Motivated by Hate? Um…What?

This week’s blog isn’t so much of a focus on what I am currently doing for my training but more of what is motivating me; better yet what is not motivating me.

Nope. Wrong. Foolish.

Let’s do a little experiment, stop reading and hop on Instagram right now. Click on any “fitness celebrities” page. Scroll down for no less than one minute. I bet money you will see a meme of some kind saying this stupid phrase “Haters are my motivators”.  You may now be asking well Why Wild Will? Isn’t it better to turn a negative into a positive? Also Wild Will didn’t you write about that in your 1^st blog; that you were motivated by a guy that “hated” on you?  All valid questions.

Let’s start with the concept that you are motivated by hate. That someone hates you so you are going to take that hate and reach your goal because of their hate. What is that? Why does it take someone to hate you to reach your goals? Think about it, think about the statement that “haters are motivators” first who are these “haters” what does that even mean. The real question you should be asking is why so many people hate you? Everyone needs motivation. So why are you trying to find it through hate? If everyone around you hates on you for what you are doing you should really get a new group of friends. Or better yet, are you asking for the hate? You see a lot of this “hate” on Instagram like I said above. Typically on the profiles that have a lot of selfie love and no real actual health and fitness content aside from an #eatcleantraindiry hastag.

Real quick let me explain that there is a clear difference between ab shots/selfies and actual motivation. For example progress pics, transformation pics, exercise pics (to demonstrate a move), professional modeling shots. These are actual motivational pictures; show a transformation or a progression is a great way to show people out there the true process. You will see these in real people’s profiles. True fitness celebrities like (more…)

Keeping It Simple

So I am pretty sure there are multiple times a week where Coach Steve just wants to smack me upside the head and say NO!!! You see if you haven’t seen it yet, I am one of those people who like to over complicate everything. Going with the flow and letting it happen naturally just doesn’t really work for me. I am more of a ‘I want now’ type and if I can’t have it now I will try to force it to happen immediately. Sometimes that works out in my favor. However, when it’s the human body and changing your lifestyle and prepping for a show those things can’t be forced. It’s a constant struggle.

With that Coach Steve has me focusing more on the simple building blocks of muscle within my physique. Nothing crazy, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing forced, just simple steps that are proven to work.

For nutrition it means going back to the basics of eating high lean quality protein with equal amounts of complex fibrous carbohydrates and healthy fats with Omegas. No carb cycling, no fasting, none of the stuff. Just simple facts of the feeding the body what it means throughout the day.

For training it means going off of feel rather than reps. Right now it’s not about getting to a certain number of reps; it’s about getting deep into my muscle fibers and getting them to work into micro-tears. Depending on the weight and movement that may be 7 reps or 15 reps. Focusing on going heavier with my weights and breaking out of my comfort zone while still being able to contract the muscle with full range of motion and proper form.  We have also added (more…)

One Year Later

This past weekend was the Jr. Nationals bodybuilding, physique, figure, and bikini competition here in Chicago. While I was walking around the hotel I couldn’t help but reflect on this past year. You see in 2013 I went to Jr. Nats before the Wild Will Transformation Blog began, before I was part of Fitastic and before I met so many amazing local athletes. Last year I got there after prejudging so nobody was around. All the booths were shut down and it was just a lot of competitors hanging out. I felt completely alone but I had just dropped $20 on parking and really wanted to see Josh Landry and Josh Hallady. They are both Universal Nutrition athletes that I really looked up to.

I sent out a tweet tagging Josh Landry, in it mentioning how I was stuck at Jr. Nats and how I was hoping to run into him. No joke he tweets me back “where are you?”. So for the next two hours I sat down and talked with a huge inspiration of mine like we were old friends. It was truly more awesome and inspiring the words can describe.  His words of wisdom along with the obvious help from Coach Steve are what got me through this past year in which I dropped 50lbs of fat!

This year at the show it was a complete 180 degree turn around.  First I was full of confidence walking around unlike last time. I may have walked into the building alone but I wasn’t alone for very long. During this year I have met some great people who were competing. I was able to speak with them, hang out and have some fun. This time around I felt and knew that I belonged there and it was only a matter of time before I was one of the many athletes running around. In fact the only thing that was similar to last year was that I was wearing an OH MY QUAD! shirt last year and this year. Granted I looked much better in it this year.

Upon leaving I started to reflect just how far I have come and how much my life has changed in one years’ time. I have changed both physically and mentally, gaining confidence in myself. Believe me I brought a much better package to 2014 Jr. Nats then I did in 2013. (Competitor joke) I began to really understand what it means to say I may not be where I want to be but I am a lot closer then I was yesterday. That really hit home with me ; yes I may not have competed yet like I wanted to;  yes my body is not where I need it to be but wow, I mean WOW has so much improved.

