The bench press is the absolute foundation of most chest workouts. However, four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler recently shared the critical mistake many lifters make—and why it prevents them from building massive pectoral muscles.
Although Jay Cutler has already retired from professional competition, he still has a firm grasp of the training principles that helped him build his legendary physique and defeat eight-time champion Ronnie Coleman. In one of his recent videos, he focused on bench press technique and explained why poor form can hinder your progress.
“If you hunch forward during the press and just try to push the weight up at all costs, your chest isn’t doing what it’s supposed to,” warns the legendary bodybuilder.
The Secret to the Perfect Bench Press
The bench press (whether with a barbell or dumbbells) is a compound exercise that engages the pectoral muscles, front deltoids, and triceps. But if you want your chest to do all the heavy lifting, Cutler has two absolutely crucial rules for you: create a bridge and arch your chest so that it’s the highest point of your body.
“Instead of hunching over and rounding your shoulders and back during the press, you need to create a slight arch. Simply put, your chest must remain the highest point on your body,” explains Cutler, outlining the basic biomechanics of a safe and effective bench press.
He doesn’t recommend this principle just for the classic bench press, though. You should apply it at all angles—whether you’re working out on an incline bench, doing flyes, or pulling on opposite-direction pulleys.
“You have to arch your chest and contract it. Try different angles and machines, but the most important thing is to maintain this proper form.”
Leave Your Ego in the Locker Room
Another huge mistake Cutler sees every day in gyms is lifting unreasonably heavy weights at the expense of form. Loading the bar with the maximum weight may look good in front of others, but it’s not optimal for muscle growth.
“Use weights that you can control. I see a lot of people loading up too much. Complete your set volume, focus on what works, and most importantly, feel the muscle working. Don’t just do it to move the weight from point A to point B,” advises Cutler.
Why did Cutler stop doing the classic bench press?
The paradox is that even though Cutler dispenses advice on pressing technique, he himself completely avoided the flat bench press later in his career. He even called it the “worst exercise.” The reason was the enormous risk of injury.
“As soon as I started making a living from bodybuilding, I eliminated the flat bench press. I couldn’t take the risk. Every pro I know who did it at maximum intensity tore a pectoral muscle sooner or later,” he admitted openly.
Instead, he focused on incline bench presses and dumbbell exercises, which allowed him a safer range of motion.
But there’s one huge catch…
You can pound away at the bench like a machine, burn your muscles under constant tension, and groan under the weights all you want. But if your body remains “dehydrated” after a workout—deprived of building blocks and under fire from stress hormones—those muscles simply won’t grow. You can’t repair torn muscle fibers just by psyching yourself up and breathing properly.
An exhausted body after a hard workout can’t kickstart anabolism (growth) on its own. On the contrary, cortisol skyrockets, and instead of building mass, your body starts eating itself. You simply can’t outsmart biology and this post-workout hormonal chaos just by lifting weights and relying on brute force.
Yet the solution is as obvious as the nose on your face—you have to send your body a signal right as you put down the barbell that it’s time to grow. A high-quality whey isolate works wonders as a lifesaver for your battered muscles. These rapidly absorbed proteins rush in and immediately put a stop to catabolism (muscle breakdown).
And to make sure those proteins actually get into your muscles—and to give you the energy for your next brutal workout—throw in some good old, high-purity creatine monohydrate combined with a solid dose of EAAs. This combination will ensure your muscles soak up nutrients like a sponge, your post-workout pump will last half a day, and you’ll squeeze every last rep out of your workout today.
Don’t let poor post-workout nutrition rob you of those hard-earned results. Support your hard work right from the start, fuel it with the best building blocks, and show everyone at the gym that you’ve finally got your muscle growth firmly under control.
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