Forget the bench press: Jay Cutler reveals the exercise that shaped his chest!

When you say "Jay Cutler", everyone thinks of a massive, full and perfectly sculpted chest. The four-time Mr. Olympia has always been synonymous with a chest that looked great from every angle. Many people believe that behind such a chest is just tons of heavy bench pressing. But Cutler recently revealed one of his favorite "secret" exercises that he used specifically to sculpt the bottom and outside of his chest.

It doesn't involve any complicated machines or maximal weights. It's an exercise that anyone, anywhere can do - the Cross-Body Standing D umbbell Fly.

Exercise for details, not ego

Jay Cutler emphasized in his video that bodybuilding isn't just about lifting the heaviest weights. Heavy pushes (like bench press or one-arm push-ups) are the foundation for building gross mass. But to create a masterpiece, you need the tools for the details.

And that tool is exactly what the one-arm crossover is for.

"This is one of my favorite finishing exercises," Cutler says.

His goal isn't to shock the muscle with weight, but to achieve maximum contraction and pumping in an area that's hard to hit with conventional presses.

Why this exercise?

The main benefit of this movement is targeting the lower and outer fibres of the pectoral muscles. It is this area that gives the chest the desired "sweep" and creates a clear separation between the pectoral muscles and the shoulders.

While the classic bench stretch is great, performing it standing and one-handed allows you to move your arms across the body axis (cross-body), resulting in a much more intense contraction.

How to do it.

Execution is key. Forget the ego and take a lighter one-handed grip.

1. Position.
2. Move. Imagine that you want to reach with your hand to the opposite hip.
3. Contraction. In the final phase of the movement (when the arm is furthest across the body), consciously and firmly clench the pectoral muscle. Stop the movement for a second and concentrate on squeezing the outer and lower chest.
4. Repetition: Cutler recommends sticking to a range of 10 to 12 repetitions for each arm.

This exercise is ideal to include at the end of a chest workout, after you've worked off the heavy presses. It serves as a "finisher" to get the blood pumping into the muscle, maximizing the pump and giving the muscle a boost of growth where you need it most to create a complete look.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jay Cutler (@jaycutler)