“ You know what? What today’s body… you know what today’s bodybuilding is lacking?” asked Jay Cutler on episode 189 of CutlerCast, which aired on December 16, sparking a discussion between the mass-monster era and the modern bodybuilding generation.

While speaking to Milos Sarcev, Cutler remarked that the new-age bodybuilders lack the mass that defined the earlier eras of the sport, “Remember the biker shirts we all wore, and [Flex] Wheeler? It was, dude, it was like someone took, you know, when you blow up a balloon and you just… that was his shoulder.”

He further added, “Blow up another one— that’s his bicep. That’s how much separation there was between each muscle. It was so fake-looking. It was so fake-looking. He looked ridiculous. I mean everything, the calves, the legs, the legs, the legs.”

Sarcev chimed in, adding that people often compare Chris Bumstead to Flex Wheeler through photos, but when placed side-by-side in their prime, Wheeler was a class apart. “I mean, Chris could maybe even take him on a photo, but you know what I mean? In real life. they were not even in the same universe,” said Sarcev.

“Pictures can’t tell the story,” Cutler agreed with Sarcev. Modern bodybuilders are more focused on form rather than mass, and this shift might explain why muscle definition appears compromised today. Even Phil Heath has echoed similar views.

“We Don’t Have a Certain Talent Pool,” Phil Heath Tells Jay Cutler

In another edition of CutlerCast in mid-march this year, Phil Heath gathered up with Jay Cutler to talk about the current age of bodybuilders. During the conversation, Heath expressed that even though modern bodybuilding is in good condition, they lack eliteness of the monster era.

“We’re not in a down year. We just don’t have a certain talent pool. In the 90s, the talent pool was the Levrones, Cormier, and Flex (Wheeler). The talent pool now is just different bodybuilders,” said Phil Heath.

The 7x Mr. Olympia Champion further expressed that the advent of social media has seriously impacted modern bodybuilders. Given that, what is your opinion on the modern bodybuilders?

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu