Bodybuilding evolves at a rapid pace, and four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler found out the hard way.

Speaking on the Overcome Cast podcast, Jay Cutler revealed a phase in his life where focusing on his brand, Cutler Nutrition, had a significant impact on his legacy.

"I just didn’t give myself enough time, because after living, going back to general life after losing in ‘11’ and sitting out, and having the surgery and repairing my bicep, I just lost a lot of density, man. You fall that far behind, that’s the problem with bodybuilding. And I tell this like once you miss a year or two, it’s like the Jeremy Buendia effect, where it just—stuff evolves no matter what you think.”

Jay Cutler did not compete in 2012 due to a severe biceps tear he sustained in 2011, which required surgery. He took an entire year off from competition and returned in 2013, but the aura was gone, as he finished sixth in the contest. It was similar to Jeremy Buendia, who took a break after the 2018 IFBB Olympia Weekend having previously won the event thrice, only to come back 6 years later and not finish higher than 8th.

“You know, I finished sixth, which—I mean, I didn’t beat Dexter. I didn’t beat Phil. I mean, a lot of great guys. But I realized that that was my swan song. Like, I didn’t have the heart to train like that anymore,” said Cutler.

Bottom line: the game changes rapidly if you don’t take the necessary steps to adapt. That’s exactly what Jay Cutler wanted to convey. After his 2013 competition, Jay Cutler took a step back from his career and retired from bodybuilding altogether.

But That Wasn't The End for Jay Cutler

Outside of bodybuilding, Cutler was building his business. As he explained to Sir Kyle Wilkes and Andrew Berry:

"And, you know, what people don’t realize is that I had a million other business ventures going on. I moved to Vegas for the real estate stuff, and I was wildly successful in that. I was building—like, I had planned to build businesses. I eventually launched my own brand."

With over a million dollars earned from bodybuilding, Cutler had invested it all in real estate and other opportunities. Even while losing out on competitions, he was making big gains elsewhere.

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar