Cliff Wilson:Gettin Big Team Wilson Style

[pureintensity]

For those that don't know me, I run a training and contest prep company that I run with my wife called Team Wilson. I already have a lot of my clients that are on the BB.com forums so I figured this would be a good chance for both my clients and non clients to see what I do in my offseason.

I am currently finishing up a deload week this week and am looking forward to getting back to heavy training starting Thurday. My deload week looked like this:

Day 1-Off
Day 2-Delts, abs
Day 3-Back, Biceps
Day 4-Off
Day 5-Chest, Triceps
Day 6-Legs, Calves
Day 7-Off

During my deload I lowered my weight to 50-60% of my normal weights as well as lowered the volume by about 20%. I usually hate deload weeks but they are much needed and they are good for me. Kind of like vegetables. Anyway I'll check back in when heavy lifting gets started.

Also, feel free to check out my articles at

http://fit-universe.com/

http://www.geneticwar.com/

and soon to be coming to bodybuilding.com

Thanks
________________________________
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.teamwilsonnaturalbodybuilding.com/

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

[coopielove]

For those that don't know me, I run a training and contest prep company that I run with my wife called Team Wilson. I already have a lot of my clients that are on the BB.com forums so I figured this would be a good chance for both my clients and non clients to see what I do in my offseason.

I am currently finishing up a deload week this week and am looking forward to getting back to heavy training starting Thurday. My deload week looked like this:

Day 1-Off
Day 2-Delts, abs
Day 3-Back, Biceps
Day 4-Off
Day 5-Chest, Triceps
Day 6-Legs, Calves
Day 7-Off

During my deload I lowered my weight to 50-60% of my normal weights as well as lowered the volume by about 20%. I usually hate deload weeks but they are much needed and they are good for me. Kind of like vegetables. Anyway I'll check back in when heavy lifting gets started.

Also, feel free to check out my articles at

http://fit-universe.com/

http://www.geneticwar.com/

and soon to be coming to bodybuilding.com

Thanks
________________________________
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.teamwilsonnaturalbodybuilding.com/

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

Hey Cliff,
What's your shoulder workout?

[pureintensity]

Corynne, when I lift shoulders this week I will post exactly what I do for that day. Not like you need it. Your shoulders are bigger than 90% of the guys out there.




__________________________________________
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.teamwilsonnaturalbodybuilding.com/

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

[pureintensity]

Last night was my first night back to hitting it hard after my deload week. During my deload I was eating the following macros

Protein- 220
Carbs- 592
Fat- 65

I was actually surprised to find that I had lost 2.8 lbs. in one week while eating this much and doing zero cardio. But hey, I'll take it.

My lift went pretty well. I did an upper body power day. I didn't do anything crazy I actually went for weight that were just a little below my maxes. After my deload I knew that breaking PR's right out of the gate was probably not going to happen. Here are the exercises that I did.

Pendlay Row-6 sets
Bench Press-6 sets
Weighted Pull-up- 2 sets
Incline DB Press-2 sets
DB Military Press-3 sets
Overhead DB ext.-3 sets
EZ bar curl-3 sets

For my Pendlay Row and my Bench press I ran my sets in a wave progression. Like this

5,4,3,4,3,2

The las set is for as many as you can perform with the given weight. Tonight I will run my lower body power workout the same way. Looking forward to some heavy deficit deadlifts.

Later.

[wrkoutfrq]

pretty interested in following this one... i know this is your training journal, so i won't clutter too much qith questions, but what is your opinion of people who do little decline bench press? i know several people who always do incline and flat presses (both BB and DB) but often neglect decline. i'll admit i don't do it very often because i have a hard time hitting my chest rather than using mostly triceps, but i throw it in every so often

[pureintensity]

pretty interested in following this one... i know this is your training journal, so i won't clutter too much qith questions, but what is your opinion of people who do little decline bench press? i know several people who always do incline and flat presses (both BB and DB) but often neglect decline. i'll admit i don't do it very often because i have a hard time hitting my chest rather than using mostly triceps, but i throw it in every so often

Don't worry about the questions I am glad to answer.