Not only that but the only thing I knew about Fitastic was what Steve was focused on the development of the brand and that he gave me a free OH MY QUAD! Shirt. Now I’m writing (more…)

Social Media A Break Up Story Part 1

This is going to be a 3 part series regarding social media. This first part is about my relationship with social media.

If you follow me on Face Book, you may have recently noticed a post I did regarding social media. In that post I mentioned that seeing all these fitness celebs on Twitter, Face Book and Instagram was giving me the biggest head fake! I was sitting there, scrolling through image after image of what I think I want my future body to be. In doing so, I forgot about the journey and wanted to jump straight to the adoring fans, model photo shoots and supplement endorsements. I saw all these people who have already achieved my dream and – instead of feeling motivated – I felt sorry for myself. On top of that, I was also reading too much of the information these people were posting.  I would read some new idea about clean eating, IFFYM, this latest workout, that latest thing… blah, blah, blah!! I started spinning my wheels and I tried new things with my meal plan and training – never letting anything stick because some new celebrity pro just posted the latest novelty in fitness that I had to try.  Sadly, I was drawn to the overabundance of information like a moth to a flame and, just like that moth, all I was doing was getting burned!

Oh yeah, then I had Coach Steve. You know – the one and only person I should be listening too. So here is my dumbass self, listening to what the latest craze on Instagram was over what Coach Steve instructed and over my own knowledge of being a personal trainer. ARGH!!! I was going nuts and didn’t even realize I was just shooting myself in the foot.   I spun myself around and around with no end in sight and no positive results in my physique.  Slowly, I started to realize that I was getting nowhere – fast – and (more…)

Masse Gewinne für William

Yes, that is German you are reading. Why am I writing the title to this week’s blog in German? Because I am currently doing a German Volume Training program. Yeah, you see what I did there?

In a nutshell:

“The German Volume Training program works by targeting a group of motor units, exposing them to an extensive volume of repeated efforts, specifically 10 sets of a single exercise. The body adapts to this extraordinary stress by hypertrophying the targeted fibers.” – Chalries Poliquin

I am doing this program because I have a plateau, a wall, a stand still if you will, in my training program. I needed something to shock my body back into training mode to see better gains of muscle and higher loss of fat.

I will be doing this program for 3 full weeks (GVT can only be done once a year due to the demand it puts on the body). Then I follow Phase two.  Phase two lasts 3 weeks. For the 10 sets of 6 rep exercises, you use a weight that would normally allow you to perform 12 reps per set. That will allow the body to recover and adapt to the results of GVT. It does not end there, there is still Phase three that begins after this 3-week block, you can return to the German Volume Training method by doing the following 10 sets of 6 reps routine. In the exercises that are prescribed for 10 sets, use a load you would normally be able to do 12 repetitions with. The goal in this phase is to do 10 sets of 6 with that load.

So basically I am on this program to kick start the gains for the next 9 weeks. Well, 8 weeks to go as this blog goes to print. As I write this blog I have completed 2 days thus far. Chest/Back and Legs/Abs. We’ll let me be the first to say OH MY QUAD!!! My legs are still pumped 24 hours later. My chest is sorer then it has been in months. God it feels damn good! I feel like I am back to my old shelf – the self that would need to crawl up the stairs after a leg day with Coach Steve.

As far as nutrition goes, here is my current Calorie and Macro breakdown for you.

Calories           Fat       Carb    Protein

For an added bonus here is the full list of exercises that I am doing:

Day 1: Chest/Back

Incline DB Chest 10×10

Lat Pull Down 10×10

Incline DB Fly 3×10-12

1 Arm DB Row 3×10-12

Day 2: Legs/Abs (more…)

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…)

No! Just throw it away! Do it! I’ll know if you didn’t.

Summer Bodies: The Reality

I am sitting on my balcony on this semi-warm day here in Chicago. It reminds that summer is right around the corner, which, of course, is awesome.  I mean, who doesn’t love summer, right? However…it also reminds me that with summer, the gyms, trainers, supplement companies and many other devious foes come out of the woodwork to prey on the naïve and out of shape. In a couple of weeks you will see slogans like “get your summer body here” or “it’s time to get bikini ready” everywhere you go. All the supplement stores like GNC and Vitamin Shoppe will start putting up banners with fitness models holding the latest in thermo genic “technology”. Telling you how they lost 10lbs in 10 days and you can too. Well my friends guess what: IT’S ALL A BUNCH OF BULLSHIT!!!

Building your summer body actually started a few months ago. So if you are just now trying to get in summer shape you’re already behind. But have no fear, if you follow the guidelines I am about to give you, you will be in better shape then you are today and at the very least you will feel comfortable in your swimsuit. Keep in mind for next year: your summer body needs to start building itself before Valentine’s Day not St. Patrick’s Day.

