by Christian Duque
When it comes to Jay Cutler, you can’t get much more real with regards to an honest assessment to the sport of bodybuilding. Jay built a fanbase the old fashioned way. He worked hard at it. He could have gone viral many times over had he played the social media game. He could have screamed politics some of those years that Coleman held on by the skin of his teeth. Look at 2001, for example. How many guys, today, wouldn’t have had a pity party over losing in a contest that clearly divided so many fans?
It’s a contest that continues to spark tremendous debate among hardcore fans. That said, there was no victim mentality in Cutler. He just went back to the drawing boards and kept working at it. He toured the world extensively. Most guys just can’t pull that off today. The mindset is totally different. Nowadays, guys want to win and believe they’re entitled to it. That’s what happens when you have a new Mr O every year. Try having the same champ for 4, 5, or 6 years. Imagine having had to battle with Haney or Coleman, who won eight Sandows a piece. Eight Sandows in a row! At some point, you start to believe you can’t win, but that’s where guys like Cutler rose to the top. They never gave up. And it was that hard work that won them so many fans. And the few times they spoke out, people believed them.
When Jay Cutler was asked recently if physique-based athletes could retire today, keeping their good health, he gave one of the most telling responses of his career. He said it was possible, but not for open bodybuilders. In the current age, the 4x Mr O and 3x ASC champion seems to believe the open bodybuilders are playing Russian roulette with their health.
When you stop to think about it, Jay is right. The sport today has fallen prey to a more is better approach. Bodybuilders have always dabbled in PED’s, or performance enhancement drugs, but it’s different now. I’d say the 90’s saw more PED use in certain regards than what we’re seeing today. It was during this decade that top tier athletes began employing insulin into their protocols. Slin is considered to be the most anabolic compound of all. It packs on tremendous size and became abused by countless athletes in the 90’s. Interestingly, many denied its use at the time. And comically, some even deny having used it decades later. Another highly-abused compound was human growth hormone, or simply GH and/or Growth. The big divide with growth was the price tag it came with. Very few guys could afford the real thing. It was so in demand, yet so expensive, that it became one of the most counterfeited compounds in the bodybuilding black market. There were other compounds as well that were seen throughout this highly-competitive period. And while the internet started taking shape in the mid 90’s, it was nothing compared to what it would become in the 2000’s and beyond.
So if drugs were a huge part of the sport of bodybuilding in the 1990s, why are they such a concern in the 2020s? Wouldn’t it stand to reason that drugs have always been a major part of physique-based sports? Couldn’t a case be made for them being safer, now, given the fact that many top competitors go to reputable clinics and have their bloodwork done more regularly?
Well, that might be the case if in fact bodybuilders were going to clinics and having their use monitored by licensed healthcare professionals. The idea that this is the case is not only a stretch, but it’s not an accurate perception of what really goes down. A lot of top guys are still buying most of their gear on the black market. You’d think that established competitors wouldn’t have to take many of the risks of yesteryear, but the dosages these guys take can’t be accommodated by most clinics. Plus, clinics aren’t allowed to write scripts for some of the stuff these guys require. Take Tren, for example. What clinic even has that? And that said, what about more exotic type compounds? What clinic will risk their license, in order to provide a big-name competitor with compounds that are not even recognized as therapies. Plus, there are still many competitors who don’t even have help health insurance. It’s not like it’s offered with their pro card or anything. And the idea that top tier competitors are keeping on top of their healthcare is a tremendous assumption that we won’t make, here, at IronMag. We know better.
We’d like to believe in the fairytale that bodybuilders have learned their lesson from the guys before them who succumbed to early deaths and early complications in life, but many haven’t. Many top guys still have destructive personalities. They don’t see the error in their ways. Others recognize the danger, but live in denial. They’re too busy chasing wins and top honors to care. They figure they’ll have time to address health concerns once the ride slows down. But does it ever slow down?
One glaring difference between bodybuilders today and bodybuilders in the 90’s is that the guys back then had the physiques. They were big, but they were ripped. Today, the physiques haven’t kept with the times and this has led to a lot of generational strife. The young guys think the old timers are just grumpy and bitter. They perceive their critiques as being nothing more than sour grapes. Well, maybe there’s a little of that, but in all honesty, the guys today would’ve been laughed off the stage in the early 2000’s. And many wouldn’t have even cracked the Top 10 at the Olympia during the Haney, Yates, or early Coleman eras. Whereas the guys back then hit the gear hard, they had the physiques. Today, the guys don’t have the physiques, so the popular belief is that they hit the drugs even harder. Plus the drugs today are, arguably, stronger. Therefore, Jay’s comment seems all the more persuasive.
I don’t know about you, but I feel Jay Cutler’s take should sound alarms. In fact, I’m surprised that this direct quote didn’t get more attention. I tip my hat to Generation Iron for running with it, but very few others even looked at it. Coincidence? Who knows..?
I will say I wouldn’t be surprised if Cutler got a phone call over it. Maybe it was just a text or two. That said, the 4x Mr O is protected by virtue of his good name and fanbase. He’s earned the right to speak his peace and not have to worry about blowback. That being said, media outlets were probably all too eager to bury the story. I know how the game’s played, but I’m also one to join in on a good fight. I don’t know that Jay’s comments were made with any real hope for change, but sometimes the truth is worth hearing, just because it’s the truth.
What say you? Do you agree with Cutler? And if so, what do you think should be done? I think the bodybuilding train has lost its way and it’s unlikely it will be reined in at this point. As always, though, I appreciate you reading my article, here, at Iron Magazine. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It will definitely drum up some lively conversation!
