4X Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler Shares Reason for Removing Bench Press From Chest Routine, Believes It’s “The Worst Exercise”

Published 04/03/2024, 11:13 AM EDT

The flat bench press is the most common exercise and a part of everyone’s chest-day plan. But there’s a reason why the four-time Mr. Olympia Champion Jay Cutler removed this exercise from his workout plan when he started his pro bodybuilding career.

In a recent short video uploaded by the former Mr. Olympia on his YouTube channel, he disclosed why he avoided the flat bench press during his initial days of bodybuilding. Let’s find out the reason why such a 300-pound mass monster avoided such a basic exercise.

Can a flat bench press cause an injury?

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Cutler stated that he took the flat bench press out of his workout regime as soon as he started pumping money into his bodybuilding career on his own. He explained that he couldn’t risk affording an injury. He further shared,” Everyone I know that’s done a flat bench has torn their pack on the bench press.”

The four-time Mr. Olympia champion shed light on the fact that doing bench presses makes your muscles tight and increases the density in the tissues around the chest area. This makes it difficult to get enough therapy for the part affecting the muscle protein synthesis.

Cutler concluded by saying,” It’s the worst exercise for your shoulder joint as the bench press barbell.” Cutler has criticized the flat bench press since the start of his career. He has always opted for alternate methods. The former Olympia Champion warned his fans to stay away from heavy flat bench presses and gave them an effective alternative exercise.

Cutler opts for dumbbells over flat bench press

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Cutler revealed in his newsletter that he has avoided normal training methods using barbell rods. Instead, he opted for dumbbells and machine presses most of the time because that provided him with more chest-focused movements. “Throughout my professional bodybuilding career, I always said I preferred to stay away from heavy flat bench press, and use dumbbells instead,” Cutler explained.

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The behemoth bodybuilder expressed his preference and said,” However, something I do like to do on chest day is used flat Smith Machine press on certain occasions.” The Smith machine targets the specific muscles of your triceps, shoulders, and chest and strengthens them. The Smith machine allows you to control the angle so that you can have perfect simulations in your pecs.

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What are your views on the flat bench press? Do you agree with the four-time Mr. Olympia Champion? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by:

Karan Yadav is a Bodybuilding writer at EssentiallySports. His journey to the bodybuilding realm started during the lockdown, where he found inspiration and dedication from those engaged in the sport. A stickler for fitness tips, Karan keenly follows his idols Chris Bumstead and Mike O’Hearn for covering the information they give out through their social media.

Edited by:

Suman Varandani

4X Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler Shares Reason for Removing Bench Press From Chest Routine, Believes It’s “The Worst Exercise”

Can a flat bench press cause an injury?

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Cutler opts for dumbbells over flat bench press