So first things first, let’s start in the kitchen. Go into your pantry, your fridge and your freezer and throw out anything that is not nutrient dense.  Cereal, pop tarts, frozen breakfast foods (ahem, leggo those eggo waffles), boxed pantry foods like Hamburger Helper, anything that was not grown or raised, THROW IT OUT.  You may however keep any frozen veggies and fruits that are flash frozen, throw them out if they were frozen in a mixture of chemicals.  All done? Good.  Now there should be a lot more room to stock up on the following:

• Raw or Frozen leafy greens and fibrous vegetables ( asparagus, spinach, broccoli, green beans)
• Raw or Frozen fruits high in antioxidants (any of the berries, bananas, oranges, apples)
• Complex carbs (Long grain brown rice, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, quinoa, steel cut oatmeal, Ezekiel bread)
•  Hormone free, free range proteins (lean ground beef, chicken, turkey, cod, tilapia, salmon, eggs, egg whites)
• Dairy and Non Dairy fillers (almond milk, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese).

Notice how most of these items are real; they are not from a box or heavily processed. Your grains may come in boxes, but be sure to look at the ingredients to make sure no bad friends have tagged along for the ride.

With these options you should be able to make a wide variety of meals to keep you satisfied. Be sure to keep checking the Fitastic Nutrition for more recipes with all these different types of healthy, nutrient dense foods.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about exercise. (more…)

The Right Choice isn’t always the Easy One

Let’s keep the honest talk from last week going shall we. This week is going to be brief and to the point. After much consideration, honest talk and measurements; Coach Steve and I agreed that it would be best if I pulled out of the May 17^th Kevin Noble show. We are now going to focus our efforts on November.  I am in still in “prep” mode for the 17^th, I’d like to be at show at the Fitastic Booth at or around 8-9% Body Fat. (Rockin a new men’s Fitastic thank top)

A lot of thought went into this decision. After the breakdown of last week I recovered and got my head on straight. I took a long good look in the mirror and asked will I be ready in 11 weeks? Will I be able to step on stage at 100% representing myself, Coach Steve and Fitastic? All of our reputations and business decisions are the online here, am I ready? When I couldn’t give a resounding and confidant YES to these three questions, I knew it was time to call Coach.

In looking back at fall when I did Part 1 and dropped 50lbs in 9 weeks. I realized my life now is 180 degrees opposite from then.  In the fall nothing had changed, all was normal at Life Time, all was normal at home. Life was pretty much the status quo nothing to throw me off my game or pull my focus. However this winter when I started prep I had just left my career with Life Time. I became a business owner, I got a (more…)

The Week that Wasn’t

Well god damn am I happy this week is over. Let me tell you my friends this week nearly killed me. Let’s see I started a new job that had training that took all week. Hours upon hours with little time to eat; I missed nearly every meal but breakfast and bedtime meal.  Not good, not good at all for someone who is only two weeks into prep. I was pretty much distraught all week and I felt completely overwhelmed. I had a sit down with Coach Steve on Thursday, filled him in on all the details. Needless to say he was just as unhappy as I was. We tried to come up with a plan but couldn’t. We found ourselves at an impossible situation. There is no way I could work a job for more than four hours without having a meal. Coach said the words I was dreading to hear “we may have to think about putting of competing until November” that just about destroyed me. I’m man enough to admit that when I left the meeting to drive home I full on cried the entire way listening to sad country music. Here I was only two weeks into prep and it looked as if it was all over. However…I knew I couldn’t just give up that easily. Those of you who know me know that I don’t like excuses I like solutions. Well on Friday, I got my solution.

I spoke with my new management and explained the situation at hand. Fun fact this was the first time any of them had ever met a person who was competing. I explained that I need to eat every 4 hours, that I need just 10 minutes to woof down some cold food. Luckily they agreed that as long as I (more…)

Week 13-Make the Time

Week 14 came and went. As I begin Week 13 I find myself in a difficult situation. In the course of one day I went from having all the time in the world to having virtually none. I am currently trying to juggle three jobs along with prep so really four jobs.  Let’s face it; prep is a job all in itself. Does this mean it’s time to throw in the towel and say well $#@! IT!! It’s over, it’s too hard, and I no longer have the time.  Can I get a HELL NO from the crowd? Of course I’m not giving up. It is when situations become dark or more difficult. That when we overcome them that truly tell us who we are as a person. What we are truly capable of. Just how bad we really want to make our goals come to fruition. Like the old saying goes when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

In my 29 going on 30 years in the life I have found that nothing in life worth having comes easily. It all comes down to how much you want it; and how hard you are willing to work for it. So this change in my schedule doesn’t really change anything. I just have to be cleverer in my day to day planning and my time management. I have to make sacrifices when it comes to education vs. entertainment. During this prep I won’t have time for all social engagements nor will I have extra time to sit and watch TV. I have to make every minute of every day count or I will not be successful. (more…)