I know that there are not too many people out there that have a weak lower chest compared to the upper, but there are a few. I know because I am one of them. But even if you don't have a weak lower chest there is a definite benefit to training the chest from all angles.

Without delving too deep into anatomy, the upper chest region originates at the clavicle (collar bone) and the lower chest originates at the sternum and upper ribcage, with both muscles inserting into the humerus (upper arm). This ends up looking a bit like a fan, with the lower chest comprising the majority of this shape. Whenever you perform a chest movement, you best bet is to select a target region of fibers and consider the anatomical direction with which it travels from insertion to attachment point. Meaning for any given workout, pick a region of the chest that you want to prioritize and give that section most of your attention.

Working the upper-mid region fiber of the lower chest will actually need an upward path of travel since it connects high on the sternum and angles upward, though not as sharp as the upper chest muscle. You can hit this area by doing flat presses and inclines at about 10 degrees or so. In general, the remaining lower chest fiber will run from the humerus horizontally across the sternum and gradually shift downward. The lowest portion is angled in near-opposition to the upper chest, meaning that a sharp downward motion is needed for optimal contraction which is exactly what you get from the decline press. Cable flys also make it very easy to emphasize this area.

For total chest development i am a firm believer in hitting the chest from all angles. Also, if you have a hard time feeling your chest contracting, decline DB presses with palms facing each other at the bottom and as you come up turn your hands slightly to an underhand position. Hope this helps.


____________________________________________
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

TeamWilson.net@gmail.com

[wrkoutfrq]

Don't worry about the questions I am glad to answer.

I know that there are not too many people out there that have a weak lower chest compared to the upper, but there are a few. I know because I am one of them. But even if you don't have a weak lower chest there is a definite benefit to training the chest from all angles.

Without delving too deep into anatomy, the upper chest region originates at the clavicle (collar bone) and the lower chest originates at the sternum and upper ribcage, with both muscles inserting into the humerus (upper arm). This ends up looking a bit like a fan, with the lower chest comprising the majority of this shape. Whenever you perform a chest movement, you best bet is to select a target region of fibers and consider the anatomical direction with which it travels from insertion to attachment point. Meaning for any given workout, pick a region of the chest that you want to prioritize and give that section most of your attention.

Working the upper-mid region fiber of the lower chest will actually need an upward path of travel since it connects high on the sternum and angles upward, though not as sharp as the upper chest muscle. You can hit this area by doing flat presses and inclines at about 10 degrees or so. In general, the remaining lower chest fiber will run from the humerus horizontally across the sternum and gradually shift downward. The lowest portion is angled in near-opposition to the upper chest, meaning that a sharp downward motion is needed for optimal contraction which is exactly what you get from the decline press. Cable flys also make it very easy to emphasize this area.

For total chest development i am a firm believer in hitting the chest from all angles. Also, if you have a hard time feeling your chest contracting, decline DB presses with palms facing each other at the bottom and as you come up turn your hands slightly to an underhand position. Hope this helps.


____________________________________________
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

TeamWilson.net@gmail.com

it helped quite a bit, thanks!

[DuckSleeping]

Good to see you on the boards Cliff! I look forward to following along. Do you have any competition plans coming up any time soon?

[pureintensity]

Good to see you on the boards Cliff! I look forward to following along. Do you have any competition plans coming up any time soon?

Thanks Matt! I'll be checking yours out too. I don't plan on competing until next year sometime around Aug. or Sept. What about you? Any plans to step on stage soon?

[OKPump]

in and subbed...looking forward to this!

[pureintensity]

Last night I had a great chest and arms workout. I like to call chest and arms day the Jersey Shore workout. Chest and arms are by far my weak point. Three years ago my legs were my weak point. After my show when I got my judges comments every single judge had commented that I needed to bring up my legs. So I spent the next two years bombarding my legs. I ran a lot of periodized programs that all gave priority to my legs.

I ended up going too far the other way because last year when I competed every single judge commented this time that I had great legs but my upper body was lagging behind. So now I really just need to get everything evened out.

