Guy Cisternino Online Q&A - December 2014
No Ordinary Guy: Featuring Guy Cisternino
Reader Q&A - December 2014 Edition
Keep Things Clean: Off-Season Eating Similar to Pre-Contest
Guy, what does a typical off-season plan look like for you? Do you follow a strict plan like some pros, or do you just eat whatever you want, whenever you want?
Well bro, I’m a little more anal than most when it comes to bodybuilding. To me, bodybuilding is not a sometime thing— it’s an all the time thing. Although I have a full-time job, I still treat bodybuilding the same. My nutritionist, Chris Aceto and I have similar views on many things when it comes to pre-contest and off-season for putting on mass. He never really sends me a true off-season diet. For the past two years I have just sent him what I had been doing or what I am thinking about doing, and both years he has emailed me back saying, “Stick with that.”
Do I eat what I want? Yes, but not every day. Maybe once or twice a week I’ll eat something I want, but the farther I get into my off-season, the less crap I crave because I am eating every two hours— and the last thing I want to do is eat pizza or ice cream after eating six meals. So for me, off-season is similar to pre-contest— just with bigger portions of cleaner food and some added cheat meals. Hope this helps, bro.
Basic Movements Will Build Massive and Thick Chest
Guy, in my opinion you have one of the best side chests in the 212s. No one else has that true mass and thickness in their chest like you do. Any tips on getting a great chest?
Thanks, my man— I really appreciate it. I stick to many basic movements, like flat barbell bench and heavy incline presses, some of which you don’t hear guys talk about because they don’t want to “get injured.” In my opinion, injuries often happen because of freak accidents or because of just piss-poor form in the gym. Here is an example of a chest workout I’ve done recently:
Flat Barbell Presses 4 sets; last set is triple drop set
Incline Dumbbell Presses 4 sets; last set is drop set
Decline Hammer Presses 4 sets
Incline Flyes 4 sets
Incline Dumbbell Presses* 4 sets
*Keeping dumbbells together with palms facing each other— Charles Glass movement.
My rep range is always 12-15, no matter what I train. And since working with Charles I do a lot more time-under-tension movements, so I may not be able to go as heavy as I’m use to, but my movements are a lot more slow and controlled than they use to be.
Overlooked by the Judges?
Guy, you have been to the Olympia four consecutive years, placing 13th, seventh, seventh and eighth, but in past years you have won shows. In 2014 I thought you killed a lot of guys on the pro circuit, but how come at the Olympia and at shows after that, your placings aren’t up to par? I for one think you get overlooked and the judging is horrible, but what are your thoughts about it?
Well, bro, I appreciate it … and yes, I have won three pro shows, and take top honors in almost every show I do. But your guess is as good as mine. I have spoken to some judges after the Olympia, and was told that I was very flat at the Olympia and all the shows following it. Now, that being said, they do have a tough job judging us. I try to look at the judges like referees at a football game. When a coach challenges a play, sometimes you see it and say “HOLY SHIT, he was out of bounds, didn’t catch it, blah blah blah,” or sometimes you agree with the call— it’s kind of like that. Sometimes I can see what the judges say, and sometimes after looking at pictures and videos, I don’t understand their critiques. But then again, I am comparing videos and pictures and not live, side-by-side posing. Although some people don’t think so, LIVE and PICTURES are night and day. So what I do is just take their constructive criticisms, relay that to my coach and we go from there. All you can do is try to make adjustments and move forward. One thing Chris told me this year was, “We don’t overthink things when we win, so why overthink them when we don’t?” If Chris is happy with how I look, then I am happy. But he already emailed a game plan for our 2015 season, so I am excited as ever to get things rolling.
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