Retired IFBB pro bodybuilder Guy Cisternino Jr. suffered a quad injury recently. A staggering 7-time Mr. Olympia 212 competitor, Guy Cisternino Jr. retired from competitive bodybuilding following a sixth-place finish at the 2021 Texas Pro. After earning a pro card with a win at the 2008 NPC National Championships, Guy Cisternino Jr. went on to compete in 40 sanctioned competitions before walking away from the sport.
Cisternino was training legs with Branch Warren in Texas. He tore the quad in his right leg while doing leg extensions. The 39-year-old dropped the news of his injury and subsequent plan of action in a lengthy Instagram post and attached the video of his injury with the post.
“Sometimes life just keeps happening. Past couple of months have been very hard on me mentally, emotionally, and now physically. They say to feel pain means you’re alive, so you learn to take whatever life throws at you the good or the bad, that’s life. I was training with @thebranchwarren in Texas on Wednesday. Normal dam day, we’ve smashed legs together hundreds of times. Literally last set of the first exercise doing reps of 20, my right quad popped, sounded like I stepped on a lightbulb. As soon as I stopped Branch was about to yell at me to keep f**king going, but saw my face and knew right away it wasn’t good,” Guy Cisternino wrote.
Although painful, the quad tear is the least precarious issue Guy Cisternino has faced. Cisternino met with a near-fatal car accident in 2011 that has left lasting effects on his body. He revealed the experience in a 2018 Instagram post. Like many notable figures in the bodybuilding world, the 39-year-old also battled with a severe case of Covid-19 infection during the first wave in 2020.
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Guy Cisternino will not require surgery to recover from the quad tear
Continuing further in his post, Guy Cisternino described the exact nature of the injury. The MRI results show that he has suffered partial tears in the quad region but none of the muscles or tendons were detached. Luckily, the injury is not as serious as initially it was thought to be. A six-week period will be enough for the recovery provided Cisternino does not train legs for that period of time. Guy Cisternino wrote:
“Went to ER, then jumped on a flight next day back to Nj, got MRI Friday, results back today. Long and short of it, best case of a worst case scenario. I tore the sortoreous deep in the belly of the muscle along with a lateral tear in the quad tendon. Neither requires surgery as long as I don’t train legs for 6 weeks and allow it to recover and heal. So for now no more leg videos, now I’ve added a separate arm day instead of leg day to see if I can get these arms to fluff up a bit! Took off Thursday and back to work on Friday. It’s not a job, it’s a way of life for me.”
While Guy Cisternino did not share his thoughts on how or why exactly the injury occurred, the answer lies in his training methods. As witnessed from his social media account, Guy Cisternino has a tendency to push the limits in the gym even after retirement. Cisternino routinely posts workout videos that show him training with furious intensity.
Retired and 39 years old, Guy Cisternino is no longer young. Furthermore, he is not at the peak of his athletic life. Pushing the limits every single day may not be beneficial for him anymore. The purpose of this article is not to hypothesize the possible reasons for injury. However, it is possible that he developed micro-tears due to the intense training that culminated in the quad injury. Nevertheless, we wish Guy Cisternino a speedy recovery and hope to see him back in the best shape soon.
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