For years, the debate over whether Ronnie Coleman's 2001 Mr. Olympia win over Jay Cutler has divided bodybuilding fans. Even Cutler was ahead of Coleman with six points in prejudging.

This debate will never end. However, we all need to agree that Cutler gave a tough fight to Coleman with his massive size and bulk. Now, we will see what Cutler said about his bulk routine at that time.

Jay Cutler's bulk routine

In a short video shared by the Instagram account @sweetn_smile, Jay Cutler is seen describing his bulk routine from 2001. He said, “What I did is, you know, Chris said, listen, take the full year in 2001, and I want you to train, and I want you to eat and I want you to eat not on that strict, strict diet. I want you to have your burgers and fries, which I did every single day”. I'm not going to lie. I had my frozen yogurt.

And as suggested by Chris Aceto, Cutler’s coach in 2001, he ate junk food and sweets like frozen yogurt.

Cutler continued, “I had my good meals, and then I would eat one bad meal a day. And that's the only way I could get my body weight big enough and not be super lean because my body had a great tendency to stay pretty lean”.

Later, he also explained how that approach affected his body. Cutler said that he was “able to gather some more roundness to my physique”.

And during the off-season, Cutler also avoided cardio and focused on weightlifting. He said, “I didn't do the cardio in the off-season, just lift weights. I did twice a day workout. So I was shuttling the food a little easier. It always worked best for me”.

The 4 times winner of Mr. Olympia admitted that after following Chris's approach, he gained confidence, and people around him started to acknowledge his transformation.

He said, “When I was about three weeks out, I started shooting, and they're like, holy shit, you're going to do really well this year”.

Cutler was also seen to compare his 2001 Mr. Olympia performance with that of Ronnie Coleman. He said, “Let's be honest. Ronnie was dominant from the back, but the front was what they were looking at most of the time. If you asked me, that was the best front package I ever had. It was just aesthetic and still muscular, and landed second there. And I truly knew at that point when I got second at the Mr. Olympia that I could possibly win”.

That dream became true in 2006 when Cutler defeated Coleman.

When Jay Cutler dethroned the 8-time Mr. Olympia winner

In 2024, The Barbell shared a 2019 interview of Jay Cutler where the 4-time Mr. Olympia winner said, “Second place is still second best to the best guy in the world, and I was so eager to not just win the Olympia but beat Ronnie Coleman”.

Cutler tried constantly to beat Coleman from 2001 to 2005, and finally, in 2006, he earned the title. That winning has taught him a lot. He understood how to feel by being an underdog. However, during that time, he was also respected because of his consistency and determination to defeat Coleman.

Cutler also admitted, “So, I think my whole career was about beating the one guy that I just couldn’t overcome, until I did”.

No matter how intense their rivalry was, they are currently seen praising each other. So, what is your opinion about 2001, Mr. Olympia?

Written by

Supradeep Dutta

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu