Jay Cutler and Flex Wheeler are opening up about the sport’s evolution. In a July 20 YouTube video, they reflected on how performance-enhancing drugs and prize money reshaped the Men’s Open landscape.
During the 2000s, Cutler cemented himself as an all-time great in the IFBB Pro League. Throughout his career, he defeated top-tier Open stars, including Wheeler, Dexter Jackson, and Ronnie Coleman. Though he has stepped away from competing, Cutler still follows the sport closely, offering his take on the fastest-rising stars and the most controversial topics.
Jay Cutler and Flex Wheeler Talk PEDs and Bigger Paydays in Bodybuilding
In the video, Wheeler explained that PEDs were rarely discussed publicly during his prime:
“I always looked at is as if you’re a Ferrari, you’re a Ferrari, then you put rims on it and an engine, but you can’t take a kit car and make it into that.
Like I said, it was about hard training, fellowship, every day competing against each other, then we added the rims to it, later on, where I’m not really sure, I think towards the end of my career, doing seminars, when people started just opening up with questions about drugs,” Wheeler shared.
Cutler shared that PED discussions became more common after bodybuilding magazines faded away.
“I think when the magazines died. Well, not controlled [it], but our contracts, we weren’t allowed to [discuss that]. We were endorsing supplements a lot of the time. It’s hard to explain. The protocol was always… it really didn’t change much.”
Looking at today’s prize money, Cutler noted that the gap between first and second place used to be smaller.
“At least when Ronnie was beating me, it was 110, I got 75 for second, it wasn’t as huge. But that Arnold, it was like 50 grand was second. Back then, a 100K, that was a big score back in the early 2000s,” Jay Cutler shared.
“Life-changing money,” said Wheeler. “I feel that our money should be there. It should have been there. Kudos to Arnold; if I understand correctly, he had this relationship with Joe, where he’d never take his money over that, and then he kind of battled.”
Cutler has been transparent about his PED use throughout his career. He explained that a cycle-on and cycle-off approach worked best for him. To prepare for the stage, Cutler revealed that he used compounds to bulk up and cut weight.
Competitive bodybuilding continues to grow in popularity. Cutler and Wheeler believe open PED discussions and larger prize money payouts reflect the sport’s evolution.