Here is my workout from last night:

CHEST

DB Bench Press (with internal hand rotation)- 3x8-10

Barbell Incline- 3x8-12

machine Press with alternating press angles- 3x12-15

Low Cable Fly- 3x15-

ARMS

Preacher Curl- 3x8-12

Standing concentraion curl- 3x12-15

Seated hammer curl- 2x15-20

Incline skullcrusher- 3x8-12

V bar cable pushdown- 3x12-15

DB kickbacks with 2 second hold at top- 2x15-20

The weights I used were great. I have been setting a new PR every workout. Hopefully I can keep up this pace for a while. Til next time.


___________________________________________
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

[pureintensity]

Had a great Back and Shoulder session tonight.

Here is my shoulder workout for tonight.

Barbell Shoulder Press (on a flat bench)- 3x12,10,8

Upright Row- 2x12

DB Lateral (to slightly above parallel) 3x20,15,12

Bent Larteral- 2x15

I will sometimes do shoulder presses with a bench with no back. This forces me to stay completely upright when the pressing gets difficult, this ensure that my upper pecs will not help out my delts when they start to fail.

I have also been maintaining my weight since increasing my calories. I am currently at 191lbs. with a 31.5 inch waist. Here are my macros

Protein- 215

Carbs- 605

Fat- 66

As you can see I have a pretty fast metabolism. Which is good I also have a huge appetite. My wife is on her contest diet right now so she is not too happy watching me shovel in over 600 carbs a day. Hey, it's hard work but somebody's gotta do it.

__________________________________________________ __
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

TeamWilson.net@gmail.com

[KatieWilson]

Had a great Back and Shoulder session tonight.

Here is my shoulder workout for tonight.

Barbell Shoulder Press (on a flat bench)- 3x12,10,8

Upright Row- 2x12

DB Lateral (to slightly above parallel) 3x20,15,12

Bent Larteral- 2x15

I will sometimes do shoulder presses with a bench with no back. This forces me to stay completely upright when the pressing gets difficult, this ensure that my upper pecs will not help out my delts when they start to fail.

I have also been maintaining my weight since increasing my calories. I am currently at 191lbs. with a 31.5 inch waist. Here are my macros

Protein- 215

Carbs- 605

Fat- 66

As you can see I have a pretty fast metabolism. Which is good I also have a huge appetite. My wife is on her contest diet right now so she is not too happy watching me shovel in over 600 carbs a day. Hey, it's hard work but somebody's gotta do it.

__________________________________________________ __
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

TeamWilson.net@gmail.com

I hate watching you eat your post workout meal every night. I just want to take it out of your hands and run.

[pureintensity]

Last night was goog ole' leg day. I have cut the volume of my leg training significantly to save to recovery for my upper body. Here is last nights workout, set a PR on the Leg Ext. which I was ecstatic about.

Close stance leg press- 3x15,12,12 (worked up to 700lbs.)

Machine Leg Curl- 2x20,15 (worked up to 105lbs.)

(Single Leg) Leg ext. 3x20,15,12 (for the last set I got the whole stack for 12 with each leg)

SL Deadlift-2x12,10 (worked up to 275lbs.)

DB calf raise- 3x20-(done very slowly, worked up to 90lb. DB's)

Even though I plan on keeping the lower volume training for my legs I still plan on breaking at least one PR every workout.

Til' next time.

__________________________________________________ ___
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

http://www.teamwilsonnaturalbodybuilding.com/

[Webber91]

Subbed. Interested to see how you do things mate.

[pureintensity]

Subbed. Interested to see how you do things mate.

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

[pureintensity]

Sorry I have been MIA for a little while. Things have been a little crazy with so many clients getting ready for shows that are right around the corner.

I myself just started to cut a little for a photo shoot that I have coming up in June. I started last Mon. and am already down 3lbs. Here are my macros.

LOW DAYS

Protein- 215

Carbs- 395

Fat- 60

HIGH DAYS (two days per week)

Protein- 195

Carbs- 575

Fat- 48

I have dropped 3 lbs. the first week and expect to drop about 2 more lbs. this week before I lower carbs a little further

I am keeping my normal training routine and will continue to try and set some records along the way. I currently weigh 186 and by the end of this cut I would like to be down to about 170. If I do it slowly I will be able to still make some progress and not interfere with growth too much. I am looking forward to a great Back and Shoulder training session tonight. I will post the workout tomorrow.

__________________________________________________ ____
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

http://www.teamwilsonnaturalbodybuilding.com/

[pureintensity]

Back and shoulders last night went real well. Here is the workout.

BACK

Pendlay Rows- (speed work)- 6x3 55% of 2RM

Lat Pulldown Machine- 3x12,10,8 worked up to 245lbs. (PR)

Really wide assisted pull-ups- 3x15,12,10

Incline DB Rows- 3x15,12,10

Low Machine Row- 3x20,15,12

BB Shrugs-2x12

DELTS

Max Rack Shoulder Press- 3x12,10,8

Upright Row- 2x12

DB lateral- 3x20,15,12

Close-wide Rear Delt Band Pulls- To failure


Close-wide band pulls are done by taking a band and holding it out in front of you. Grab it just a little inward of shoulder width. Then pull as far as you can go. The range of motion is really short but it will fry your rear delts. Go until you can move the band at all anymore. Then Take a wide grip on the band to where your arms are just about fully out to your sides, like the top of the rep of a rear cable fly. Then just do top rep pulls to failre. This movement can sound a little confusing but it is a great way to hit the rear delts at the end of a shoulder workout.

[KatieWilson]

I did those band pulls for the first time the other day. My rear delts were on fire!

[Warrior9]

Last night I had a great chest and arms workout. I like to call chest and arms day the Jersey Shore workout. Chest and arms are by far my weak point. Three years ago my legs were my weak point. After my show when I got my judges comments every single judge had commented that I needed to bring up my legs. So I spent the next two years bombarding my legs. I ran a lot of periodized programs that all gave priority to my legs.

I ended up going too far the other way because last year when I competed every single judge commented this time that I had great legs but my upper body was lagging behind. So now I really just need to get everything evened out.

Here is my workout from last night:

CHEST

DB Bench Press (with internal hand rotation)- 3x8-10

Barbell Incline- 3x8-12

machine Press with alternating press angles- 3x12-15

Low Cable Fly- 3x15-

ARMS

Preacher Curl- 3x8-12

Standing concentraion curl- 3x12-15

Seated hammer curl- 2x15-20

Incline skullcrusher- 3x8-12

V bar cable pushdown- 3x12-15

DB kickbacks with 2 second hold at top- 2x15-20

The weights I used were great. I have been setting a new PR every workout. Hopefully I can keep up this pace for a while. Til next time.


___________________________________________
TEAM WILSON CONTEST PREP "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

Quick question here: In your above explanation about chest movements, you said it would be beneficial to pick one area of the chest and prioritize it throughout the session. But here you hit all angles. Which do you prefer more? Sticking with one region of the chest and prioritizing it or hitting every angle every workout?

[pureintensity]

Quick question here: In your above explanation about chest movements, you said it would be beneficial to pick one area of the chest and prioritize it throughout the session. But here you hit all angles. Which do you prefer more? Sticking with one region of the chest and prioritizing it or hitting every angle every workout?

Very good question. I have a very been prioritizing my chest lately where I have two chest workouts per week. I schedule it like this.

Week 1

Thurs.- Upper Chest (heavy power)

Sun.- Whole Chest (hypertrophy)

Week 2

Thurs.- Middle Chest (Heavy power)

Sun.- Whole Chest (hypertrophy)

Week 3

Thurs.- Lower Power (Heavy power)

Sun.- Whole Chest (hypertrophy)

Week 4

Thurs.- Upper and Lower (Heavy power)

Sun.- Middle Chest (hypertrophy)


Repeat.

My chest has been a primary focus as of late and this is a schedule that has worked well for many of my clients. On power days I keep the sets to about 4-8 total. I also work in the 2-6 rep range. On hypertrophy days I go as high as 12 sets and work in the 8-20 rep range.

I do feel that if can be very beneficial to pick areas of the chest to prioritize for a given workout. But with this split it allows me to hit each part of the chest at least once per week and then specialize an area for another workout.

Sorry for the confusion.

[kawliga78]

in on this one.

[ChaosCue]

Subbed this!

