Your Back

Four Back Four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler shares his two-a-day back routine that helped propel him to Olympia dominance during the 2000s.

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Back in the early 2000s—hell, even today—you would’ve been hard-pressed to find a more impressive back than that of four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler, who possessed one of the greatest rear lat spreads ever seen.

A key component that separates good competitors from legendary ones is symmetry. It’s easy to focus on your “mirror muscles”—chest, arms, shoulders, and abs. Often, you’ll see competitors who sport impressive muscularity for all the parts mentioned above but lack the same quality when they turn around. But icons like Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates, and, of course, Cutler understood the importance of treating all muscle groups equally. And, as Cutler explains, balancing out a lagging back doesn’t need to be a daunting task.

“A lot of guys don’t give back workouts enough attention,” he says. “But the bodybuilders who make an impression have more than big chests, cannonball delts, and thick arms—they also have well-built backs.”