In the Kitchen with Wild Will

Meatzza Pizza

Ah pizza. My favorite food group, yes I said group. There are so many different kinds. However…as we know pizza is not the sort of thing you can have a daily basis if want to live lean and trim. No fear Wild Will is here. This weeks In the Kitchen features a Meatzza Pizza. A Meatzza is when the crust is replaced by a layer of ground beef (95% lean of course). By replacing the dough crust with a meat crust you drastically cut down on the carbs. 

Be sure to check out the accompanying directional video.

Ingredients

1lb of lean ground beef (You can do ground chicken or turkey if you like)

½ can of Organic pizza sauce ( I prefer the organic because they don’t add sugar)

1 egg

The remaining ingredients are up to you.  Just like any other type of pizza you get to decide what to put on it. Your Meatzza can have onions, turkey pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms etc. It’s your Meatzza so make it your own. Now for macro purposes I am only going to include the top 3 main ingredients. In the directional video I personally used turkey pepperoni and part skim mozzarella cheese.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place beef and egg into a mixing bowl. Feel free to add anytime of spice you would like. In the video I use basic season all but for you more adventurous types. Go NUTS!! Have fun, its pizza remember.

Using your hands blend the beef and egg together

Grab a backing dish and place the beef mixture into the dish

Spread the meat (crust) out evenly throughout the dish. Be sure to get all the edges and keep the crust even. If the crust is uneven it will not bake properly. (more…)

Competition season is here and in full force.  This spring, thousands of bikini, figure, physique, and bodybuilding competitors will have completed their, what seems like forever, prep.  Their moment in the stage lights will have arrived, and they’ll be ready to showcase months of hard work, planning, and sacrifice.

What about you?  Have you ever considered showing YOUR best on stage?  Maybe you’ve been hitting the gym every day and surfing the web for fitness inspiration and news, and maybe that information has piqued your curiosity.  Maybe you’re even thinking about signing up for a competition- Congratulations on taking the Mental step!  Now my advise is don’t dive in too quickly, and consider a few important aspects first.

I’ve been in the competition business for over a decade.  Before you make the decision to compete, I want to share six steps that you absolutely must follow to maximize your potential to succeed.

Attend a Show as a Spectator First

Sit in the seats, view the stage from a worms eye perspective, smell the funk of Pro Tan in the auditorium, and watch the competitors hit their poses as they battle out for top placements.  Until you see it, you can’t fully understand it and put yourself in their “trunks” or “suits” …  The appreciation of what it takes, comes down the road.

Witnessing a competition first hand from the outside-in will also allow you to set specific goals for yourself in beginning your journey- if so you choose the challenge.  Becoming a visionary of YOUR future dialed-in physique in comparison to those in front of you onstage is what ultimately creates the proverbial “itch” and motivation to get your drive in gear.

Seek For Help

Don’t just sign up for a show, train by yourself, and hope for the best.  Whether you hire a coach, join a team, or ask an experienced friend, get feedback from someone who has been in the trenches.

When I personally competed for the first time, yep back in 2002, there was no surfing the Internet and pulling up pictures for motivation or reading federation articles that would prepare me.  Heck, even if I had access, it wouldn’t have helped me much anyhow.  Yet, that’s what most everyone seems to trend to these days and they still don’t have a clear picture of what the judges are looking for. (more…)

In he Kitchen with Wild Will

Who doesn’t love brownies? I mean really,have you ever met someone who you offered a brownie and they said mmmm no thanks? If you have, I would personally stop being their friend. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life. HOWEVER. Brownies are rarely found on a person living a healthy nutrient dense lifestyles meal plan. Sadly. That is until now. Once again I have entered your life to bring your Protein Brownies. These are some seriously tasty and moist (sorry for everyone who hates the word moist) brownies.

Be sure to try these brownies out for yourself. Now if you do make these please post your comments on Face Book with a picture of you and your brownies. I would greatly appreciate it.

Now the videos are coming. Editing takes a bit of time along with getting everyone together to film; a bit more ambitious then I originally thought. Apparently YouTube stars don’t have day jobs.

So without further delay here are Wild Will’s Protein Brownies.

Protein Brownies

Ingredients

1 cup of liquid egg whites

1 can (200g) of unsalted cooked black beans

3 scoops chocolate protein powder

1/4 cup of cocoa

1/4 cup of syrup

3 tbsp coconut flour

5 tbsp cottage cheese

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1-3 tbsp of peanut butter (optional but really nice)

Directions

1. Using a mixer blend all the ingredients together. Bear in mind that what you want to end up with is a thick pancake-like batter. If your batter is too runny, add a tbsp more of coconut flour until it thickens. If it’s too thick, add an extra egg white or two.

2. Once your mixture is perfect, smooth and thick, yet pour-able. Bake it in a small brownie pan at 320 degrees for 45 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

3. Pull out of the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes

If you want to substitute the coconut flour, you can. Try ground oats, or a combo of ground oats and ground almonds. You’ll probably want to add a lot more than 3 tbsp of either of them to thicken the batter though, so just eyeball it and add enough until your batter looks like, well, brownie batter.