[pureintensity]

Sorry it has been so long since I posted. With contest season coming there has been a lot going on. Since the last time I posted I have started to bring calories back up as the photo shoot has been put on hold for the time being. It has been really great having calories coming back up in mass amounts. Here are the current macros:

Protein- 210

Carbs- 605

Fat- 56

I have been on these number for 10 days now and I am still 188 lbs. I have not put on any weight following these numbers. If I don't go up after 1 more week I will add in a little more fat.

Also today I have started a new training program. I am following a GVOT program. I will be posting the workouts everyday this week. This style of training is a mix of German volume training and Max- OT training. Today's workout was a GVT day. Here is what I did.

DB Bench Press- 10x10

T Bar Row- 10x10

DB Shoulder Press- 10x10

Barbell Curl- 8x10

Incline Skullcrusher- 8x10

I will post my lower body GVT day tomorrow. Til next time.

__________________________________________________ ________
TEAM WILSON NATURAL BODYBUILDING "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

http://www.teamwilsonnaturalbodybuilding.com/

http://www.********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding

[pureintensity]

Yesterday was my second day of my GVOT program. It was lower body Here is the workout.

Squats- 10x10

Machine Leg Curl- 8x10

Leg Ext.- 8x10

Weighted Sit-ups- 8x10


I only do 8 sets of the last three exercises to try and keep volume under control. My body is my strong point. I would recommend that people who need to work on lower body should not go under the usual 10 sets.

All sets are done using approximately 50% of 1RM. Once you can complete all sets for 10 reps you should increase the weight the following week. Tomorrow is an off day then we get to the heavy lifting!

[drewoppenhuis]

In on this!
That new program has so many sets! Can't wait to see what kind of results you get from it.

[pureintensity]

In on this!
That new program has so many sets! Can't wait to see what kind of results you get from it.

Thanks Drew, I am just writing the workouts on here but I am working on an article that will explain everything detail of it.



__________________________________________________ ________________
TEAM WILSON NATURAL BODYBUILDING "INTENSITY IS EVERYTHING"

TeamWilsonBB.com

********.com/TeamWilsonNaturalBodybuilding.

[pureintensity]

I finished up the week on the GVOT program. Here were my last three workouts.

Wednesday:

Deadlifts-2x3-6

Pendlay Rows-3x3-6

Low Machine Row-2x3-6

Lat Pulldown-2x3-6

Weighted Pull-ups-1x3-6

Barbell Military Press-2x3-6

DB Lateral-3x3-6

Rev. Pec Dec-2x3-6

BB Shrugs-2x3-6



Thursday:

Bench Press-3x3-6

Incline Press-2x3-6

DB Decline Press-1x3-6

Pec Dec-2x3-6

Seated DB Curl-2x3-6

EZ Bar Curl-2x3-6

Rope Hammer Curl-1x3-6

V-Bar Tricep Pushdown-2x3-6

Overhead DB Ext.-2x3-6

Weighted Dips-1x3-6


Friday:

Below Parallel Box Squats-2x3-6

SL Deadlifts-2x3-6

Glute Ham Raise-1x3-6

Close Stance leg Press-2x3-6

Leg Ext.-1x3-6

BB Hip Thrust-1x3-6

Weighted Leg Raise-2x3-6

Cable Crunch-2x3-6

Toe Press-2x3-6


That is all for this week. Later.

[ozziesox13]

Cliff,

I have my favorite tomorrow - "B" leg workout - pure power on the lower body. I love training legs, and really appreciate the great variety you have shown me in training my body. Never in my life have I trained with as much variation, nor had the kind of dietary/supplementation instruction as I have received from you. Consequently, my progress is off the charts from where it ever was in my life. Gotta love those heavy days, right??

[pureintensity]

Cliff,

I have my favorite tomorrow - "B" leg workout - pure power on the lower body. I love training legs, and really appreciate the great variety you have shown me in training my body. Never in my life have I trained with as much variation, nor had the kind of dietary/supplementation instruction as I have received from you. Consequently, my progress is off the charts from where it ever was in my life. Gotta love those heavy days, right??

You are doing great work Tom. I am just glad you let me come along for the ride.