout

· 5 min read
[@RenaissancePeriodization] Summarizer
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@RenaissancePeriodization - "Exercise Scientist Critiques Jay Cutler's Olympia Chest Workout"

Link: https://youtu.be/Egu7JXlCT00

Short Summary​

Number One Takeaway:

Prioritize technique, adequate volume (sets close to failure), and thorough warming up to maximize muscle growth while minimizing the risk of injury.

Executive Summary:

This video analyzes Jay Cutler's Olympia-winning chest workout, emphasizing the importance of impeccable technique, high training volume (8-15+ hard sets per week for a muscle trained once a week), and sufficient warm-up to ensure both effective hypertrophy and injury prevention. While the workout is rated highly, it is not necessarily the best possible chest workout, but is very good, well structured, and effective.

Key Quotes​

Okay, here are four quotes from the YouTube transcript that I found to be particularly insightful or interesting:

  1. "A little bit more warming up almost always beats a little bit less because safety beats effect. Why? Because safety means you won't get hurt, which means you'll have more effect by having more sessions in in succession."

  2. "Some high-level bodybuilders report that if in their pre-contest phase they never get a chance to lift pretty goddamn heavy weights, at least a little bit, they lose fullness and size in their muscles. And that is a legit thing that so many people say and it makes some physiological rationale that we have to consider it as a serious hypothesis."

  3. "Jay Cutler was on a podcast and he said he never went to failure essentially a single time in his training and he never trained on purpose to failure. And um that hurt a lot of people's feelings... it turns out that stopping a few reps shy of failure works just as well as failure training with a couple of pluses, couple minuses. It kind of evens out."

  4. "The more sets per week you do close to failure, the more you grow, as long as you can recover. The upper limit of that still has yet to be determined."

Detailed Summary​

Here's a detailed summary of the YouTube video transcript in bullet points, focusing on the key topics, arguments, and information discussed:

Introduction

  • Dr. Mike from RP Strength analyzes Jay Cutler's Olympia-winning chest workout.
  • Uses a tongue-in-cheek humorous style.

Incline Barbell Bench Press

  • First set is a warm-up for Jay Cutler, given his size and strength.
  • Emphasizes the importance of warming up properly for injury prevention.
  • Safety is prioritized over immediate effectiveness, as consistent training yields better results long-term.
  • Technique analysis: Controlled reps, pause at the bottom of the press.
  • Subsequent sets with 315 lbs are considered work sets, close to failure.
  • Technique emphasized: Shoulder blades back, arched back, chest up for deep stretch, pausing at the bottom.
  • Heavier set with 405lbs is performed for 4 reps, also considered a work set with two reps in reserve.
  • Consideration of Jay Cutler's fast-twitch muscle fiber dominance. Heavier weight might be beneficial to maintain fullness.
  • Technique remains flawless even under heavy load and fatigue.
  • 3-4 "work set equivalents" of incline barbell press
  • RP Hypertrophy app mentioned as an alternative to note-taking for workout tracking.

Incline Dumbbell Press

  • Technique emphasized: touching the very outsides of his pecs for a bigger stretch, arched chest, shoulders back.
  • Nipples out.
  • Sets are close to failure, with spotter assistance.
  • Jay Cutler's training philosophy: He avoids training to complete failure, stopping a few reps shy, a strategy that can be as effective as failure training.
  • Several work sets.
  • 6 total work sets at this point in the workout.

Machine Flies (Pec Deck)

  • First set is a warm-up, then transitions to work sets.
  • Scott (co-host) notes difficulty assessing weight used during workout.
  • Large range of motion.
  • Technique emphasized: Total control, pause at the bottom, ultra-deep stretch.

Cable Crossovers & Fly Press

  • Sticking to a lot of stretching movements rather than pressing.
  • The move becomes a 'fly-press' adding a half-press at the bottom to provide a leverage advantage.
  • Deep eccentric stretch, leverages both stretch and a press to maximize tension.
  • 3 work sets
  • 11 work sets at this point

Final Cable Fly

  • Adding the final exercises, bringing total work sets to 14
  • If being critical, the range is between 8 and 18 work sets depending on how the sets are counted.

Key Takeaways/Conclusion

  • Technique is crucial: control, full range of motion, big stretch.
  • Volume is important for hypertrophy (sets per week close to failure).
  • More volume increase a few sets here and there every week, every week, every week until you get to crazy high amounts.
  • Warming up to prevent injury.
  • Rate Jay Cutler's chest workout 8.5/10.