If you want to add an extra element of oomph to the brownies, throw some chopped walnuts onto the batter just before you put in the oven. Or add to the batter if you want them in the brownies themselves. Just be sure to account for it in the macros.

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I’M BACK!! Sorry for such a long absence. I got a bit overwhelmed with my projects all happening at one time. Don’t worry, I haven’t stopped transforming. The Wild Will Transformation is in full swing. However, this week I want to focus on something other me. This week I want to talk about gym fashion. That’s right, gym fashion. Basically going forward you should only be wearing Fitastic gear otherwise you are not truly working out or training. Ok, good to go? Got it? Great, bye guys see you next week….HA, HA I KIDD! Just having some fun with you guys and gals. Now let’s get this blogging going and talk about something serious. DRUGS!!!

So this morning (Tuesday) I was at my usual LA Fit training. A dude around my age approached me and asked me about my Oh My Quad shirt. He mentioned that he had seen myself and Steve here before (or as he put it, that big dude). He said I’ve gotten bigger and that Steve was a big dude. This was then followed by so what are you guys taking to get big? My first response of course was, thank you I am trying to get bigger and then, wait, you think I’m on drugs? I told the kid no, Steve and I are drug free athletes by choice. He said cool and walked away. This got me thinking, on this blog I have never addressed the drug issue and why I have chosen a drug free life style.

Let the record state that I do not judge nor care if a person is taking steroids. It is their personal choice the same way it is my personal choice not to. I think no less of them, nor do I think them less of an athlete.  As long as you don’t come up behind me and stab me in the ass with a needle, we are cool. So with that statement you might be asking: well Wild Will if you have no issue with people taking steroids, why aren’t you? Fair question, here is your very long and personal answer.

When I first started talking about competing a year ago to some bodybuilders at Life Time I was approached and offered steroids right there in the locker room. Talk about temptation. I said I needed to think about it and ran away. I remember trying to make conversation about it with Heather. She said if I ever touched steroids or any illegal drug, ever, the marriage was over. Well that was it for me, but the temptation was still there. I love my wife but I needed to talk to someone else. So I messaged Steve, now Coach Steve on Face Book. I hadn’t talked to Steve since Bally’s went under so I wasn’t sure if he would respond. Within a day I had this response:

“ My easy answer is don’t even think about it regardless how tempting it is. Bodybuilding is a hobby/sport where you push yourself to your natural limits and development. You don’t need to put in testosterone/estrogen altering substances in your body to prove to anyone that you’re giving it all you got. You know there are side effects, (more…)

April Athlete of the Month

Anthony Fleischhauer

            It is often said that we are not defined by our successes in life but our response to our setbacks in life. It is how a person reacts to setbacks that will define them and create the person they truly are. April’s Athlete of the Month, Anthony, is a young man who has faced numerous setbacks; however, not a single one has stopped him. With each setback comes a renewed sense of motivation and determination. As you read Anthony’s story think of how you have handled setbacks in your life or career. Allow Anthony’s setbacks and eventual triumphs over them to inspire you to dig deeper and continue to push towards your goals, whether they are fitness or life related.

Anthony began his professional career as a carpenter. That is what his family did therefore that is what he did. He played sports throughout his life and stayed in good shape working out at the gym. The thoughts of training, let alone competing, never crossed his mind. That is until the housing market crashed and suddenly carpenters were no longer in high demand.  Sadly, most people in that profession dug their heels in and waited it out, and they are still waiting. Anthony, however, has not been one to wait around. He took the advice from his Mom, the one person who, no matter what, has his best interest at heart. His Mom, ever wise, told him that because he continued his workouts at the gym, why not work at the gym. With his Mom’s sound logic in mind, Anthony enrolled himself in the National Personal Training Institute (NPTI) here in Chicago. Six years later, he is a highly sought after personal trainer at XSport in Chicago Ridge. But that is not were his story ends.

In 2011 Anthony met the beautiful and equally talented, Ryann Condon. Ryann comes from a family of competitors; her father competed in bodybuilding and her mother in physique. That same year he went to Jr. Nationals, here in Chicago, with Ryann, and got his first look at the lifestyle of a competitor. That was all he needed. Ryann and Anthony began a 12 week prep together for Ottawa 2012, Anthony placed 3rd overall. What separates Anthony from everyone else on stage and what caught my eye, prompting me to speak with him, is that Anthony is one of the few trainers out there that actually practices what he preaches. He doesn’t only live a lifestyle of health and fitness, he embodies it. Upon speaking with Anthony, I could hear the passion and commitment for his clients in his voice. Anthony is a trainer who truly cares about his clients. This commended him further in my eyes as I firmly believe that that is the way all personal trainers should feel towards their clients.

Training just wasn’t enough for Anthony though, he needed something more.  He found that sense of fulfillment as a Coach for (more…)